September 14, 2008 (.844)
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.
Be sure to mark your calendar for the Buckwheat Festival (Preston County) which will start on September 25th. I know it's a couple of weeks away, but you don't want to miss it. There will be a SES (Special Event Station) operated during the festival. I gave most of the information in last week's DAREN News, and I will reprint some of it in next week's News.
I don't have the dates on the Forest Festival (Randolph County), but the Forest Festival Grand Parade will be held on October 4th, and Shane Harper, KD8BMX, is looking for help with the parade. He's hoping to use Packet Radio to help coordinate the parade. Any other information that I find out will be in next week's DAREN News.
I purchased a new utility trailer last week and I've been converting it into a storage trailer. Every time I get ready to participate in an exercise, drill, race, Field Day, or other activity, I have to go around the house and the garage and load stuff in my open trailer. Most of the equipment is in milk crates but they are still in different locations. The batteries that I use are on a charging rack in the garage, but I still have to carry them out to the trailer. With the new covered trailer the batteries will be located in the trailer, and on charge like in the garage. All of the mast pipe that I use for antennas will also be stored in the trailer. The trailer is made to hold 32 milk crates, but eight of them have been replaced with wooden boxes that are about 3 inches shorter in height. They are used to set a two foot by 4 foot eight inch shelf across to act as a desk or radio operating position. We used the trailer for the first time yesterday to provide the safety communications at the High School Cross County foot races here in Wood County.
Roy Humes, N8RH, has a portable Packet Station for sale. The station consists of: Kenwood TM 261 VHF Radio/W dialpad microphone; Samsung Sens Pro 500 Laptop Computer/W Windows 3.1 installed; Kantronics KPC-2 TNC; AC Charger 4 Amp Continuous, 6 Amp Surge; Yuasa Gel Cell 17.2 Amp Battery; 1/4 Wave Magnetic Mount antenna/W approximately 20ft of coax. All fused and all equipment including the antenna fits in the accompanied tool box. He also has a Thermo Printer, but it's not wired for portable use. He's only asking $100. The radio itself is worth a $100. Contact Roy at: 109 Westview Dr. Follabsbee, WV 26037, phone: (412) 894-8677.
There were 61 check-ins to this week's Sate Wide DAREN Net. Jerry Arnold, NQ8B, who's been participating in the net since November 7, 1992, has completed 700 check-ins. Tom White, W3JTW, who's been participating in the net since November 7, 1998, has completed 400 check-ins. And Frank Hughes, WD8DEP, who's been participating in the net since November 20, 2004, has completed 150 check- ins. All of these operators will be receiving their certificates.