Larry D. Barr, K5WLF, is a long-time proponent of renewable energy use, has lived off-grid in the past and is the owner of Rebel Wolf Energy Systems, a renewable energy (RE) consulting and design company. So, it was only natural that he’d look for ways to combine his passion for RE sources with amateur radio emergency communications.
One of the problems at any remote location where radios are set up is the need for reliable power. If hams are deployed in response to an emergency such as a fire, flood or tornado, there is no guarantee the the power grid will be functioning, so the hams must provide their own power. As Larry tells students at license and EmComms classes, “You can’t count on the infrastructure being in place. So the safest way is to figure that if we don’t bring it with us, it doesn’t exist.”
What’s become known locally as the “Solar Powered Ham Station” started out in response to a need for an autonomous station to serve as Net Control for the bicycle races that the Tarleton Area Amateur Radio Club (TAARC) in Stephenville, TX provides comms for each year. “We couldn’t count on being within reach of an AC power source,” says Larry. “A generator would do the job, but they’re noisy, require refueling and can be a fire hazard. Besides, I wanted to use some kind of renewable source.”
Larry had a pair of Uni-Solar US-64 photovoltaic (PV) panels “sitting at the house collecting dust when they could be collecting sunshine”, so it was an easy decision to put them in the pickup and carry them to the bike races, then stand them up in the truck bed for the event. However, it took a couple folks to load them and there was no room to carry anything else in the pickup when the PV panels were being transported. The next logical step was to devise a way of carrying the panels on the truck all the time, so that it would always be ready for use. Not only would it be more convenient but, as Larry says, “Having the panels ready in the pickup all the time is really what Amateur Radio EmComms is all about. If we need to deploy somewhere at a moment’s notice, the panels are already on the truck and my Go-Kit is behind the seat.”
Larry and his friend Robert Taylor, K5HIX, designed and built the rack that supports the panels in the pickup. The panels ride below the top surface of the rack, so that it can be used to haul lumber or pipe without removing the PV panels. There are two antenna mast sockets in the front members of the rack enabling the erection of an antenna approximately 30 feet in the air without the need for a separate tower or guying. “Our goal was to make the pickup a self-contained EmComms response station, and I think we met that goal quite well, Although there are always things you think of after the fact that you’d like to add. So it’s subject to modification at any time.” Larry said.
The two PV panels, at 64 watts each for 128 watts total, are capable of providing almost eight amps to the two 12 volt, 100 amp-hour AGM batteries which power the radios. For larger radio systems, such as operating not only a transceiver or two, but also a repeater, four batteries are used instead of two. “We’ve left to do a bike race with less than a full charge in the batteries, run a net control radio for about five hours and come home with the batteries fully charged,” Larry says. “It’s amazing what Mother Nature will do for you.”
The batteries are PowerSonic PS-121000 AGMs, the charge controller is a Trace (now Xantrex) C12 and all the 12 VDC power is interconnected with Anderson PowerPole connectors. Power distribution is handled by either a West Mountain Radio RigRunner or distribution devices by Red-Dee-2-Connect (sold by Powerwerx).
Larry D. Barr, K5WLF, is an Amateur Extra class licensee, ARRL NTX District 3 PIO, ARES AEC and RACES CLO (Alt). Robert Taylor, K5HIX, is an Amateur Extra class licensee and ARES NTX District 3 DEC.
Filed under: Green Radio | Tagged: Amateur Radio, ecology, Green Radio, Ham Radio, radio, solar, solar power
