DAREN of WV News January 8, 2012(.A18)
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.
Not much news this week. I didn't get the Wood County APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System) station installed here at the house like I had hoped. Too many other things came up. I'm also behind on the printing of the State Wide DAREN Net participation certificates for those who are waiting for them. The first of every month is always busy for me. I need to get everything ready for the Wood County Emergency Communications meeting, which is the first Tuesday of each month. Then I need to get the ARRL SEC (Section Emergency Coordinator) report compiled and sent to the ARRL. Then there are a couple of other meetings I need to attend. Last Thursday I went to the Tyler County Office of Emergency Services meeting. Then on Monday I will be going to the Parkersburg Amateur Radio Klub (PARK) meeting, and then Tuesday I need to go to the Volcano Days Festival meeting. On Thursday I'll be going to Ripley to the State Interoperability Radio Network (SIRN) meeting. A few months ago I was asked to be a member of the SIRN committee representing Amateur Radio. A couple of months ago officials from the State Office of Emergency Services was at the meeting, and talked about FCC Part 90 users having to change their radios from Wide Band over to Narrow Band by the end of 2012. Last month I went on record asking that the Public Safety agencies who are still using Wide Band radios, and are about to replace them, to donate their old radios to Amateur Radio clubs and organizations, since Amateur Radio isn't restricted to Narrow Band. I don't know if the Public Safety agencies will donate them or not, but it doesn't hurt to ask. Besides, what good will they be to them. Any way if things get settled down this week, maybe I can start printing certificates and get the APRS station installed.
There were 57 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net again this week.