DAREN of WV News September 26, 2010 (.950]
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.
Last week I received a message from Randy Thomas, K8KHW, updating me on the Winlink station, K8KHW-10. Randy said that he had to replace the transceiver on the station. The old radio worked okay, but it was only putting out a few Milliwatts of power. Before he had changed out the transceiver, I was able to connect to the station from the Ritchie County NODE of RITCWV. I was busy over this last weekend and haven't had a chance to check out the station. It had been awhile since I had used a Winlink system, and had to re-educate myself. If you are going to send a message via Amateur Radio into the Internet system you need to format the message in the proper order for it to work. When you post a message on about any Packet Bulletin Board you use an; ST (for sending traffic, an SP (for personal message), or and SB (for a bulletin), followed by a callsign or subject name. On a Winlink system, you use an SP followed by the letters SMTP: followed by the addressees E-Mail address. A example address for a Winlink address would: SP SMTP:WA8LLM@YAHOO.COM After the Winlink address you press an <enter> and type in a Subject Title. After the Subject Title press an <enter> and type in, or upload, the information. When you are finished with the information press an <enter> and type /EX You should get a message back that your message has been sent. Don't take too long to type your message. The system only allows you about ten minutes from the time you connect to it, until it disconnects you.
Dick Wilt, K8TPH, sent me a message that said that since the Harrison County EC, Dave Anderson, N8YPE, has been inactive due to operation on his eyes, they are not for sure about holding an SET (Simulated Emergency Test) . Dick was wanting to know if there are any plans for an SET, I think he means State Wide. The official date of any SET is October 2nd and 3rd, but an SET can be held any time between the 1st of September, and the 30th of November. An SET can be operated just within a county, or several counties can get together and operate one. I haven't had time to think about a State Wide SET, so I don't have a plan for one. One way to operate an SET is to do it in conjunction with a City or County Emergency, or Disaster Drill, and take credit for all of those who participate.
Do forget about the Parkersburg Hamfest. It will be held on October 9th, in Wood County. There are four radios for main prizes, and there will be 43 door prizes drawings, one every five minutes. Several of the door prizes are valued more than $50. For more information check out the website of: www.wc8ec.org, send me an E-Mail, or call me on the telephone at: (304) 679-3470 or (304) 481- 3840.
There were 63 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Terry Mills, KC8TUE, who's been participating in the net since October 19, 2002, has completed 350 check-ins, and will be receiving his certificate. Joe Peterson, N8DSN, needs only one more check-in to make 800. There was two new participates to this week's net, and they were Mark Sweitzer, KD8MIV, from Gormania, WV, and Jeremie Hamilton, KB3UMW, from Oakland, MD. I want to welcome Mark and Jeremie to the DAREN system and hope they can participate in the net, and the system, as often as possible.