DAREN of WV News January 25, 2009 (.863)
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, but I want to remind all of the operators who might have participated in a SET (Simulated Emergency Test) last year between October and December, they should have their report sent to the ARRL by January 31st.
I got some more E-Mails from Liz Myers, W8LIZ, about the DAREN system and other concerns. All of the questions that she asks are good legitimate questions, which other operators may have thought about, but never asked. The DAREN Path Map is a reference of what DAREN stations that was on the air at the time it was last updated. I try to keep it up to date as often as I can, but sometimes things change, such as new stations coming on the air, and others going off. Between the times of updating the DAREN Path Map, it's best to read the DAREN News since it goes out every week and when I learn of a DAREN NODE or PBBS changing conditions, I try to get it in the News. Alerting other operators by the DAREN system isn't the best way since most operators don't set in front of their Packet station all the time. The best way to contact other operators is by the telephone, if it's in operation. Every Amateur Radio operator who is involved in Emergency Communications should have a list of people, or agencies, they may need to contact in an emergency. If the emergency, or disaster, is large enough, and telephone service is not available, all we can do is hope the Amateurs Radio operators will get on their local repeaters, or simplex nets, and coordinate what communications they have available. If the Amateur Radio operators have a good working relationship with their County Emergency Operations officials, they may alert the Amateurs when there's a major emergency, or disaster. I know a lot of Amateurs have scanners and they listen to the Public Safety activities. With a good working relationship with county officials, the Amateurs could be alerted by their scanner. A good working relationship with the Broadcast TV and Radio officials doesn’t hurt to have. The one thing that everyone should do is ask the question "What If". Examples: What If the telephone service is out, how do I contact someone? What If the Internet is out, how do I send important messages? What If the Amateur Repeater is off the air, how do I contact other Amateurs? Use the "What IF" question to plan on everything that can and may happen. The best thing to do is don't rely on just one mode of communications; try to figure a way around all of them. There's always a solution, all you have to do is figure out what it is before it happens. That's Liz is trying to do.
There were 65 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. We had one new station that checked into the net this week and that was Timothy Greene, N8UHG, from Beckley. I want to welcome Tim to the DAREN system and hope that he can participate in the State Wide DAREN Net as often as possible. I want to welcome Wendle McQuaig, KB8WSK, back to DAREN. Wendle has missing from the net since April 28, 2007. The mystery of the "NOCALL" station that checked into the net for six weeks has been solved. That station's check-in records have been updated. This is a reminder to check the Callsign on your TNC (Terminal NODE Controller) every time that you get ready to operate Packet. Someone else may have used the Packet station and changed the call sign in it. Some TNCs will lose their memory and go back to their default call sign of "NOCALL".