KJ4TDM

Amateur Radio · Archive

Solar-Powered Digipeater

Off the air — no plans to put it back up

An APRS digipeater built to fill a dead spot in northeast Alabama, mounted on top of a 170-foot tower.

Standby draw
0.12 A
Transmit draw
1.5 A @ 5 W
ERP
~20 W
Tower
170 ft

The build

This project was built to cover an APRS dead spot in northeast Alabama. I put it together from spare parts lying around the shack, with some help from a friend.

It went on top of an old AT&T relay tower in Douglas, Alabama.

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The tower

The old AT&T relay tower in Douglas, Alabama The old AT&T relay tower in Douglas, Alabama Digipeater project, November 2015 Digipeater project, November 2015 Digipeater project, April 2016

360° view from the top

360-degree view from the top of the tower

Click the image to view it full size.

Parts list

  • TinyTrak4 TNCWith control/power cable
  • Wouxun HTRunning 5 W, with an external power supply
  • 2 m omnidirectional antenna6.5 dB, tuned
  • Renogy 50 W 12 V solar panelMonocrystalline
  • Renogy 30 A PWM solar controller
  • 12 V 28 Ah battery