March 30, 2008 (.821)
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.
Not much news this week, so I thought I'd relay some observations that I've noticed over the last several months. Since most of the NODE/PBBS stations, on the DAREN system are made up of Kantronics TNCs, you would think they would all work, or act, the same way. What I've noticed on a couple of the stations is the fact they act different than others. One of the main commands that I use while posting the DAREN News and Net Announcements around the different stations is the "S" or "Stay" command. The "Stay" command is used to allow a station to stay connected at that NODE when connecting through several NODEs, after they disconnect from one route, and want to go a different route. The "S" command is a very handy command if you have to go through several different NODEs and don't want to be disconnected clear back to your station. If you're going to change directions at some point, and are going to go through several NODEs, the "S" command comes in handy. I use the "S" command a lot, and when it doesn't work I know it right away. I don't know of any parameter in the TNC to allow the "S" command to be turned on and off. Another difference that I've noticed on one PBBS is that it doesn't allow the use of the "LL" or "List Last" command. If you want to list only a few of the messages on a PBBS, the easiest way to list those would be to use the "LL" command. To use the "LL" command, you would type LL followed by the amount of messages you want to list. example: "LL 3", the PBBS would then list the last three messages posted on the PBBS. Most of the DAREN PBBS' allow you to use the "LL" command, but on one PBBS, if you use the "LL" command it doesn't work. If you do the "LL" command, the PBBS will only list all of the messages that are on the PBBS. These are just a couple of commands that I've noticed that don't work right, and if anyone can give me an idea why they don't work, you might let me know. If you've never used these commands you should give them a try. They come in handy and I use them all of the time.
I got the DAREN Package mailed out to Jim Perry, KB8LSR, in Huntington, this week. Now maybe in a few weeks we will see a new Cabell County DAREN NODE/PBBS on the air.
The DAREN News may be a little late getting out next week. Our communications group will be in the woods providing Safety Communications for a cross country Mountain Bike Race called Challenge at Mountwood. Members of our group are posted at dangerous locations along the race route to report problems if they happen. In the past several years, Amateur Radio has been used to report several serious accidents, and get help to the riders.
There were 67 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Judy Peterson, N8UFQ, needs only one more check-in to make 800. And, Paul Roy, N8PER, needs only one more check-in to make 50. There was one new check-in to the net this week and that was Matt Mitchell, KB8UVN, from Worthington, Oh. I don't know how Matt was able to get into the DAREN system from Worthington, Oh, unless he worked his way from 145.09 MHz over to the WOODXC Crossover NODE, or he may have been visiting someone a little closer. But, in any case I want to welcome Matt to the DAREN system and hope that he participates as often as possible.