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The biggest lesson I learned over the past year with one 400W system was to move away from using lead acid deep cycle batteries for this application.

I had 2 - 90 Ah 12v lead acids in parallel and my charge controller has great metering. I found, after drawing the first 20 Ah, was the batteries were dipping well below 12 volts during 10A transmit.
When I pushed it further, the HF rig would reset due to low voltage.? Without a load, those batteries would float back up a half volt or more.

The Lithium Iron phosphate chemistry cells have a much lower internal resistance and much higher energy density, yet are much safer than Lithium ion.
They can be shipped and the quoted price is to your door.
With a single 100 Ah LiFePO4 - even drawing 25A while transmitting 100W - the voltage only drops to 13 volts. The radio is much happier.

The only downside I have encountered happened when I had adjusted my charge controller to charge to 14.6 volts.? The Lithium's protection circuitry opened the battery connection and the radios were floating momentarily at panel level - almost 20 volts!? My own fault.? A Internet "experts" advice that was years old. Controller default is 14.2 volts.?

73
Mike N0QBH

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Some "after" pictures of my set up.

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73
Mike N0QBH

Mike, I’m very impressed with your solar set-up! ?On our Alaska farm, being totally off-grid, we installed solar back in about 2004. Ours is a 48 volt system with 16 130 watt solar panels connected in series and parallel to give 2080 watts at 48 volts and we have 24 6 volt lead acid batteries also in series and parallel. ?We have a 48 volt charge controller/inverter that provides power to the house. ?Our radio set up runs off house power and what we found was the inverter caused significant RF interference on HF radio, probably in part due to the system being 20 years old. ?I tried the usual methods to control the interference but without wanting to spend too much time or money on it we instead would turn off the inverter and run the radios off a 12 volt battery instead. The result was almost zero noise.

We plan to install solar at our house in Stewart as time permits and your set-up seems to be a good example to follow. Without needing to provide 120 volt power to a whole house, the need for a large inverter is eliminated. ?We did determine the solar panels themselves provide no detectable noise.

I will be interested to follow updates on the performance of your system!

73,
Roger

One of my larger projects has been to convert my QTH ham radio station to run on solar power.
My station's layout has the HF is on one end of my house and the VHF/UHF the other.
I use two identical 12 volt 4 x 100 Watt solar panel arrays, each having a 100 Amp hour lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) storage battery.
These type of batteries cost more than lead acid deep cycle, but totally out perform them with usable voltage.
Each set up is located near the radio it serves. This minimizes cable loss.

You are probably wondering what this cost. Since I built two identical systems, I'll laundry list one.

$240 ? ? 4 - 12v 100W solar panels with weatherproof MC-4 connectors on leads (400W max output).

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$235 ? ? ? ?1 - 100 Amp Hour Lithium Iron LiFePO4 storage battery.

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$60 ? ? ? ? ?1 - 12v Solar charge controller with 30A capacity and lithium battery support.

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$65 ? ? ? ? ?1 - 4x6" treated timber and 5 - screw style dog anchors with tie down line and 2 noodles cut to fit panel tops.

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$100 ? ? ? ?3 - Wye 2 into 1 MC4 connectors, 10ga x 20' power cable MC4 on one end. Use for solar to controller and controller to battery connections.

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$40 ? ? ? ? ?2 - 4 bolt 5/16" power distribution bars, one red & one black. The radio and accessory power leads connect here, safely and neatly.

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$20 ? ? ? ? ?2 - 10ga - 40A inlineline fuses, 5/16" ring terminals, butt splice, misc shrink tubing.

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Installation notes.

Mounting-
The panels are located about 18" away from a south facing wall with their bottoms set in the grooved landscape timber. The timber is anchor nailed to earth.
Split swim noodles are used to protect the siding from the solar panel tops. Slit length way and paint with latex to protect from sun damage.
The panels have a pair of mounting holes on each side. Two lines are threaded across the top and bottom holes then tied to the anchors on each side.
Four panels requires 5 anchors to securely tie them down.

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Electrical-
There are 3 pairs of 2 into 1 weatherproof wye MC-4 connectors allowing the panels be connected in parallel.

10 gauge cable connects the 4 panels to the battery charge controller located indoors near the storage battery.
There are many solar chargers to choose from. I use the one in the picture with very good results. It also has stout wire terminals compared to others.
The charge controller's output connects via 10 ga cables and a 30A in line fuse in the positive lead to the battery terminals.

The battery is also connected to the 12 volt distribution bars with the positive lead fused at 30A.
I recommend buying a good crimping tool. ?A tight, gas free crimped connection seldom gives any trouble. Poor connections will get hot and waste Watts.
American made connectors tend to be stouter in my experience.

