Winter Field Day 2019

While I did not compete for points in this years Winter Field Day, I did take advantage of the event to test out some of my off-grid radio operation gear.  I operated from the comfort of my home (1HKS) but did not use any commercial power source to power my Icom 7300 radio.

Since I only have a small 12 Volt/7.2 Amp Hour Sealed Lead Acid Battery, I will be operating lower power to conserve the battery.  One of the things I want to learn from this winter field day exercise is how long can I operate before depleting my power.

IC-7300 at 75W

Begin test with battery at 12.66V at 4:28 p.m.
Ran test until battery reached 12V at 8:15 p.m.
Total of 3 hr 45 min.

I will also be testing how well my Thunderbolt Magnum 13 Watt Briefcase Solar Charger performs in keeping power supplied to the battery. I don’t expect the solar panels to keep me on the air for the entire time, so I also have a Tailgator 2 Cycle Gas Portable Generator that I will attach to the battery in a separate test.

I deployed my fiberglass antenna mast with tripod with a Hamstick for the lower end of the 80 meter phone band, resonate at 3.829 Mhz.