My solar powered WSPR beacon is now active on the 12m band!

Tech stack: Navitas 100W Solar Panel, Exide Solar Blitz 40AH battery, Skypearll Solar Charge Controller 30A, 200W 20A DC-DC CC CV Buck module (Robu) - set to output 7.5V, Waveshare ESP32-S3 Zero board, Si5351 with 0.5ppm TCXO, GSD-Hacks-v5 amplifier, DFRobot Gravity Digital 5A Relay Module

Photos of components involved (for reference):

200W CC CV Buck Module

New Solar Charge Controller

First spots:

WSPR 12m - First Spots

WSPR 12m - Spots

I will work on improving the power efficiency of this system in the coming days - stay tuned for updates…

Next steps:

  • Enable TX'ing on different bands (17-15-12-10). Antenna plans: Multi-band vertical antenna (17-Five?) with ATU-10 automatic antenna tuner.

  • Enable power gating for GSD-Hacks-v5 amplifier via a MCU controlled 3.3v compatible relay module.

  • TX every 10 minutes during daytime. TX every hour during night-time.

References: