Not scary, frightful, just frightful activity wise.
I got soaked coming home on Friday. I was following the weather and radar all day and was expecting thunderstorms here at work when I left for the day. It was bone dry, but the skies were darkening. All the way on the drive home, I could "feel" that darkness behind me, rather then see it in the rear view mirror. As luck would have it, as dark as it was, it didn't rain and I thought I would beat the storm home. As I got out of car in front of the house (I park on the street), there was a cloudburst. It began raining at a rate of over an inch an hour, with huge, heavy drops that actually hurt when they landed on my arms. I got drenched enough that I had to change clothes once I got inside.
That set the tone for the weekend's weather. It was so humid that the lawn didn't dry out all of Saturday, so we couldn't mow. And that was actually a good thing as the temperature/humidity index made it feel like it was over 100F. We probably would have ended p with heat exhaustion. I told my son that if worse comes to worse, we'll buy a sheep. HI! We ended up getting hit with more thunderstorms and about 0.69 inches of rain later in the afternoon. I was going to grill burgers for dinner, but had to resort to indoor cooking instead.
On Sunday, I got on HF for a little bit around 1:00 PM (17:00 UTC). The bands were a mess. I did not hear anyone on any band except for 20 Meters, where I heard a solitary station, NM8GS around 14.038 MHz.
It was the light ship Huron that was on the air for Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend. They was calling CQ and I worked them easily on the first try. That was when I looked up at HamClock and saw that the K Index was at 6.3. Argh! The bands were pretty much a wasteland. Speaking of which, I just recently downloaded the SpaceWeatherLive app onto my phone.
It's a freebie and you can find it in Google Play and the iTunes store. You can set it up so that you will be alerted whenever there's a solar flare or a CME. A good tool for those of us who are denizens of the HF bands. It was not difficult to understand why the bands were so noisy and dead at my QTH as I was getting alerts for M Class flares almost continuously! One approached M7.2 on Saturday afternoon - almost X Class! I was also getting alerts that there were "minor" radio blackouts. Ha! They appeared to be a bit more than minor at my QTH!
I ended up using the time to fabricate my "new" drive on mast holder. I wanted to take pictures of it "in action" so to speak, but due to even more thunderstorms yesterday afternoon and early evening, that became an impossibility. Today is supposed to be dry all day, so maybe tonight I'll get the chance to get a few quick photos. I did something a little different this time and it's easier to explain with photos as a visual aid.
We ended up getting an additional 0.72 inches of rain yesterday, so we got over an inch and a half for the weekend. Up until recently, it's been a very dry Summer in South Plainfield. Whenever a heat wave broke with thunderstorms, it seemed they always skirted to either the north or south of us. We're making up for that now. Tomorrow evening there is a 605 chance of showers and thunderstorms, which I hope does not pan out. Tomorrow evening is National Night Out, and SPARC will be at the event, handing out literature promoting Amateur Radio to the community. I'd hate for rain to spoil the event.
Also, I've been keeping an eye on Hurricane Debby. It looks like as she winds up the East Coast, she'll be downgraded to a tropical storm, but there is potential for major flooding either Thursday or Friday. Hurricane Ida is still fresh in my mind when we got 9" of rain in one day, just a few years back. We lost Marianne's car when the parking lot where she works became a lake that night. I don't want to go through that again!
When the Sun lets you down. Loyal OGH reader Randy from Wisconsin recently commented that for several weeks in June and into July he barely got anything at all out of his well planned, high-budget home solar power system due to nearly constant clouds and rain. His dilemma highlights a... Read more »
Traditionally held on “The Last Rainy Weekend” in June but for the sticklers for the rules its actual date is the 4th weekend in June…
This year it would be on June 22nd and ending on June 23rd
So what will VA3QV be doing???? Its safe to say that my Field Day Station will look a bit like this:
or like this from back in 2017….
FD 2017/ RAC Canada Day Contest 2017Won’t look like this…. This was an early Winter Field Day attempt
So I plan to be operating as a 1B Battery Station from the RAC Ontario East Section (ONE)
The actual location has not been determined yet but there is a good chance the location could be one of the Parks on the Air location in the City of Kingston.
That’s the plan for good weather… and so far the long range forecast is calling for nice (dry). If the weather is not dry then the plan is to operate as a home station in the 1D catagory just to give out points to the participants
Years ago Field Day was considered a test of our emergency operating skills specifically to set up and operate a station for 24 hours and somehow it has morphed into more of contest with groups of operators putting up equipment that would not be used in a real emergency at power levels that could not be maintained unless you had a generator and an endless supply of gasoline.
