DAREN of WV News November 1, 2009 (.903)
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.
Here it is the end of Day Light Saving Time. Did you set your clocks back an hour yet? If you have the Atomic Clocks you don't have to worry much about them. After you've set your clocks in the house, it's time to set the clocks in your Packet Radio Terminal NODE Controllers (TNC), both your home station and any remote, hilltop or mountaintop stations, both DAREN, and all other regular Packet stations. When changing the time in the Packet stations, it's a good time to give them a "RESET", which may help the TNCs operate better. The information given here is for most of the Kantronics TNCs, KPC-2, KPC-3, KPC-4, KPC-9612, KAM, KAM Plus, KAM-XL, KAM-98, etc. Not only is it a good time to reset the TNC, it's also a good time to do other things. For one thing, it's a good reminder to change the battery in your Smoke and CO Detectors. With winter coming, and the house sealed up with the doors and windows closed CO can build up from furnaces and stoves, so you want to make sure the Detectors work properly. Here's how to change the time in your TNCs. If you're at the TNC just type the command "DA", <space>, followed by the two number year, month, day, hour, minute, and second. Example: the command for the date of November 1, 2009, at 2:00 am would be; DA 091101020000, and then press <enter>. If you're connecting to a remote station over the air, you must give your passcode. After you get the (prompt:) command, then do the "DA" command. After you finish setting the time, and get the (prompt:) command back, do a "RESET" command. Doing the "RESET" command may clear out some minor problems that have been building up for the last few months, or the last time you did it. While you're into you remote station, and if you haven't done so already, now would be a good time to change the "MYA" to "DAREN". I know there are still several remote stations that are using the same "MYA" ALIAS as their "MYN” I found that's it's not necessary to make the "MYA" and the "MYN" the same. By changing the "MYA" to "DAREN" it will allow any necessary, or EMERGENCY BEACONs cover the DAREN system a lot better.
That's all I have for this week. If you have something to pass on to other Amateurs, let me know and we'll get it in the DAREN News.
There were 62 check-ins this week's State Wide DAREN Net. My daughter Cathy Wotring, KC8DJJ, who's been participating in the net since April 27, 1996, has completed 670 check-ins. Cathy will be receiving her certificate along with all of the other operators who have been waiting a couple or three months. I have all of the certificates printed out. Now I just need to get the address labels printed up, and they should go in the mail on Monday or Tuesday. By this time next week, those who have been waiting for their certificates should have them in hand.