The laptop for SDR is a bit over the top, but the laptop can be used for other purposes. This is a luxury that can be used when there's plenty of solar power. I'm looking at flexibility because solar power is so highly variable. Calculations have their limits. I use the The SDRplay RSP1 SDR. I've used HDSDR and SDRUno programs with the receiver. This is far more powerful than a SW receiver as it has continuous coverage from roughly 50KHz to about 2GHz if I remember rightly. Making antennas is fun using a vector network analyser to set them up. I know from experience that I can power the other stuff.tarmactatt wrote: ↑Mon Oct 21, 2024 1:16 pm Numbers will be slightly better south of London and slightly to significantly worse as you go north. One of my thoughts about my future solar set up is that invariably the s*** will hit the proverbial in the middle of winter....
80w laptop just for a SDR seems quite a lot, have you looked at alternatives, raspberry pi for example? I've often been tempted by the low cost RTL-SDR dongles just to have a play but not got around to it yet- recieving and processing the weather satellite data blows my mind!
You mention you have a SW receiver, would the SDR actually be more "powerful" for news reports than a digital radio? I've looked at the XHDATA D-808, it gets pretty good reviews and runs off a single battery and is rechargeable.
Just some ideas, it seems the laptop is a luxury and actually you're pretty well set up already!
For what it's worth, I did back of the envelope calculations for manual "crank dynamo" type devices and the amount of work they require to get useful energy out makes them impractical in my view.
I've looked at Raspberry Pi in the past. It seems a lot of faff to set them up and when all the bits and pieces are added up, it's not a cheap option compared with an old laptop, although far more economical in power.
I've tried a home - made bicycle charger and crank charger. Not for the elderly if you want a decent amount of power. A possible backup for Winter, though - keeps you warm as well.