July 08, 2007 (.782)
Kenneth Harris WA8LLM (304) 679-3470 wa8llm@yahoo.com
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS, P.O. BOX 3328, PARKERSBURG, WV 26103 http://www.wc8ec.com
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 A State Wide DAREN NET is operated every Saturday from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm. DAREN Net Announcements, 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'.
My wife Dot, KC8HAI, and I went to the Jackson County NODE/PBBS tower site of JACKWV/RPLYWV yesterday to see why the station was off the air. It was working just fine on June 28th when I posted the State Wide DAREN Net Announcement, but when I went to use the station on the 29th, it was dead. There had been a storm that went through the area on the 28th, so I figured it may have taken a lightening hit. I was pretty close. Well, at least I think the storm was a pretty close to the station. When we got there, the radio was on the frequency of 145.000 MHz that’s same thing had happened back on the September 13, 2006. Because I was expecting the worse, I had another radio with me, so I changed it out, even though the one which was there was working okay when I put it back on the right frequency. The one I took out may be having another problem.
While sitting at the Packet Radio station on Thursday participating in the Mountain State Emergency Net (MSEN) on 3865 kHz, I saw John Western, KC8ODI, connect into the Chatroom station "DAREN". I connected in and we talked for while until there was a path problem, and he got disconnected. He connected back in again; we talked a little while until he got disconnected again. He was just practicing using the Chatroom system. I the October 8, 2006, DAREN News I had talked about establishing a monthly Chatroom Net so that any packet operator could check in, and have a conversation with the Net Coning the net on the first Thursday of each month starting at 6:00 pm. The West Virginia FONE net on 3865 kHz also starts at 6:00 pm., followed by the MSEN. By starting the net at the same time, DAREN Packet stations could operate parallel with the voice nets. This would give operators the experience of having a backup link to each other in case the HF Band fades out, or gets too noisy to hear each other. It would also allow those who want to send any messages by Packet, a chance to do that without using voice. My plans in the next couple of weeks is to move the Chatroom station "DAREN" to the same location as the Ritchie County NODE/PBBS of RITCWV/HRVLWV. At the same time that I'm at the tower site, I will be replacing the Ritchie County station with a 50 watt radio, changing the antenna, and installing an extra antenna for future use. If all goes well, I plan on starting the Chatroom Net on August 2nd at 6:00 pm. I'll keep everyone posted on the status of the station move and upgrades.
I said last week that if had didn't have any news this week, that I would give examples of different types of messages, and message headings such as ARRL RADIOGRAM, MARS (Military Affiliate Radio System), Civil Air Patrol, and Red Cross, that may be found being passed over the DAREN system. Maybe I'll have room next week.
There were 61 check-ins to this week's State Wide DARE Net. I want to welcome Bob Ott, WB8OIF, back to the net this week. I wrote about Bob in the June 24th DAREN News. Bob has been missing from the system since October 31, 1998. I hope that he continues to check in each week. I'm a little behind getting the DAREN Check-in Certificates printed up. The computer that I use to print the certificates is on the blink. I don't think it will be a major problem, but an inconvenience. I have a few other projects that need to be worked on first.