DAREN of WV News October 16, 2011(.A06)
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 have received information about a couple of Hamfests that are coming next year. You might want to mark your calendars so that you can plan around them. The 28th Annual Charleston Area Hamfest will be held on Saturday, March 17, 2012. The location will be at the Coonskin Armory, 1707 Coonskin Drive, Charleston. For additional information contact Dave Ellis, WA8WV, at wa8wv@aol.com The Black Diamond Amateur Radio Club will be holding their Hamfest on Saturday, June 9, 2012. It will be located at the Commission of Aging building 1614 South Kanawha Street, Beckley, WV. For additional information contact Zandle Cline, AC8DU, PO Box 909, Sophia, WV, 25921, (304) 683-3395, or E-Mail at ac8du@yahoo.com Wood County Emergency Communications just held their Hamfest on October 8th, and the group is already planning on holding a Hamfest next year. The Hamfest will be held on Saturday, October 13, 2012. No other details are available yet.
The Kanawha County ARES group will be holding an SET (Simulated Emergency Test) on October 29th. They will be trying to make contact with stations outside of their area. There's a possibility they may try to use the State Wide DAREN system Chatroom to communicate. The Chatroom is located at the same location as the Ritchie County NODE of RITCWV. Whatever path you use to connect to the RITCWV NODE, you can use to connect to the Chatroom. Instead of connecting to RITCWV, just connect to CHATRM. Once connected to CHATRM, you can type the letter "U" to see who else is connected. If you want to enter the Chatroom type the letter "T” When you get ready to leave the Chatroom, type a "/EX". That will take you out of the Chatroom, and back to the CHATRM NODE. If you want to disconnect from CHATRM, type the letter "B" and you will be disconnected. You don't have to wait until the SET to play with the Chatroom, it is available 24/7/365, next year 366. Get a couple or three other stations and practice using the system. One word of caution, when typing a sentence DO NOT go over about 65 characters or spaces before hitting an "ENTER". Anything above about 65 characters, before hitting an "ENTER" will be lost in Never, Never land. Have fun and learn how to use it.
There were 56 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. My daughter Cathy Wotring, KC8DJJ, who's been participating in the net since April 27, 1996, has completed 800 check-ins, and will be receiving her certificate. Brad Carabine, KC8TYU, needs only one more check-in to make 400. I have all of the certificates printed up for those who have been waiting for them. With any luck I should mail them out on Tuesday when I go to town. If you have been waiting for a certificate, and you don't have it by the end of the week, let me know. Now that things are slowing down, should be able to keep up with them for awhile. I want to thank all of those who use the DAREN system on a regular basis, and check into the State Wide DAREN Net as often as they can. Sending certificates is just a small way of saying thanks.