DAREN of WV News January 23, 2011(.967]
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.
Since I haven't been able to get much information about activities, I thought I'd go over a little bit of Packet Radio training. One of the things I've noticed over the years is how much a frequency is tied up when stations Digipeat, as opposed to NODE Connecting. Packet Radio is virtually an error free form of communications. It's not 100 percent error free, errors do get into the system. The reason Packet Radio is virtually error free is because of the Error Checking, Error Correcting, and the Hand Shaking between connected stations. Digipeaters are not "connected" station, they only repeat what they hear, including any errors. Error Checking and Error Correcting is a lesson in itself. If a receiving station finds errors in a received transmission, it tells the transmitting station to re-send the information. The two stations will send and receive information back and forth until the information is correct. If two Terminal Stations are digipeating through one digipeater, it's not too bad. But, if the two connected Terminal Stations are communicating through two or more digipeaters, the frequency gets cluttered with a lot of transmissions, and re-transmissions. Packet Radio is also a gentleman system. If one station hears another station transmitting, it will not transmit until the frequency is clear. If two connected stations are Error Checking and Error Correcting through two or more digipeaters, the frequency can be tied up for a lengthy period of time. The length of time the frequency is tied by two connected stations, that are digipeating, depends a lot on how good the stations hear the digipeaters, and the digipeaters hear each other. If the paths between the stations and the digipeaters are good, the frequency may only be tied up a short period of time. But, if there is a bad path anywhere between the two connected stations and digipeaters, it may take a long period of time to get the correct information from one connected station to the other. The information and Hand Shaking has to go back and forth to the connected stations through each of the digipeaters, until the information is correct. In the mean time, other stations wanting to use the frequency has to wait until the frequency is clear, and then jump in. NODE Connecting is a much better way of getting from one point to another. Since Error Checking and Error Correcting takes place between "connected" stations, any errors that need to be corrected takes place between a Terminal Station and a NODE, or between NODEs. The Error Checking, Error Correcting, and the Hand Shaking does not go back and forth between Terminal Stations, only between connected stations, whether it's between a Terminal Station and a NODE, or between two NODEs. The frequency is not tied up for a very long period of time.
There were 60 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Ken Riffle, KB8QPW, who's been participating in the net since January 1, 1994, has completed 700 check-ins. And, Tom Jones, N8NMA, who's been participating in the net since June 19, 1993, has completed 200 check-ins. Both of these operators will be receiving their certificates. Francis Fox, K8ATB, needs only one more check-in to make 150. I want to welcome Howard Peek, N8SCS, back to the net. Howard has been gone since May 6, 2006. I also want to welcome a new operator to the DAREN system, and that is Michael Canfield, KD8MYQ, from Montrose. I hope Michael can participate as often as possible.