January 13, 2008 (.809)
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, 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.com website.
Last week I talked about some of the new Packet Radio systems that
are going to be installed this year. I've been talking to Randy
Thomas, K8KHW, who owns the Winlink 2000, Telpac NODE, internet
interface, of K8KHW-10. Randy also has a cross-over system that
operates between 145.69 MHz and HF (High Frequency). Randy told me the
HF side of his cross-over system has a receiver that scans four
frequencies most of the time. The HF frequencies are 3590.70 KHz,
7100.50 KHz, 10.147 MHz and 14.105 MHz. He says that it scans the
four frequencies about 90 percent of the time. The only time that
he has it locked on 14.105 is when he is using it as his home station.
He told me that most of the activity is on the 40 Meter frequency of
7100.50. The HF side of the cross-over is operating 300 baud
Packet on LSB (Lower Side Band). He also told me that most of the
BBS' on HF are traffic type BBS', and they don't allow any buy, sale, or
trade bulletins, only messages between operators and NTS Type messages.
The callsign of the VHF/HF cross-over system, on both VHF and HF, is
K8KHW-7. You can connect to the VHF side through the Ritchie
County DAREN NODE of RITCWV. If you do use the VHF/HF system, be sure
you are licensed as a General Class or higher, since you will be
transmitting and receiving on HF frequencies. When you connect to
the HF side of the cross-over, you can use the DAREN system NODEs.
Randy has left me several messages on DAREN PBBSs by connecting through
the HF side. If you have been, or are using, HF Packet, and not
able to connect directly to one of the DAREN NODEs on 145.69 MHz, this
might be a way of using the DAREN system. Randy told me that he'll
be leaving the states either the end of January or February for about a
month, but all of his equipment will be, barring no problems, left on
and in operation. He will be going to Scotland, but said he'll
keep an eye on his equipment via the Internet while he's away.
I finished up the project of hanging the outdoor cabinets on two of my
corner towers, and now have the electricity in both of them. I
just need to decide what kind of systems I want to put back in them.
The 120 foot tower has a four bay High Band antenna, which was used for
a NOAA Weather Transmitter, and a 2 Meter Ringo Ranger antenna already
installed. The fifty foot tower has a 2 Meter Ringo Ranger on it.
It was used for a NODE/PBBS, of WOODWV/PKBGWV, which was operated on
145.09 MHz. That station was taken off the air to replace some of
the equipment which had been hit by lightening August 5, 2006. I
might try to put it back in operation shortly to help connect to the
WOODXC 145.09/145.69 MHz cross-over NODE. WOODXC uses a Kantronics
KPC-4, which doesn't decode Packet near as well as the KPC-3 NODEs.
That might help stations on 145.09 MHz get a better connection to the
cross-over NODE, and operate on the DAREN.
There were 67 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Bud
McDowell, W8OO, who's been participating in the net since May 1, 1993,
has completed 750 check-ins. Roy Humes, N8RH, who's been
participating in the net since April 2, 1994, has completed 550
check-ins. John Riddle, N8RIG, who's been participating in the net
since January 30, 1993, has completed 300 check-ins. And, Barry Wagoner,
N8WG, who's been participating in the net since December 29, 2001, has
completed 150 check-ins. All of these operators will be receiving
their certificates. Ryan Woods, KD8ATF, needs only one more
check-in to make 50.