I’m a little more primitive by setting up my QRP (5w of power) radio with a wire antenna and using a solar panel to top up the battery as needed.
basic shelter
I will have the option of being under cover (see above pic) as protection from the sun and/or rain most likely be needed at some time . Not sure how long I will be operating but it won’t be for the full 24 hours.
Overnight all I would be doing is listening to static and feeding the mosquitoes…
No egos to stroke…. Just operate and make some contacts with the emphasis of having fun and not taking myself too seriously.
Hope to hear you and be heard by you during the event
The off-grid ham shack is fully energy self-sufficient, utilizing solar, wind, and other power sources, with a focus on low current devices for sustainable communication.
Integrating the Ruuvi Gateway and sensors to remotely monitor indoor/outdoor temperatures, ensuring safe temperatures for lithium battery charging.
Off-Grid Ham Shack
To protect lithium batteries from cold while charging, a video/blog showcases using a Chinese diesel heater in an off-grid ham shack. It's vital to keep batteries above freezing, a lesson learned from electric cars in winter. The video details the installation and operation of a 3kw Vevor diesel heater, which also powers up using the ham shack's LiFePO4 batteries, maintaining ideal temperatures for both batteries and equipment.
This video shows charging Power Queen LiFePO4 batteries with a vertical wind generator and discusses off-grid ham shack power storage solutions, including during non-solar conditions.
Activate 10 new parks in CT or obtain award for hunting 1000 parks
Obtain 50 States Parks on the Air award
I completed four of the five, only failing to build the QDX transceiver. It sits on my desk and perhaps will come to life in 2024. I did complete 145 CWTs (actually 146 but I forgot to submit a log for one of them). I also taught a Technician class in the spring of 2023. For POTA I did get the WAS award, and hunted more than 1000 parks.
For 2024, I think I’m going to dial things back a bit, but here we go:
Hunt 1500+ POTA parks
Do at least one activation with the Elecraft KH1 hand-held QRP rig
Give a radio club presentation on solar power/batteries
Compete in 120+ CWTs
Wildcard (like finish the QDX or some other ham related project)
This tutorial demonstrates how to connect two 12-volt batteries in parallel using Power Queen 12.8V, 100Ah, 1280Wh lithium iron phosphate batteries. The provided YouTube link offers a detailed guide. For related content, explore building a solar-powered Off-Grid Ham Radio Station and information on radio-friendly MPPT charge controllers and off-grid communications.
The Off-Grid Ham Shack series discusses creating a self-sufficient ham radio station or 'Ham Shack' capable of operating on solar power during any grid down scenario, emphasizing the importance of an energy strategy for off-grid communications. This system includes solar panels, a charge controller, battery, and power distribution system. Key elements are the use of photovoltaic (PV) panels to harness solar energy, a solar charge controller to regulate energy flow and prevent battery overcharging or damage, and a battery to store energy for later. As well, power distribution ensures the allocation of power to multiple devices simultaneously. A grid-down energy strategy is crucial to any communication-related emergency, be it CB, FRS, GMRS, MURS or PMR radio, UHF CB, DMR, DStar, Meshtastic or LoRa communications.
The blog post highlights the benefits of Power Queen LiFePO4 batteries for off-grid projects over traditional lead-acid batteries, focusing on the better performance and cost-effectiveness in the long run. Additionally, it provides subscribers with information and discounts on Power Queen's Christmas offers, and illustrates how LiFePO4 batteries function in an off-grid system. It also includes descriptions and respective links of the batteries suited for specific needs in the US, Europe, and Canada.
The author discusses choosing a solar charge controller suitable for radio communication. He focuses on three criteria: portability, radio frequency quietness, and Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) functionality. Recommending Genasun due to its compatibility with these requirements, he mentions his dissatisfaction with another brand, Victron, that caused excessive radio frequency noise. For optimal results, he suggests keeping devices DC powered and using no inverters. He provides specific instructions about matching controllers to battery and solar panel specs, and suggests parallel configuration for Genasun controllers.
The post warns against the use of QRO radio systems for off-grid or grid-down situations due to their high energy consumption. Instead, it advocates QRP radios, suggesting they offer greater efficiency and ease of use with renewable energy sources such as solar. The post also dismisses the idea of lowering the transmission power of QRO radios as a solution, arguing that it does not address issues with energy inefficiency and that such advice is misguided.
A classic never goes out of style. Way back in 2016 I posted the Off Grid Ham 100 Watts for $300 Solar Plant. Even today, that article is still hugely popular and one of the most viewed posts on this website. In a 2020 update, the $300 threshold not only... Read more »
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