[Elecraft] K3 Off Grid (Alaska)

[Edward R Cole]

I can tell you about living off the grid.  1979-1989 I lived in a 
small community two miles from any infrastructure.  In fact I lived 
in a one-room cabin for most of that time and for three years in a 
wall tent.  My electricity was a Sear Marine Diehard battery.  I kept 
it charged either with a 1800w gas generator or charging it off the 
alternator of my truck.

I ran my ham station, a car stereo, and 7-inch DC powered TV and had 
one 12v light.  Heated with a woodstove, cooked on a coleman camp 
stove, and main light was a coleman lattern.  It was not bush Alaska, 
but very close to it...difference was I could drive out on a 
road.  Ham radio was my telephone.

My truck was an diesel International Scout, so I would run it for 
30-minutes after starting to recharge the truck battery as the 
alternator was only 35amp and diesels start hard in winter.  So 
usually I loaded the cabin battery into the truck and parallel 
charged it at the same time.

I did obtain some surplus solar panels but they were too far gone to 
ever be usable.  In 1989 the power utility extended lines up the 
valley past me and I got both power from the grid and telephone. Cost 
me $60 for the hookup which I had them bury to the house from the 
pole (for free).  I sold the property in 2003 and now live 100 miles 
to the west.  You can see the log cabin I built here: 
http://www.kl7uw.com/Hope%20Cabin-1.jpg

73, Ed - KL7UW

73, Ed - KL7UW
http://www.kl7uw.com
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