Contact me at N0QBH@... for details.

73
Mike N0QBH

Thanks Ace, I didn't know that.?

I have a tone tracer that I can bring.? It is an inexpensive one, but I have found it helpful a number of times.? I will also bring my nano VNA.? That is my Saturday off, so I will be there.

Sorry, but the decals have to stay on. ?You can look at adding, but the decals have to stay. ?Especially the Willmar Fire decal. ? The trailer is on loan (long term) from WFD and Emergency Management. ?There is actually someone that comes out from FEMA yearly to make sure that we are still using the trailer. We had to add the WFD decal a couple of years ago because they were on the grant to accept the trailer. ?

N0QBH Mike B, I have the tools for doing a couple of the repairs on the outside of the trailer and a couple of good used batteries to replace the ones that are on the front of the trailer. The Kandiyohi Emergency Management decals along with a few others could be removed as well and I'll look into getting new club decals and logo made to replace them. As far as chasing the antenna coax and testing them, it should be pretty straight forward using a multi meter and a VNA. Making all of the lights, outlets and power supplies work shouldn't be a problem, we'll just have to figure out what goes to what and where all of the breakers and switches are.
KC0CAP Dan G, I don't know what my schedule looks like Friday afternoon yet so I'm not sure if I would be able to meet you there, but you could ask either Ace or Mellissa for the door code if you want to check things it out by yourself.

What do we have available for cable tracing tools besides a VOM?

On Saturday, June 1st at 9 am to 11:30 am, I'd like to get a few people to help look over the communications trailer.? It will be light duty involvement like chasing antenna coax and power supply leads to figure out where they go. There is a couple repairs that need to be made but I'm not sure we'll get to that on this go around. If you feel like lending a hand for a couple hours, it would be greatly appreciated.

Something else I have experience happened when I moved the Digirig to another USB port on my laptop computer running Win 11.
When I restarted VARA FM the VU meter audio level appeared to be connecting then disconnecting.

Right click the Windows icon then select System> Sound> You may notice the Windows Digirig ID has a number behind it indicating a 2nd installation.
Scroll down to mic audio. Select OFF under the normal audio enhancements button. This turns OFF the auto gain for the mic input.
That is what caused the problem.?

Ben W0AYE was showing me some interesting information gathering you can do with Winlink's catalog request feature.
When you click on the icon below my arrow Winlink opens up it's catalog.



Here's what the Winlink Query Catalog looks like.? Scroll through the categories to find items of interest.



Clicking on the category fills the center window with it's contents.
Double clicking on a selection will put it in the selections window as in the example below.
It is a small satellite picture of the current view in the description.?



After you put together the selections you are interested in getting (remember 100k download limit), click on Post Request button.
Now there is a out going request email in your outbox.? The next time you connect to the gateway (W0AYE-10) it will get sent.
Wait a few minutes and connect again to check your email. The requested files will be downloaded to your station.

73
Mike N0QBH

Device Config Values

Roles

Device Role	Description	Best Uses
CLIENT	App connected or stand alone messaging device.	General use for individuals needing to communicate over the Meshtastic network with support for client applications.
CLIENT_MUTE	Device that does not forward packets from other devices.	Situations where a device needs to participate in the network without assisting in packet routing, reducing network load.
CLIENT_HIDDEN	Device that only broadcasts as needed for stealth or power savings.	Use in stealth/hidden deployments or to reduce airtime/power consumption while still participating in the network.
TRACKER	Broadcasts GPS position packets as priority.	Tracking the location of individuals or assets, especially in scenarios where timely and efficient location updates are critical.
LOST_AND_FOUND	Broadcasts location as message to default channel regularly for to assist with device recovery.	Used for recovery efforts of a lost device.
SENSOR	Broadcasts telemetry packets as priority.	Deploying in scenarios where gathering environmental or other sensor data is crucial, with efficient power usage and frequent updates.
TAK	Optimized for ATAK system communication, reduces routine broadcasts.	Integration with ATAK systems (via the Meshtastic ATAK Plugin) for communication in tactical or coordinated operations.
TAK_TRACKER	Enables automatic TAK PLI broadcasts and reduces routine broadcasts.	Standalone PLI integration with ATAK systems for communication in tactical or coordinated operations.
REPEATER	Infrastructure node for extending network coverage by relaying messages with minimal overhead. Not visible in Nodes list.	Best positioned in strategic locations to maximize the network's overall coverage. Device is not shown in topology.
ROUTER	Infrastructure node for extending network coverage by relaying messages. Visible in Nodes list.	Best positioned in strategic locations to maximize the network's overall coverage. Device is shown in topology.
ROUTER_CLIENT	Combination of both ROUTER and CLIENT. Not for mobile devices.	Devices in a strategic position for priority routing that need to also serve as a standard CLIENT.

