DAREN of WV News March 29, 2009 (.872)
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.
Bob Ott, WB8OIF, has the Berkeley County NODE/PBBS of BERKWV/MRTNWV back in operation. He says that it's not as good as it used to be. He's unable to connect to the Mineral County NODE, but he can connect to the Pendleton County NODE, which will allow the Eastern Panhandle back into the DAREN system.
Tim Davis, KB8TYK, has the Barbour County NODE/PBBS of BARBWV/PHILWV back in operation. The old General Electric Master II was repaired, but died again after the repairs. He put a Motorola Maxtrac 300 radio on the station, but it took him a while but got it programmed. He said that it took a bit of work since his old DOS computer died. He now has another computer for programming. He also has another TNC as a back-up in case the TNC becomes a problem.
I've been in E-Mail conversations with Lee Mairs, KM4YY, and Bob Sellars, KB2FEL, about establishing a Navy MARS VHF Packet network. Navy MARS has some Packet NODEs in surrounding states, but nothing in West Virginia. They are trying to decide what frequency they should be operating on, so it may be a little while before the system gets started. I told Lee and Bob that I have a couple of locations that can be used for NODEs, and would be willing to give them a hand. I can come up with some equipment that can be used on the system. I know that at one time Army MARS was allowed to use regular Amateur Radio frequencies, to pass their traffic, but it needed to be re-formatted into the ARRL RADIOGRAM, while going over Amateur Radio. Then when it was put back onto Army MARS facilities, it needed to be re-formatted back to MARS format, which I felt lost some of the information. Navy MARS doesn't allow their traffic messages to be passed on regular Amateur Radio frequencies, so the best thing to do is establish a Navy MARS Packet network. If anyone else wants to help Lee and Bob get the Navy MARS Packet system up and running, you might let me, Lee, or Bob know.
Check out the "Radio-A-Day Give Away" on the www.wc8ec.com website.
There were 71 participants in this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Bill Bayless, KB8HEK, who's been participating in the net since February 27, 1993, has completed 350 check-ins and will be receiving his certificate. Judy Peterson, N8UFQ, needs only one more check-in to make 850. Jim Stephenson, KE8YB, needs only one more check-in to make 250. And, Paul Roy, N8PER, needs only one more check-in to make 100. I want to welcome two new participates to the State Wide DAREN Net and the DAREN system, and they are: Wayne Shuman, KD8GVI, from Clarksburg, and Mark Meredith, K8MPM, from Charles Town. I hope that Wayne and Mark can participate in DAREN as often as possible. I now have all the certificates printed up and about ready to be mailed out. They will go in the mail on Tuesday. If you have been expecting a certificate and don't have it by the end of the week, let me know. I'm only three months behind