Inspired by OH8STN (http://oh8stn.org/), and in anticipation of Winter Field Day (https://www.winterfieldday.com/) I decided to make a portable station. For the most part, it is my normal home setup on a cart. It is heavy but it works, refinements will be reducing weight. When put together for travel it looks like:

The items aren’t ideal, but this was made from scrap and items I had on hand. The only items I purchased for portable use was the cart, a Rambo Bikes cart made for a fatbike but can double as a hand cart, and a GPS dongle for time which is required for some digital modes. Additionally, a 100w solar panel from Rockpals provides recharging capability, which I got on sale.

The batteries are the same as my home station, I got a fresh set and used the older ones for portable. They add the most weight at 100lb of Gel lead acid battery, but I get 140Ah from it. The box is weatherproofed, but ill need to refine how I cover and load the cart for rain. The box lid doubles as a tabletop when it is inside the shelter. I added an IC7200 to the setup since its made to take out in the field and less delicate than the IC7300. A couple of old tablets provide VNC (remote desktop) access to the Raspberry Pi, which handles digital modes. Antenna is a multiband Windom dipole that uses trees for height in an inverted v configuration.

Moving the station is workable, but weight reduction will help make this easier. difficult terrain will be a challenge in its current state.

It works in testing, I get the same reach as my home setup, so I am happy with it. The next step will be to find some local campgrounds, hike in, and set up there to see how far I can pack this and what can be done to improve its portability.

A friend of mine suggested we participate in Field Day 2020. Having not done any contesting before, much less in the field, I wasn’t sure how this would work out but I really enjoyed it.

Our setup was a simple 12v car battery and our HF rigs. I had handheld 2m radios but we didn’t use them very much. Our antenna was an inverted V dipole that we shot into the trees with a bow, a fishing pole, and guy line. We set up a campsite and then focused on operating the station. My friend made a significant number of voice contacts and we discovered the rules gave an advantage to digital contacts. I have used digital modes mostly in JS8Call and Contestia, but I could only make a small handful of PSK contacts. The action seemed to be in what sounded like JS8Call, but I found later the mode was FT8. Having spent some time since learning this mode, I should be in good shape for the next field event.

We ended up needing a generator a couple times, which introduced interference with radio operation. For the next event I’ll be looking for some foldable solar panel sets to charge the station batteries and a Raspberry Pi/tablet combo for power efficiency with the digital aspect. My home station battery setup can run for a few days without sun, but that is mostly listening so i’ll have to work up the math on contesting, which is a great deal more transmitting, thus power consumption, than I am accustomed to.

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.