DAREN of WV News July 4, 2010 (.938]
Kenneth Harris WA8LLM (304) 679-3470 wa8llm@yahoo.com
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
P.O. BOX 3328, PARKERSBURG, WV 26103
http://www.wc8ec.org
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.org website.
I want to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July, or Independence Day, which ever you want to call it. We had better celebrate it now; the way things are going we may not be able to celebrate it much longer.
I have sad news. William (Bud) McDowell, W8OO, has passed away. Bud had been a long time user of the DAREN system. Bud started participating in the State Wide DAREN July 5, 1997, and had 566 check-ins. I had noticed that he hadn't checked into the net the last few weeks, but when I checked his records, I notice that his last check-in to the net was February 6th. Some of the other DAREN users that I talked to said that he had equipment problems when he quit checking into the net in February. They said that his health just went downhill in the last week or so. I'm going to miss Bud at the Hamfests where I used to talk to him.
The Wood County Emergency Communications group is still in the process of holding their Hamfest on October 9th. The location has been changed, but it will be easy enough to find. They are planning to give away three main prizes, one of which will be an HF Transceiver. Keep watching the www.wc8ec.org website for the latest information.
That's all that I have for this week. Most of next week I will be putting away the equipment that our communications group used for Field Day. I will also be getting the equipment that our group uses for BINGO ready to take to the county fairgrounds. Our group will be operating the BINGO games at the West Virginia Interstate Fair and Exposition next week from July 13th through July 17th. If you happen to go to the fair, stop by the BINGO Tent and say Hi.
There were 52 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Daniel Ritchie, KC8ZLK, who's been participating in the net since June 24, 2006, has completed 200 check-ins, although I said that he needed only one more to make 300 last week. Daniel will be receiving his certificate.