This year, I participated in the annual ARRL Field Day event for 2017. This was my second Field Day event attended, the first one I did solo.
For those who don't know what Field Day is, it is a volunteer "readiness exercise" to try and establish communications using HAM radio resources.
It is encouraged that communication stations operate away from the HAM Radio operator's home, either with a group at a HAM Radio club location, out in "the field" somewhere, or in an emergency services location.
Although any power source to operate a station is allowed, there are also challenges to be able to operate using power sources other than commercial or generator power. That's what I did. I decided to operate on strictly solar and battery power. I did this by setting up my camper at my parent's house and tapped into my Dad's homemade solar power system. I also decided to handicap my station operations by transmitting using low power output, which equates to anything less than 5 watts of transmitting power. For comparison, a CB radio transmits at 4 watts, and can't transmit very far due to the nature of the frequencies used in CB radio. HAM Radio operators have access to other transmitting frequencies, many which are capable of travelling great distances driven by only a few watts of power. This not only reduced the amount of power draw from the solar array, but it also allows me to operate as if I had to preserve limited power resources in case of an emergency. The term used for low power transmissions in HAM Radio vernacular is QRP.
