DAREN of WV News April 19, 2009 (.875)
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.
Randy Thomas, K8KHW, send me a message and an E-Mail about his K8KHW-10 Packet station. He says he has an HF RF port on line but something doesn't work quite right. I'm not for sure what the SEORMS is, but he says that it will work as well. He asked me to give it a try and see what I think. I need to talk to Randy and see what all functions are available on his NODEs of K8KHW-7 and K8KHW-10. Both NODEs are available on the DAREN system by connecting through RITCWV and WOODWV on 145.69 MHz.
I got an E-Mail from Don Jones, K8DSJ, about a Jefferson County NODE/PBBS that may come on the air sometime in the future. They are just waiting to get a 50 watt radio.
While I was at Camp Dawson last week I talked to Dirk Burnside, WD8PAD, about the Upshur County NODE/PBBS of UPSHWV/BUCKWV. Dirk said the station is off the air for a little while. The tower which the station was installed at needed to be taken down. The old tower is being replaced with a 350 foot tower that will be part of the WV IRP (Interoperability Radio Project) system. When the new tower is installed, Dirk is hoping to have the DAREN station at about 300 feet.
The Wood County NODE/PBBS of WOODWV/PKBGWV is having a problem again. The station is off the air. A couple of weeks ago the station's TNC had its memory fouled up and had to be given a Hard Reset. I'll need to contact Duane Jones, N8LDM, again and make a trip to the tower site. I think I'll change out the TNC this time. I will also need to check the output power of the radio, I have a feeling the radio may have been keyed up for an extended amount of time, and may also have a problem. In the mean time a temporary NODE has be set up with the ALIAS of WOODWV. There's no PBBS on the station, but at least there will be a NODE that can be connected to.
The Barbour County NODE/PBBS of BARBWV/PHILWV is also having a problem. I heard Ron Wilson, K8RWW, and Tim Davis, KC8TYK, discussing it on the West Virginia FONE Net today. Tim said that he's going to set up a complete new station, and take it to tower site.
I noticed on the State Wide DAREN Net this week that several stations were having problems getting through the system. I don't know what the problems were unless it was just band conditions. I can't believe that losing three NODEs would cause that much trouble. The net is operated each week to allow users to try different paths. If you have a problem getting connected to the Net Control Station by one path, then try another. In a real emergency, there may be several NODEs down, and you may need to find an alternate route.
There were 57 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Tom Martin, WW8TM, who's been participating in the net since December 31, 1994, has completed 650 check-ins and will be receiving his certificate.