Normal view
The weather this weekend was frightful
Β 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.Β
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.Β 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.
Charging your laptop or tablet off-grid
What is Your Off Grid βPlan Bβ? Do You Even HAVE a Plan B?
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 Β»
The post What is Your Off Grid βPlan Bβ? Do You Even HAVE a Plan B? appeared first on Off Grid Ham.
Ham Radio Camper Caravan Part 2 | Off-Grid Power
Smart Edition Bluetooth LiFePO4 battery β Charge Controller | Power Queen
Portable Ham Radio on Solar Power Giveaway
My Off-Grid & Grid Down Comms Energy strategy
Impromptu QRP JS8Call QSO with Icom IC-705
Ruuvi Sensors & Gateway | Off-Grid Ham Shack
Keeping the Ham Shack & my Lithium batteries warm in winter
Charging a LiFePO4 battery with wind power
2023 Goal Review and New Goals for 2024
I had an ambitious set of goals for 2023:
- Teach a class (either Technician or CW Academy)
- Participate in 120+ CWTs for the CWops Gold Medal
- Build my QRP-Labs QDX Digital Transceiver
- 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.Β It sits on my desk and perhaps will come to life in 2024.Β I did complete 145 CWTs (actually 146 but I forgot to submit a log for one of them).Β I also taught a Technician class in the spring of 2023.Β For POTA I did get the WAS award, and hunted more than 1000 parks.
For 2024, I think Iβm 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)
Benefits of adding parallel batteries in an off-grid system
Building a Solar Powered Ham Radio Station
Power Queen LiFePO4 for Christmas
Radio Friendly MPPT charge controller for Off-Grid Radio Comms
Off-Grid Grid-Down Comms & Current consumption
The Off Grid Ham 100 Watts For $300 Solar Project -2023 Update
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 Β»
The post The Off Grid Ham 100 Watts For $300 Solar Project -2023 Update appeared first on Off Grid Ham.