DAREN of WV News March 19, 2017 (.C89)
WA8LLM (304) 679-3470 wa8llm@yahoo.com
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS, 319 COMMUNICATIONS DR, WAVERLY, WV 26184
www.wc8ec.com or 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 www.wc8ec.com and www.wc8ec.org websites.
I was unable to connect to the Nicholas County NODE/PBBS of NICHWV/RWODWV, so I wasn't able to post the DAREN News or the State Wide DAREN Net Announcement. I don't know if it was band conditions, or the station is off the air.
(continued from DAREN News March 5, 2017)
Some of the steps described in the modification of the computer power supply can be in a different order if you have worked with this type power supply. The steps assume the power supply case has been opened. Very few of these steps are critical. You can change things around that suits you best. These steps will work with almost all of the older model computer power supplies, if they have a TL494 or KA7500B IC Chip.
(1) Remove the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) from the case.
(2) Cut the wires going to the 115/220 switch. If you're not going to use the
power supply on 220 Volts, you can either splice the two wires together and
insulate them, or place a jumper between the two PCB connections.
(3) Remove, or cut the Blue wire, the White wire, and the Orange wire.
(4) Leave four Black (Ground) wires, three Yellow (+12) wires, and one Red (+5)
wire (it will be cut or removed later), but cut or remove all the rest.
When cutting the wires, be sure none of them can short together.
(5) Install a +5 Volt load resistor. The load resistor should be somewhere
between 2 and 10 Ohms. Use Ohms Law to figure how much wattage it should
be. The resistor can either be mounted on the PCB using a hole on the +5
Volt section, and one of the Black (Ground) wires, or leave another one the
Red wires and connect the resistor between it, and one of the Black wires.
NOTE: Be careful on the next few steps, since there are high voltages in the
power supply.
(6) Apply 110 Volts to power supply PCB.
(7) Measure the voltage between the Red (+5) wire and a Black (Ground) wire.
It should read +5 Volts.
(8) Measure the voltage between one of the Yellow (+12) wires and a Black
(Ground) wire. It should measure between +11.5 and +12.5 Volts. These two
steps just tests to make sure the power supply is good before you start. As
you can see the +12 Volts is not the best.
(9) If the +5 and +12 Volts are good, cut or remove the last Red wire.
(10) Measure the voltage between Pin 1 of the TL494 or KA7500B and a Black
(Ground) wire. Make note of this voltage. On some power supplies it will
be around 2.5 Volts, others it might be around 5 Volts.
(11) Now remove the 110 volts from the power supply.
(to be continued next week)
There were only 28 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. Donnie Woodford, KC8YVR, who has been participating in the net since November 27, 2004 has completed 600 check-ins. Sammy Mercer, N8SVX, who has been participating in the net since October 14, 1995, has completed 350 check-ins. Both of these operators will be receiving their certificates.