Role Comparison

This table shows the?default?values after selecting a preset. As always, individual settings can be adjusted after choosing a preset.

Device Role	BLE/WiFi/Serial	Screen Enabled	Power Consumption	Retransmit	Prioritized Routing	Visible in Nodes List
CLIENT	Yes	Yes	Regular	Yes	No	Yes
CLIENT_MUTE	Yes	Yes	Lowest	No	No	Yes
CLIENT_HIDDEN	Yes	Yes	Lowest	Local only	No	No
TRACKER	Yes	No	Regular	No	No	Yes
LOST_AND_FOUND	Yes	No	Regular	No	No	Yes
SENSOR	Yes	No	High	No	No	Yes
TAK	Yes	Optional	Regular	Yes	No	Yes
TAK_TRACKER	Yes	Optional	Regular	Yes	No	Yes
ROUTER	No	No	High	Yes	Yes	Yes
ROUTER_CLIENT	Yes	Yes	Highest	Yes	Yes	Yes
REPEATER	Yes	No	High	Yes	Yes	No

Rebroadcast Mode

This setting defines the device's behavior for how messages are rebroadcasted.

Value	Description
ALL	ALL (Default) - This setting will rebroadcast ALL messages from its primary mesh as well as other meshes with the same modem settings, including when encryption settings differ.
ALL_SKIP_DECODING	ALL_SKIP_DECODING - Same as behavior as ALL, but skips packet decoding and simply rebroadcasts them.?Only available with Repeater role.
LOCAL_ONLY	LOCAL_ONLY - Ignores observed messages from foreign meshes that are open or those which it cannot decrypt. Only rebroadcasts message on the nodes local primary / secondary channels.
KNOWN_ONLY	KNOWN_ONLY - Ignores observed messages from foreign meshes like LOCAL_ONLY, but takes it a step further by also ignoring messages from nodenums not in the node's known list (NodeDB).

They're actually new LoRa devices that look like the old Blackberry's.

"T-Deck is a pocket-sized gadget with a 2.8-inch, 320 x 240 pixel IPS LCD display, a mini keyboard, and an ESP32 dual-core processor. While it's not exactly a smartphone, you can use your programming knowledge to turn it into a standalone messaging device, or coding software."

When I was in radio school we cut a removed from service co linear antenna in half.
I was surprised when I seen how simple the innards were.
These type of antennae are usually vertical polarized and depending on the number of sections, can really squeeze the pattern flat to the horizon with resulting gain.
This PDF has a simple design using sections of coax soldered together in an alternating fashion.

73
Mike N0QBH

It was fun texting back & forth with two of these devices at the meeting.

Introduction

Meshtastic? is a project that enables you to use inexpensive LoRa radios as a long range off-grid communication platform in areas without existing or reliable communications infrastructure. This project is 100% community driven and open source!

Features

• Long range ()
• No phone required for mesh communication
• Decentralized communication - no dedicated router required
• Encrypted communication
• Excellent battery life
• Send and receive text messages between members of the mesh
• Optional GPS based location features
• And more!

How it works

Meshtastic utilizes LoRa, a long-range radio protocol, which is widely accessible in most regions without the need for additional licenses or certifications, unlike HAM radio operations.

These radios are designed to rebroadcast messages they receive, forming a mesh network. This setup ensures that every group member, including those at the furthest distance, can receive messages. Depending on the settings employed, the Meshtastic mesh network can support up to 100 devices concurrently.

Additionally, Meshtastic radios can be paired with a single phone, allowing friends and family to send messages directly to your specific radio. It's important to note that each device is capable of supporting a connection from only one user at a time."

When you send a message on your Meshtastic companion app, it is relayed to the radio using Bluetooth, Wi-Fi/Ethernet or serial connection. That message is then broadcasted by the radio. If it hasn't received a confirmation from any other device after a certain timeout, it will retransmit the message up to three times.

When a receiving radio captures a packet, it checks to see if it has heard that message before. If it has it ignores the message. If it hasn't heard the message, it will rebroadcast it.

For each message a radio rebroadcasts, it marks the "hop limit" down by one. When a radio receives a packet with a hop limit of zero, it will not rebroadcast the message.

The radio will store a small amount of packets (around 30) in its memory for when it's not connected to a client app. If it's full, it will replace the oldest packets with newly incoming text messages only.