DAREN of WV News May 5, 2013(.A87)
WA8LLM (304) 679-3470 wa8llm@yahoo.com WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS P.O. BOX 3328, PARKERSBURG, WV 26103 http://www.wc8ec.org
DAREN News, are articles and information about the Digital Amateur Radio "Emergency" Network of WV, which operates on 145.69 MHz. Anyone having any information about DAREN, or Amateur Radio in general, and would like to share it with others, may send it to WA8LLM @ PKBGWV on 145.69 MHz, or to my E-Mail: wa8llm@yahoo.com. A State Wide DAREN NET is operated every Saturday from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm, and lately, before and after those hours. The DAREN Net Announcement, showing the MAIN NCS, ALTERNATE NCS, NODEs accessible to both, and the previous week's check-ins, are posted by Thursday on most of the Main county DAREN PBBS'. The DAREN News can also be found on the wc8ec.org website.
Not much to report this week. I'm just getting ready for the Wood County Emergency Communications business meeting on Tuesday. I also need to get my ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC) Report ready to go to them on Friday. I'm all caught up on the State Wide DAREN Net Check-in Certificates, so I can turn my attention to getting ready for Field Day. Field Day is only about six weeks away, and that won't take very long to get here. Sammy Mercer, N8SVX, and I have been working on a project that we will be using on Field Day, and hoping to be using on Packet. We've been playing around with building the printed circuit boards for Soundcard Interface. Since I don't have much else to write about, I'll describe how I make my PCB (Printed Circuit Boards). If you have ever made PCBs you may already know some, or all, of this. I've been making PCBs since the late sixties, but we have been learning newer ways of making them. We have been using a Laser Printer to print the circuit layout on transparency paper, and then ironing the circuit traces onto the printed circuit board. Instead of using Ferric Chloride, which is hard to come by and cost a lot, we have been using a new mixture to etch the boards. We have been using a mixture of Muriatic Acid and Hydrogen Peroxide. This costs a lot less and etches the boards in less then a forth of the time. I figured up about how much it costs of etching a PCB using Ferric Chloride and the Muriatic Acid/ Hydrogen Peroxide mixture. It costs about $2 to $3 dollars to etch the PCB using Ferric Chloride, but only about 25 cents using the Muriatic Acid/Hydrogen Peroxide mixture. To etch a PCB with Ferric Chloride it takes between 45 minutes to an hour. With the Muriatic Acid/Hydrogen Peroxide mixture it takes between 7 and 10 minutes. If you buy the Ferric Chloride at Radio Shack, it costs about $10 for a pint. You can purchase the Muriatic Acid at Lowe's for about $7 a gallon and the Hydrogen Peroxide for about a $1 a quart. I've been etching printed circuit boards that measure about 3 by 5 inches using about 6 ounces of Muriatic Acid/Hydrogen Peroxide mixture. I bought a cheap measuring cup at the Dollar Tree and have been using it to measure the mixture. I just pour 4 ounces of Hydrogen Peroxide in the measuring cup, then add 2 ounces of Muriatic Acid. Pour the mixture into a plastic pan, and put in the PCB. I agitate the etching pan until the PCB is done. After all of the copper, that's not protected by the Laser Printing, is gone, take the PCB out and wash it with water, and let it dry. This was a shortened down version of making a PCB. There are things like cleaning the PCB before and after the printing, etching, and drilling, but if you have ever worked with PCBs, you know the rest. If you have any articles that you would like to pass on to others send them to me, and I'll have something to put into the DAREN News of WV.
There were 43 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week.
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