DAREN of WV News March 11, 2018 (.D40)
(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.
Since articles about DAREN activities have been down lately, I thought I would touch on some other items. Last week I asked if anyone builds Amateur Radio or Electronic projects any more. Since I haven't been able to be outside much this winter, I've been working on several projects. I've been trying to catalog all of my electronic parts, and other items so I can find them when I need them. While cataloging the parts, I've found projects that I forgot about. I have some voice record/play back memory chips I want to use to identify, in packet bursts, each of the remote receiver/transmitter stations on the Wood County 147.255 MHz repeater system. I found a circuit in an old January, 1995, 73 Magazine, for a Voice to PTT (Push To Talk) circuit. I built the circuit once and it worked real good. Now I have a reason to build several of them. Another project I'm working on is a remote start for the Racing Clocks that I've built over the past couple of years. I want to be able to remote start all of the clocks on the racing course at the same time. To build several of these projects, I need to make several printed circuit boards. A few years ago my Nephew Sammy Mercer, N8SVX, and I found an article that told how to quit using Ferric Chloride for etching printed circuit boards. The new etching solution is a lot easier to come by and a whole lot cheaper. We've been using the new etching solution ever since. The two components in the etching solution are Hydrogen Peroxide and Muriatic Acid. You can get a quart of Hydrogen Peroxide for about a dollar at a dollar store, and a gallon of Muriatic Acid for about a seven dollars at Lowe's stores. Mix the two ingredients at a 2 to 1 mixture. Use two part Hydrogen Peroxide and one part Muriatic Acid. When I etch most of my circuit boards I mix 4 oz of Hydrogen Peroxide, and 2 oz of Muriatic Acid. The solution will etch at least 25 square inches of printed circuit board in less than 10 minutes. So if you are a builder etching printed circuit and using Ferric Chloride, give the new etching solution a try. The next time I'll explain how I make my stencils to place on the printed circuit board.
There were 38 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. Remington Sweitzer, KB3TXG, needs only one more check-in to make 250.