It’s better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. It’s been quite a summer! Flooding, extreme heat, wild fires, and (at this writing) a hurricane just tore up the Western USA and another storm is churning in the Gulf of Mexico. Every time… Read more »
The “holy grail” of solar energy? It’s been over six years since Off Grid Ham first covered perovskite solar. For the unfamiliar, perovskite solar is a new type of photovoltaic technology that is based on perovskite-structure crystals. There are several advantages. First, is efficiency. Perovskite solar is far more efficient… Read more »
When you want to expand your battery capacity. Off grid ham radio has an addictive quality about it. You tell yourself, “I’ll get a modest battery and solar panel and just fool around a little bit. I’m not too serious about this,” thinking that’s as far as you’ll ever go…. Read more »
Radio philosophy. If you see amateur radio as being greater than the sum of its parts, then you already understand where I’m about to go and will find affirmation in this article. If you value amateur radio solely for its utilitarian (communication) purposes, then you’re missing out. There is personal… Read more »
Wish list. Most off grid hams are off grid only for portable operations. Many of them would like a larger, permanent home system but don’t know where to start or what such a project involves. If having an off grid home solar power system has been a longtime wish, this… Read more »
Graduation time. A lot of if not most off grid hams have only one battery in their system. Connecting a single battery is more or less self-explanatory. What should you do when you expand your system to include multiple batteries? Should they be in series? In parallel? Is one way… Read more »
It cannot be avoided… Batteries are arguably the weakest link in the off grid radio chain. Solar panels, controllers, connecting cables, and almost everything else can last years, even decades. But batteries are a consumable product and no matter how good yours are, it’s almost certain they will not last… Read more »
Let the dead rest. Now several weeks out from being the #1 ham radio news story, the Yaesu FT-818/817 product sunset has faded from attention. Anyone not already on the Yaesu platform will have to seek QRP alternatives. Most hams were surprised, some were disappointed, and some were strangely…glad? One… Read more »
Randall from Wisconsin, a longtime good friend of this blog and probably Off Grid Ham’s most loyal reader, has a blog of his own. It’s not exclusively a radio-related blog, but he does have a lot of solid content that any ham radio nut would enjoy. He recently posted a review of… Read more »
The news wasn’t shocking. One would have to be living deep in a cave not to have heard the news. Just before the new year, seemingly out of nowhere, Yaesu announced that it was discontinuing the venerated FT-817 & FT-818 radio. Although the news came as a surprise, anyone with… Read more »
Revisiting an old topic. I don’t do a lot of antenna articles because there is already so much information in circulation I can’t see much ground left to cover, at least that’s what I thought until new Off Grid Ham reader Rick sent a nice email that inspired this article…. Read more »
Mother Nature flips the switch. Where I live in the upper Midwest USA, we were unusually lucky to have an extended warm Fall season. In early November we were still seeing highs over 70F (21C). I was raking leaves wearing shorts and a t-shirt! But ahhh yes, everyone knew the… Read more »