DAREN of WV News September 12, 2010 (.948]
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've noticed over the last few months that some of the main county DAREN stations are getting harder to connect to, or don't seem to be on the air. The Randolph County NODE/PBBS of RANDWV/ELKNWV is hard to connect to. I used to be able to connect to it from the Ritchie County NODE with one try. Now I can't even connect to it at all. Last week I had to go through the Preston County NODE to get to it. The path between the Kanawha County NODE/PBBS of KANAWV/CHASWV and the Putnam County NODE/PBBS of PUTNWV/HURCWV doesn't seem to be there. To connect to either of those two stations I have to go through the Jackson County NODE, and then it isn't a very good connection. I haven't seen the Greenbrier County NODE/PBBS of GREEWV/FAIRWV for several months. The path between the Nicholas County NODE of NICKWV and the Raleigh County NODE of RALEWV is also very marginal. It could just be band conditions, but it might be something else.
Speaking of not seeing NODEs and PBBSs, I've also missed a couple of operators that I haven't seen for a long time. Jerry, NQ8B, and Vivian, KA8VAH, Arnold, haven't checked into the State Wide DAREN Net since May 15th. Anytime they would have a problem getting checked in, or they had computer problems, I would get a telephone call from Vivian. I haven't heard from Vivian yet. If anyone knows anything about them please let me know. I don't have a telephone number or I would give them a call. They have been regulars on the net since November 7, 1992, and December 4, 1993 respectfully.
I've seen Randy Thomas, K8KHW, playing with his Winlink 2000 system. Randy has been forwarding messages to different mailboxes, just to do some testing.
There were 52 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. I noticed that I misspelled Dick Wilt, K8TPH's, name in last week's DAREN News when I welcomed him back to the DAREN system.