Solar Power for portable Operations

Today I tested the first time my new solar power setup for portable operations. I am using a 60 W PowerFilm foldable solar panel and a 5 A MPPT charge controller for a LiFePo4 4S battery. The whole weight is 1600 g including the 5 m connection cable.

60 W foldable solar panel with MPPT charge controller
Hanging solar panel on the balcony – testing

It was cloudy day and the sun was most often covered by clouds. The panel is only exposed to 1/3 up to max. 1/2 to the full sunlight, if it is there.

Using a power analyzer to measure the incoming power and charge.

Using a power analyzer, the data show a 1.4 A peak current and 19 W peak power. I was able to charge 10 Wh in about 2 hours. Next time I will try to get the panel under full illumination in the sun and measure again.

Power Analyzer from Turnigy

The analyzer shows current, voltage and power and in addition peak values for current and power as well as total energy (power integrated over time) in Wh.

CQ WPX SSB Contest 2018

Over the weekend March 25th/25th I participated in the CQ WPX Contest SSB, category Single Operator, Non-assisted, Low Power. Although propagation was not favourable, I could make more than 1000 contacts and achieve more than 1 Mio points (raw score). Having fun!

Klaus, 4E1A, during WPX SSB contest 2018

The analysis of log data gives a good snapshot for the current propagation conditions from the Philippines.

CQ zones reached with time (local Philippines) and average frequency. Yellow: long path.

10 m band was open to Japan, Korea and China

INFEX 2018 – DX1ACE

The 2018 International Friendship Exchange (INFEX) and DX Contest took place on Feb 17th, 2018. DX1ACE participated from the National High School Dasmariñas.

OCF dipole for 40, 20 and 15 m on a 12 m fiberglass pole and commercial v-shaped multi band dipole
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Girl scouts having fun with the radio
Dasmariñas National High School

80/40/30 m Dipole

For the lower bands I am using a 40/80 m trap dipole. In order to become qrv on 30 m, I added a radiation coupled lambda/2 element for 30 m, using 10 cm spreader. After cutting the additional wire to the right length, the resonance on 30 m is exactly at 10.1 MHz. The additional element has no influence on the resonance for 40 and 80 m, but the impedance on 30 m is with 150 Ohm significant higher than 50 Ohm.

VSWR_30m
10.1 MHz Impedance (141 – j34) Ohm – VSWR 3
40m_VSWR
7.1 MHz Impedance (40 + j1) Ohm – VSWR 1.24
80m_VSWR
3.6 MHz Impedance (27 – j5) Ohm – VSWR 1.9

Bread Baking Gallery

I am baking my own bread for years already, but in the past I did it mainly with a bread baking machine using commercial yeast. In September 2017 I started my own sourdough, and over the last couple of months the breads became better and tastier. End of November 2017 I bought a kitchen machine, so that I can knead the dough with the machine. Important for a good bread is a slow fermentation of the dough. Usually it takes at least 16 to 24 hours from the first dough to the final loaf.

potato-walnut
Potato-Walnut Bread
Light white Spelt

Continue reading Bread Baking Gallery