Hi Marv,
I did a backyard FD event on battery power with solar trickle charging. I've got to run to work now. I'll post some pix later tonight.
PS: I had a great time
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ON EDIT: Here are a few pix of my backyard 1E-SJV FD station (1 transmitter emergency power San Joaquin Valley, CA). I had two 35 AH Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) batteries. Use one. Trickle charge the other with a small solar panel. Swap as needed.
First picture is actually the most important picture. Turn OFF the sprinklers before erecting station
!
Next picture shows the backyard before stating to assemble the station. I mounted an old digital camera on a tripod and kept it in the same spot for all of the pix:
Next the 12 foot canopy goes up:
Then Sandra (My wife's caregiver) as well as Sparkle (Darling Darlene's little Bichon Frise) and the
GARDEN ZOMBIE (Back in the corner of the yard
) all help with the getting the "victual essentials" ready for chill-down:
Then we put up a little station "advertising" in the form of a vinyl banner I had made at eSigns. Surprisingly inexpensive:
Then a little ice for the beer and other items
Then Sandra helped me put the small solar trickle charger on the roof. I trickle charged one of the SLA batteries while using the other. Swapped as needed:
Then brother Danny shows up to help with the last of the Power Pole connections and splices before moving the Icom7000 and other station components outside. We also then raised the 40M and 20M backyard dipoles. Most importantly, he also needed to insure that the beer was cold enough to continue :-)
Finally we are on the air making FD Qs as I explain UTC to brother Danny (Notice the UTC clock
)
As evening approached I get the battery powered night lights out and ready. I didn't want to stumble around in the dark setting them up so I thought it better to stumble around in the late afternoon sun
to get the night lights ready.
After some quality inside dinner time and TV time with XYL "Darling Darlene", I head back out into the wilds of the backyard to enjoy some late night OPs.
As the night progressed I continued FD operations listening to the distant stations drift in over the ether. Night Ops was the most fun for me. If I do this again next year, some bug spray or mosquito netting will be on the checklist!
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Adding more later... need to get ready for work now
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