There are not too many options for radio amateurs who want portable DC power beyond the batteries in their devices. The Off Grid Ham 100 Watts For $300 Solar Power Plant is one alternative, but that can be too much for the ham who only needs to run a handheld/QRP… Read more »
Even many experienced ham operators will approach a table full of coax cable reels at a swap meet or stare at on line listings and feel lost in all the options, then out of confusion will default to buying whatever the vendor suggests or whatever is cheapest. They end up… Read more »
Go boxes are a well worn subject in ham radio circles. On prepper/survival internet forums in particular, the topic has been beaten beyond death. In nearly all of these discussions, there is a lot talk about the how, but not much on the why. When reasons are given, they are… Read more »
I’m sure you’ve seen those portable solar panel kit systems that give you everything you need in one package, for one price, and appear to be a complete plug-and-play solution. I’m going to explain why solar panel kit systems are not the best choice for the off grid ham. Although… Read more »
I am frequently approached by frustrated radio amateurs who are looking to get into solar power and feel completely lost in all the options. To address the need, I’ve come up with a simple solution that really works and is priced right. I call it The Off Grid Ham 100… Read more »
So you did your homework, chose carefully, and your shiny new, fresh out of the box inverter has come home. Then the obvious question hits: What now? Welcome to Part 2 of the Off Grid Ham inverter series. We’ll go through some concepts you’ll need to understand to get an… Read more »
The solar charge controller is arguably the most important component of a solar energy system. Like the conductor of an orchestra, the solar charge controller makes it possible for all the other parts to work together. Understanding how a solar charge controller performs its task is important to planning for… Read more »
One of the biggest problems of off grid energy is getting batteries to work together. You cannot mix different types of batteries, old and new batteries, or batteries of different capacities. The Magnum Energy ME-SBC Smart Battery Combiner easily solves this problem for not a lot of money. When I… Read more »