DAREN of WV News February 27, 2011(.972)
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.
This past week I received two requests for information about the DAREN system Chat Room. It's been awhile since I played with the Chat Room, so I had to get back into it, to refresh my memory. The ALIAS for the Chat Room NODE is called "CHATRM". It is located at the same tower site as the Ritchie County NODE/PBBS of RITCWV/HRVLWV. The Chat Room uses an MFJ Terminal Node Controller (TNC) with the X-1J4 software installed in it. The regular "RITCWV" NODE uses a Kantronics TNC. Both TNCs are attached to the same transceiver which is running 50 watts. By having the Chat Room TNC located at the Ritchie County tower site, several other county NODEs has a direct path to it. I know there are direct paths from: JACKWV, MONOWV, PENDWV, PRESWV, RALEWV, RANDWV, TUCKWV, WOODWV, and maybe others. From any of these NODEs just connect to CHATRM. There are a few commands that you can try when you get connected. The first command is the "U" for Users. This will allow you to see who else is connected to the Chat Room TNC, and may be in the Chat Room. While you're connected to "CHATRM", it can also be used as a NODE. If you use the "C" for Connect, you can connect to another NODE or PBBS. I don't know why you would want to do it, but it is there. The letter "T" is for Talk. This will put you into the Chat Room itself. To leave the Chat Room, you must use the "/EX" command. The last command you need to know is the "B" for Bye. Here are a few instructions for using the Chat Room. The NUMBER ONE instruction is "DO NOT" type more the 70 characters in a row. In other words don't try to "Wrap" your sentences. When you get to about 10 characters from the end of the line, hit an <enter>. If you try to wrap your sentences, anything beyond about 70 characters will be lost in never, never land. When you are in conversation with someone, be sure to give them an indication that you are finished with your transmission, by giving a "K", an "over", or other indication. This will keep the conversations straight and not intermingled. You don't have to identify who you are when you're sending information, the Chat Room takes care of that for you. If there are several other operators in the Chat Room, you might want to assign a Net Control type station. The reason for doing that is simple. Even though the Chat Room tells who is sending what, all of the sentences from one person are not one right after another. A sentence from one operator may be placed between another operator or two. You will have to put the sentences back together by reading only the sentences that belong to the same person. If there is a NCS that tells each person when to talk, then all of his/her sentences will be together, and make it a lot easier to read. You just have to play with the Chat Room and get used to it. I hope this is enough information to allow you to get into it and have fun and learn.
A couple of Hamfest dates have been changed. The Athens Hamfest which was supposed to be April 24th is now May 1st. The Jackson County Hamfest which was on May 1st, is now May 15th. Be sure to mark you calendar. Don't forget the Charleston Hamfest on March 19th.
There were 59 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. My Son Kevin Harris, KC8OXY, who's been participating in the net since July 1, 2000, has completed 550 check-ins, and will be receiving his certificate.