After a little under a couple months of use, I can say that this power setup is quite adequate. My concern was that it would not be enough to sustain radio operations and I would have to charge batteries from wall power from time to time, but I have not needed this. I did an initial charge when I first installed it but nothing since. I am transmitting at 100 watts often so the system is getting moderate use. The Powerwerx power meter is very helpful in monitoring whats happening with the batteries – https://powerwerx.com/watt-meter-analyzer-inline-dc-powerpole. The gel type batteries charge at voltages above 13.8 and the meter shows when this is happening, even overcast days can provide sufficient charging voltages. Measuring the level of the battery is done by turning off everything and reading voltage with no draw, 12.85v is full, and anything under 12v is empty. I have not observed below 12.60 (75%) so far.

If you are considering powering your amateur radio equipment with solar, it can be successful, unfortunately there is not much information to review about it. Fortunately, there aren’t many components and making a design was fairly straightforward, but finding references took some hunting. Overall I am very happy with my setup.

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For 6 months I have been slowly gathering the items I need to make this project work. The items I selected for the solar system are:

Solar Module, 110 Watt, SWPB-110 – SunWize

Phocos ECO-N-T Series (10-20 A) – http://www.phocos.com/na/blog/portfolio/eco-n-t-2/

2 Duacell DURG12-70P, a 70 amp hour battery, connected in parallel. http://www.batteriesplus.com/product-details/sealed-lead-acid/battery/duracell-ultra/durg12=70p

PowerWerx DC power connectors, specifically the Anderson connectors.

Watt meter to measure battery and utilization – http://powerwerx.com/watt-meter-analyzer-inline-dc-powerpole

Rigrunner, a DC plug setup – http://powerwerx.com/west-mountain-radio-rigrunner-4005h-horizontal

The construction of the area to house these items in took longer than expected, but I really like how it turned out. My study/radio area was a father’s day gift. The office has an electronics closet that will house computer and solar items with venting fans. It isn’t finished quite yet, but I have tested the function of the system and the components work. When I finish antenna installation and start making contacts I can begin measuring the effectiveness of the setup.

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Since getting an HF radio, I have been interested in powering it without utility power. I live in a rural area where the power goes out occasionally, and the ability to communicate would be handy for those times where utilities are out for long periods. I found a very helpful vendor – https://www.sunwize.com/ who helped me select an appropriately sized system. I ended up with a single panel and a couple of large batteries that should run my radios for a couple hours of transmit time @ 100 watts per sunny day. I used https://solarpoweredhamradio.com/ as a starting point. Once it is set up I will review the specifics and how practical it is.

All the way back in 1992 I was interested in Morse code, I purchased a Morse code tape cassette and listened to back and forth to work in my Geo Metro. I never really did pick it up, I suppose because I didn’t have anything to practice with or some driving factor like a radio to train for. I even put it on my evaluation support form as a personal goal in 2003. But now finally, in 2017, I am making (slow) contacts with Morse/CW. I took a class with CW Academy, and it was a very good instructor led, distance learning program.

http://www.cwops.org/cwacademy.html

If you have also wanted to learn Morse, but have difficulty self-learning the skill, sign up for one of their classes.

I just recalled that as a teenager, I was given a Trans Oceanic 7000 by someone, likely my Grandfather who I recently learned was a amateur radio operator.  I remember listening to radio dramas in the 80s late at night when I couldn’t sleep.  It took a bit of searching to find the make and model of the radio as I just remembered the map that came with the set, but it appears they are for sale from time to time on Ebay and sites like that.  I wish I remember what happened to that set, it was well made and would be a nice addition to my shack.

http://www.worldofradio.com/

Mr. Glenn Hauser has an interesting show on shortwave that I caught on 7.731.  He talks about interesting events on the spectrum.  Definitely a show I will listen to regularly as it exactly what I am interested in.  His website has a lot of information and should consume a few hours of reading.

This is the first time I have seen this sort of format – a station transmitting in a four segment transmission.  A carrier, a voice segment slightly higher, a tone segment slightly higher than that, then a data segment beyond that.

They transmit the time in English and French, with a tick beep for seconds, and every minute they send a digital encoded time.

I will have to see if there is a decoder for this or other time stations to synchronize clocks as a project.

This station was fairly easy to find information on, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHU_%28radio_station%29

I have heard of these stations, but had never heard one on the air.  It is in Single Side Band (SSB).  The first voice was female, repeating sequences of letters in the NATO alphabet.  Another voice came on, this one male, beginning at 7PM US EST time.  This second station likely was not collocated with the original because the signal was much weaker.  Some websites identify this as a Strategic Command frequency, which makes it even more interesting.  I will have to continue to monitor this one regularly.

Interesting to finally catch one of these stations on the air.