March 23, 2008 (.819)
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.
I ran out of room in last week's DAREN News to talk about the Charleston Hamfest which was held on the 15th. At the ARES forum, Tina Clark, K8TAC, the WV ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator talked about getting DEC (District Emergency Coordinator) and County EC (Emergency Coordinator) reports each month. She would like to get reports from all DECs and ECs. On the report she would like to get the amount of ARES members in each county, the amount of nets held each month, the total time, any traffic handled, and any activities that each club or group participates in. It was also brought up at the forum that West Virginia Fone Net would be staying on the frequency of 3811 KHz and the frequency would be changed in the ARRL Net Directory. Another subject that was discussed was the changing of the name of the Mountain State Emergency Net, which is operated on the first Thursday of the month, following the West Virginia Fone Net, back to the West Virginia ARES/RACES Net, or West Virginia Emergency Net. Any suggestions on the name change should be sent to Tina. Tina's E-Mail is: k8tac@arrl.net or k8tac@suddenlink.net.
While I was at the Hamfest I also talked to Jim Perry, KB8LSR, about installing a DAREN NODE in Cabell County. Jim says that he uses an MFJ TNC at his home station, but he also has a Kantronics KPC-3 that is just sitting on a shelf collecting dust. Jim said that he will change his home station to the KPC-3 and set it up as the county DAREN NODE. The station won't be at a tower site, just at his home and it might not have the largest coverage area, but from his home he's able to connect through the DAREN system. At a later date if someone or group wants to put a main county NODE somewhere else, he will let them use the county ALIAS'. In the mean time Jim will use the ALIAS of CABEWV for the county NODE, and the ALIAS of HUNTWV for the Huntington PBBS. I'm going to mail Jim a copy of the DAREN Plan so that he can get the station set up. Maybe in a few weeks he will have the NODE/PBBS in operation.
I didn't recognize the KM4YY callsign that checked into the State Wide DAREN Net last week, until I got an E-Mail from him. It turned out to be Lee Mairs who is the State Director for Navy-Marine MARS (Military Affiliated Radio Service). He wanted to know if MARS could use the DAREN system for passing traffic. The DAREN system's primary purpose is to pass any traffic, whether it's Amateur, MARS, Civil Air Patrol, Red Cross, or any other legal traffic.
There were 68 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Vivian Arnold, KA8VAH, who's been participating in the net since December 4, 1993, has completed 650 check-ins. And, Kevin Harris, KC8OXY, who's been participating in the net since July 1, 2000, has completed 400 check-ins. Both of these operators will be receiving their certificates. John Johnston, KF8OM, needs one more check-in to make 600. And, Mike Whitco, KC8OAN, needs one more check- in to make 300. I'm glad to see that Vivian, and Jerry, NQ8B, got their Packet station back on the air after changing to a new computer.