DAREN of WV News January 16, 2011(.966]
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 talked to Randy Thomas, K8KHW, a day or so ago about his Winlink 2000 Packet to Internet system. Randy had the station down while he was in the process of moving. Randy now has the system up and running again. He said he had to change Internet providers because the one he was using was too slow, and was down as much as it was up. Randy is now using AT&T for his Internet service. He has installed a new transceiver on the system. To pass traffic from Packet Radio into the Internet, you can connect into the Winlink NODE of K8KHW-10. The K8KHW-10 has a good path from the Ritchie County NODE, RITCWV, the Wood County NODE, WOODWV, and the Washington, Ohio County NODE, WASHOH. To pass a message from Packet to the Internet just connect to K8KHW-10, and wait for a message. You will get a Connect Message such as: K8KHW RMS Winlink Station Newport Ohio. To send an E-Mail, you would type an SP followed by SMTP:\email address. An example of the address line would be: SP SMTP:\wa8llm@yahoo.com. You can either wait for a message telling you give a subject title, or just type the subject title. The next instruction will tell you to enter the message, and then enter a "/EX on a Separate Line:". If you are successful, you should get a message back telling you that your message has been sent. When connecting in the Winlink 2000 system be sure to use the same path each time. The Winlink system registers your callsign with a Secondary System ID (SSID) when you post an E-Mail. You may see the SSID when you receive an E- Mail on the regular Internet system. If you connect to the Winlink system using another path, your SSID may change, and you may miss any E-Mail messages coming back. If you receive an E-Mail over the regular Internet, you will know if the message came via a Winlink system. The message will be a callsign with a Winlink.org address. AN example would be: WA8LLM-15@Winlink.org To answer a Winlink message, on a regular Internet system, just hit the REPLY button, and send your message back. You can also send a message to a Winlink users by using their Winlink address. Good luck and have fun. If you get a chance, tell Randy thanks for having such a system available. It may come in handy in an emergency, or if your regular Internet is down, and you need to send an E- Mail. I hope this information is clearer than mud. The best thing to do is just play with the system until you can make it do what you want. It's not much different than posting a message on a Packet Radio BBS or PBBS.
I have checked some of the stations that I haven't been able to connect to, and still can't get into them. I don't know if the stations are down, or the band has changed so much, that I just can't get into them. If you are the SYSOP for any of the stations, or know who has been taking care of them, you might let them know. Maybe we can get them back in operation, or we might just have to wait until the band changes again. The stations that I'm unable to connect to are: GREEWV/FAIRWV, NICHWV/RWODWV, and BERKWV/MRTNWV.
There were 66 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Ray Gorrell, WV8RG, who's been participating in the net since December 25, 1993, has completed 850 check-ins. And, Tom Di Bacco, AC8HQ, who's been participating in the net, on and off, since October 30, 1993, has completed 50 check-ins. Both of these operators will be receiving their certificates. Tom Jones, N8NMA, needs only one more check-in to make 200. I want to welcome Michael Snyder, KN8J, back to the net. Michael has been gone since August 8, 2008.