Februay 24, 2008 (.815)
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.
This past Tuesday and Wednesday, Don Williams, N8NUS, and I attended a FEMA G-775 EOC Management and Operations class at Hawk's Nest State Park. While we were there we worked on Don's portable packet station and got it going again. We tried connecting to several NODEs, but were having trouble. After moving his antenna to a better location, Don was able to connect to the Nicholas County NODE of NICHWV. Yesterday I got an E-Mail from Mike Tyler, WA8YWO. Mike gave me a run down on the NICHWV NODE. He said that a few months ago he had moved the NODE. The antenna for the NODE used to be located on the side of a building at one of his tower sites, which was difficult to get to in bad weather. He moved the station to the WMLJ Radio Tower on Beech Knob. The tower is 280 feet, and the dual band stick antenna is near the top. The antenna is feed with LMR-400 transmission line, which has a lot of loss, but it's much better than using RG-8. The station is made up of a Motorola MSR- 2000 that he converted to 145.69 MHz, and a Kantronics KPC-3. The tower site has an emergency generator which transfers when the commercial power fails. He was wondering how the station has been performing since the move. I used to connect from the Jackson County NODE of JACKWV to the Raleigh County NODE of RALEWV to post the DAREN News and Net Announcements in the Southern part of the state, but for the past few weeks that path has been marginal, so I've been going from JACKWV to NICHWV. The NICHWV NODE has good coverage, and allows me to connect to the other NODEs and PBBSs in the Southern part of the state. If the Fayette County NODE of FAYEWV, had still been on the air, I don't think we would have had any trouble getting into the DAREN system from Hawk's Nest. I'm just glad that NICHWV is doing as good as it is. It let Don and me do a little playing around after we got his packet station up and running. We also got some ideas of how to make portable operations work better. I think that NICHWV is in good working order. I want to thank Mike for maintaining the NICHWV NODE and giving me the information.
There were 72 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Ray Gorrell, WV8RG, who's been participating in the net since December 25, 1993, has completed 700 check-ins. And Bill Bayless, KB8HEK, who's been participating in the net since February 27, 1993, has completed 300 check-ins. Both of these operators will be receiving their certificates. Bob Tuckerman, W3RUA, needs only one more check-in to make 650. I want to welcome Don, Williams, N8NUS, back to the State Wide DAREN Net. Don has been missing from the net since March 8, 2003. I may be a little later getting the certificates out to those who have been waiting for them. While I was at Hawk's Nest this past week, my main home computer came down with a cold. I've been trying to get it healed, but it still needs some work done to it. I guess I'm going to have to take it to a doctor somewhere, so that it will get well.