DAREN of WV News September 25, 2011(.A03)
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 when I gave the information from Lee Mairs, KM4YY, about the Navy/Marine MARS program, I didn't put his personal telephone numbers or Internet Address with it. If you would like to join the Navy/Marine MARS program, Lee can also be contacted by Home Telephone on (304) 822-8341, Cellular Telephone (703) 309-3881, or E-Mail: lmairs@sagcorp.com
While I was at an Interoperable Radio Project (IRP) Meeting in Ripley last Wednesday, I stopped by the Jackson County NODE/PBBS of JACKWV/RPLYWV. The station looked okay except for the frequency. Somehow the frequency was back on 145.00 MHz, like it had just came out the box. I put the radio back on the DAREN frequency, and locked it. I didn't have any test equipment to check out the station, so I had no way of knowing if it was working. I had to wait until I got home to see if it was up an running. When I got back to the house, I was able to connect into the station direct from my home station with no problem. The radio must have taken a nearby lightening surge, and caused it to reset. At least the station is back in good working condition for now. While I was at the tower site, I talked to one of State of WV engineers of IRP system. He said the state is going to replace the present tower with one that will be higher, and will allow more antennas to be mounted on it. I asked him if we could install an antenna for the DAREN system on the new tower. He said that as long as we provide the antenna and transmission line, the towers climbers would install it. It will be a few months before they get started replacing the tower, so I have a little bit of time. I just need to keep in contact with the Jackson County Office of Emergency Services Director so I will know when the work starts. I will need to get a new antenna, transmission line, and mounting hardware ready.
There were 55 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Joe Peterson, N8DSN, who's been participating in the net since March 26, 1994, has completed 850 check-ins, and will be receiving his certificate. I want to welcome Douglas, KC8AJH, and Tiffany, KC8PNI, Cutlip, back to the State Wide DAREN Net. Douglas has been missing from the DAREN system since, June 24, 2006, and Tiffany has been missing since September 14, 2002.