TO: ALL WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AMATEURS
ALL NON-WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AMATEURS
FROM: KEN HARRIS WA8LLM
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS INCORPORATED
WOOD COUNTY BULLETIN NR 13.41 DATE: October 13, 2013 SUBJECT: USED EQUIPMENT IS NOT ALWAYS JUNK
Just because equipment has been taken out of service and discarded doesn't mean that it's junk, and of no use. At the communications center, I have in my house, I'm using a couple banks of batteries rated at 168 Amphours each just outside the house, all connected together as a back-up power source for all my communications equipment, computers, and the five emergency lights in the house.
All of the batteries were discarded by a utility company because they were due to be replaced on a routine change out, not because they were bad. Some of the computers that I'm using very from old 486's, to Pentium 2's, 3's, and 4's, all discarded from different businesses, schools, hospitals, and health departments.
To power the computers and monitors when the commercial power fails, I use a number of Uninterrupted Power Supplies or UPS' which were picked up at Yard Sales and the Dayton Hamfest for a very few dollars. The UPS' came equipped with a 12 volt, 7 Amphour batteries which would normally give enough time to save any computer information you're working on, before they would go dead. But, the 7 Amphour batteries were removed, the old battery leads extended, and they were then connected to the banks of back-up batteries.
The radios which includes three Packet radios, four Terminal Node Controllers, or TNCs, a Two Meter Voice Transceiver, a High Frequency Single Side Band Transceiver, an 800 MHz Public Safety, and a 47 MHz Public Safety Radio are also connected to the banks of batteries.
Using the bank of back-up batteries should allow a minimum of twelve hours of operation before worrying about them going dead. As you can see, just because equipment has been discarded by someone else doesn't mean that it's junk, and can't be used in the field of Emergency Communications.
Ken Harris WA8LLM
WCEC
Wood County WV