Solar Flare Observed Today.

 Around 1135 UTC today I observed a radio burst of noise on 14MHz. Going to 28MHz it was there, too.

I tuned into the GOES X-ray observations, and could follow the X-ray flare rising to a peak of M4.0 at 1139 UTC.

This is the first time in this solar cycle that I could follow a flare rising to a peak. I was just sitting in my living room when I heard the noise burst(s), so yes, it is a good idea to have a radio receiver running in the 14 - 30MHz range, just for that. I may build a simple DCRX with an audio amplifier, and maybe a visual monitoring (graph) for observing radio solar bursts. Preferably in a range with no other terrestrial signals (or noise from electronic devices). Oh, bother. Too many projects already ;)

This flare originated in sunspot group (AR) 2975 near the center of the solar disk. Looking at the movies this could be a full halo, earth directed, CME. Is there aurora in our near future? (the next few days).

Solar Power Update.

 Today I made the latest update to the solar power system for the shack.

The system now consists of a battery capacity total of 120Ah nominal, 4 pcs. 12V / 30Ah batteries.

Additionally, the 50W panel has been replaced with a 100W panel. The intention is adding another 100W panel, so the battery *can* be charged with a peak current of just under 20A. In the summer part of the year this should be sufficient to run some of the monitoring receiver systems 24/7. For the winter season a back up system using mains power in the low light solar periods should probably be added.

A higher current rated solar charge controller is also added. The previous one could only handle 10A charge current, the new one handles 20A, corresponding to 2x 100W solar panels. The system should operate within safe parameters. I do have the second 100W panel, so it is a matter of making a good mounting system.

At the moment this system powers my IC-705 fully, and more should be possible:

1) If the voltage drop from inside to the outdoor QO100 PA at the dish is not too high, the second use would be adding this with a switch in the shack. This is necessary as there is a current draw of somewhere about 100mA from the PA, as it is just using a WiFi ("8W") booster that has a DC/DC converter and is also active in "receive mode". It uses a very fast "HF-VOX" transmit-receive switch, so it is usable with SSB signals. The current power supply for this is using an extra DC/DC converter. This way the PA can be mounted in a smaller box closer to the feed antenna.

2) I located an adapter for cigarette lighter connector, so now it is possible to connect the hand-held 10m transceiver to use as a 24/7 monitor receiver for the FT8 frequency on 10m.

3) A small CW-only transceiver with <= 50W on the 80-40-30-20m can be used for mostly monitoring on one of those bands

4) I have crystals for 7074kHz (40m FT8) and 14074kHz (20m FT8) that could be used in simple receivers for monitoring those bands. Other options for building simple receivers for other bands are available.

5) Some "transistor radios" with SSB function can be used on other frequencies not covered by crystals available to me, and for some broadcast frequencies. This requires some extra voltage regulators as their voltage requirements vary from 2 - 4.5 - 6V, maybe others.

Long term I intend to make a separate solar power supply system for the QO-100 system, and a system for lighting, and maybe later some electrical tools.

In the past week I also found some, not too expensive, solar panels. 1 100W panel and 5 50W panels.

I should now have solar panels for peak power of up to a total of 600W. I intend to find more and looked a bit around. I could find some panels similar to the new ones I got this week in Germany, but as far as I can see, a "local" (I can drive there and pick up) has some 280W panels for 24V systems.

When I get those I will definitely need some high capacity batteries for storage. I have been looking into this, and the best solution - long term - looks like using LiFePO4 type batteries. Longer life time/more cycles possible than with lead-acid (gel) batteries so all-in-all a lower cost system. This does require better charge controllers, but I think it is worth it.

I am aware that it will not be possible to go completely off grid where I live, but I can, at least,  reduce the cost of energy in the longer term. A combination of mains and solar power will be the way to go here.

More Solar and 10m Setup.

 I got the modified IC-703 connected to a RX signal splitter with 3 outputs. One is connected back to the '703, so I have 2 more outputs available. The signal level is high enough for sensitive receivers, and could be amplified for use with more receivers. The idea is to have monitoring receivers near the 10m band, e.g. on the following frequencies:

27.555 CB activity centre for early propagation detection (other CB frequencies?)

28.074 FT8 tuning frequency. This could become a simple Polyakov type DC receiver.

28.126 WSPR/QRSS monitoring (could also become a Polyakov type DCRX).

28.200 International Beacon Project audio listening (could become a very simple superhet).

28.322 secondary QRSS (could be simple DCRX)

29.600 (FM calling frequency) - I should probably use my AOR7030 for this, but it looks like it needs some repair.

Possibly other 10m frequencies

My old FRG-100 receiver was also connected to the solar power system, as a test. This radio is far too power consuming, up to 1.2A. I checked consumption. Right now that RX is set up for monitoring 10m FT8, with the antenna connected to the IC-703 signal splitter

The FRG-100 is *very* inefficient to use with solar. Stand-by current ("off") is about 130mA and with the RX running, 600mA. Not suited for the small solar system I have here. For alternatives, see above.

I decided to run the FRG-100 from a mains power supply for now. If I can find a "female" cigarette lighter 12V connector, I will try to connect the hand-held 10m multimode TRX (w/"mobile adapter") that I have, to see the power consumption. This could work as an intermediate solution for monitoring 10m FT8 using the solar power system.

10m FT8, just running for less than an hour, has yielded spots from as far away as VK and HS and South America, 5 continents already. More spots are expected in the afternoon and evening.

The International Beacon system has had audible signals from VK (Aus), RR9 (Siberia), ZS6 (South Africa), 5Z4 (Kenya), 4X6 Israel and CS3 (Azores), already before 1200 UTC, with the IC-703 RX. 10m is very lively.

Yes, 10m is may favourite HF band when it comes to propagation, and solar cycle 25 looks like it will be good.

First Radio Running on Solar Power. And First QSO.

I have now set up my small 50W solar panel with a charge controller and lead-acid batteries with a combined capacity of - officially - 60 Ah, using two "30Ah 12V" gel batteries. A more realistic estimate, for avoiding draining the battery below a safe level, would probably be about 30-40Ah from a fully charged battery. 

In the summer months I would expect this set-up to power for all activities with my IC-705, so that radio has now been connected to the solar small power system. 

Now I will have to check how the voltage/capacity holds up.

I expect to have the 705 running for about 16 hours per day. The current drain at stand-by is about 300mA, so about 4.8 Ah is expected to be spent, with the transmit periods I would not expect the consumption to exceed 6Ah per day, except if I would be running a full contest, or the like. This should leave sufficient capacity for adding a few (very) low powered receivers for 24/7 monitoring.

When I have tested the '705 system for a few days, I shall see, if I can add more.

The batteries are meant as a large buffer for the solar panel. With the 50W panel I would expect the average capacity of approximately 16Ah per day, probably more in the longer and sunny days of summer, and less on days with heavy cloud cover, but hardly ever going down to zero per day. 

For the winter season I should probably add a bit of charging via the mains power supply. but it needs to be checked. For now I expect to be able to run my IC-705 solely on solar power for many months.

Further, other systems with small solar panels are in my thoughts, like some lighting for my workshop, with a small panel and some low cost, low power LED lights, mainly for finding my way around at night. This may not be so often, so a large-ish buffer battery with a small 20-30W panel should be sufficient for this.

Later, when I can afford it, I do intend to make a system with larger batteries, this time LiFePO4 type batteries. This will need larger solar panels. 

This may become a life long project. I suspect that I cannot become fully off-grid, but I would expect to be able to run some essenstials, like fridge/freezer and some light on solar. Heating is another matter. That may be beyond the limits of what I want to set up in the garden.