Building a Solar Powered Ham Radio Station

[searcher]

Not a ham myself. Just a long-time shortwave listener who has a big interest in radio communications. If interested, you can see the shortwave radio thread here https://www.pmbug.com/threads/shortwave-listening-swl.4517/ .

The guy who wrote the article is a long-time ham with an interest in off-grid communications and portable off-grid battery and solar power. You can read about him here:

OH8STN Callsign Page

OH8STN personal biography

www.qrz.com

QSO Today with Julian White OH8STN

Julian White, OH8STN, operates outdoors in Finland's Arctic Circle and records, on his popular YouTube Channel, his expeditions with his compact but sophisticated simulations of grid down...

www.qsotoday.com

https://twitter.com/OH8STN

Article:

Building a Solar Powered Ham Radio Station​

Welcome to the Off-Grid Ham Shack series. In this series we go through putting together a solar-powered off-grid ham radio station (Ham Shack). This article covers everything from solar panels, charge controllers, power distribution, and battery storage capable of powering our communications gear for fun, or in a grid-down scenario.

Building a Solar Powered Ham Radio Station

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 im…

oh8stn.org

Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@OH8STN/videos

 

[foolsgold]

2 - 100 watt 12 volt panels from Renogy, charge controller, blue tooth module, pretty simple. This young man's advice is outstanding.

https://www.youtube.com/@WillProwse

Oh yeah get a license and learn how to operate LOL. Antennas are more important than the radio. An Icom-7300 won't let you down, I have two.

 

[searcher]

Here's Julian's latest vid and a few links.

Jan 23, 2024
In this video, we charge the lithium ( LiFePO4 ) battery powering the off-grid ham shack using a vertical-axis wind generator. Also covered are various methods of charging our solar battery storage, when there is no solar power for our ham radio station.

Charging Lithium battery with wind | Off Grid Ham Shack​

7:39

73
- Julian #oh8stn #hamradio
- Episode notes: https://oh8stn.org/blog/2024/01/23/ch...
- Building your off-grid ham shack blog: https://oh8stn.org/blog/2023/12/21/bu...
- Power Queen 20A RF Quiet LiFePO4 charger: https://www.ipowerqueen.de/en/product...
- More about Power Queen: https://oh8stn.org/power-queen-lifepo4/

- Visit my blog and website: https://oh8stn.org

 

[searcher]

Update on post # 1

My Off grid & Grid down Comms Energy Strategy | OH8STN​

Mar 10, 2024

The off-grid ham shack is now 100% energy self-reliant. It has taken some time to develop an effective grid-down energy strategy. Today, the station acting as a TOC (Tactical Operations Center, can stay in the fight during a prolonged grid-down disaster. This video covers batteries, solar power, wind generator, hand crank generator, power distribution, and much of the comms gear used off-grid, in the station.


17:36

Huge thanks to @S2Underground for inspiring this video!

73
Julian #oh8stn #hamradio

Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@OH8STN/videos

Link to S2 Underground thread:

S2 Underground Project

This is an interesting YouTube channel I came across by accident. Will make a couple of posts, including links. All sorts of survivalist stuff here. For entertainment purposes only. "Nope" - The Art of Noncompliance Mar 13, 2021 21:07 In this episode, we cover just a few tactics that can be...

www.pmbug.com

 

[searcher]

Portable Ham Radio on Solar Power Basics​

May 2, 2024 #oh8stn #hamradio #solarpowered

Portable Ham Radio on solar power can be very rewarding. You generate your own energy from the sun, power you own off-grid ham radio station, and you are completely self-reliant during a grid down emergency. The experience is priceless!
In this video we discuss the component required for a 12 volt DC solar power system and battery storage. We go through our component choices, show how to wire up the system, and also how and where to test your new portable solar power system, for portable ham radio ops.


12:21

00:00 Introduction
01:00 Partners
02:05 Discount codes
02:18 Component breakdown
05:45 Wiring tips
07:49 First test
09:18 Gear choices
10:56 Reminders

 

[searcher]

More neat stuff from Julian.

Ham Radio Camper Caravan | Part 1​

Jun 17, 2024 #oh8stn #hamradio #camper

The Ham Radio Camper Caravan Trailer is finally here. In this video we install some solar panels, drill and install some power cables for our solar panels, test a telescopic mast with 80 meter off center fed dipole, ran some winlink and FT8 sessions, before discussing the future of this portable ham radio project.


11:53

73Julian oh8stn

Want something interesting to dive in to while waiting for the next video?
- Visit my blog and website: https://oh8stn.org

 

[searcher]

Ham Radio Camper Caravan Part 2 | Power Anywhere​

Jul 15, 2024 #oh8stn #campertrailer #solarpower

The Ham Radio camper caravan trailer gets some off-grid solar-powered updates.Today we look at the the off-grid goals for the camping trailer. We also look at using a raspberry pi and Elecrow 7inch touchscreen, to build Victron VenusOS power management system. This should make it easy to monitor the Power Queen LiFePO4 battery, the generated energy from the new AllPowers solar panels, and current load from all the portable ham radio gear. With all these updates, the camper trailer should be completely sustainable, anywhere it is deployed.


17:01

73
Julian oh8stn

- Episode notes and links: https://oh8stn.org/blog/2024/07/15/ha...
- Want something interesting to dive in to while waiting for the next video? - Visit my blog and website: https://oh8stn.org

 

[searcher]

Arctic Circle Off Grid Ham Radio Expedition 2024​

Off-Grid Ham Radio Expedition at the Arctic Circle Finland. Julian OH8STN and his dog Junior headed North to test the off-grid power and communications capabilities of his portable ham shack camper. This first episode focuses on getting there, and getting started.
73
Julian oh8stn

video: • Arctic Circle Off Grid Ham Radio Expe...

 

[searcher]

Ham Radio Off Grid at the Arctic Circle | EP2​

Off-Grid Ham Radio camper camping at the Arctic Circle Finland.
In this episode we discuss off-grid communications with JS8Call, the importance of keeping a flexible and adaptable operation strategy, and the problems with the "No Random Contacts" strategy to emergency communications.
73
Julian oh8stn

• Ham Radio Off Grid at the Arctic Circ...