DAREN of WV News August 5, 2012(.A48)
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.
Yesterday I finally got to make a trip to the Ritchie County tower site to work on the NODE/PBBS of RITCWV/HRVLWV. The transmitter and the TNC were both on, but the station didn't work. When I connected the computer to the TNC, I could see what the problem was. Several of the commands were messed up. The commands probably got scrambled due to the power being on and off several times while the commercial power was off, and the tower was being powered by a generator during the day. I tried to connect to the Chat Room NODE of CHATRM while I was at the site, but I didn't have any luck. I didn't have enough time to get too involved in trying to find out what the problem is. Since the DAREN NODE had problems with its commands, I figure the Chat Room NODE may also have some commands scrambled in it.
I got an E-Mail from Jerry Sturm, KC8SIG, who operates the Winlink 2000 NODE of KC8SIG-10. He said that since the Tucker County NODE/PBBS of TUCKWV/PRSNWV is down he's unable to use the Winlink system. He said they are hoping to find another tower site to re-install the DAREN station. I knew the station was down, but don't have any idea why it needs to be moved. I hope it comes back on soon since it is the only link to the KC8SIG-10 Winlink NODE, and it's nice to have access to the Internet via the DAREN system. I've been having trouble getting the DAREN News and Net Announcement posted on the PBBS of FLTWV at Flat Top, WV. Now that things are starting to get back to normal, maybe some of the stations that went off the air during the wind storm of June 29, will get back on the air.
There were only 46 check-ins again to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. Ashley Shiflett, KD8QOQ, needs only one more check-in to make 50. Now that things are slowing down a little bit, I'm going to start to work on the certificates that I have fallen behind on. Maybe in the next few days I can get the certificates printed up for those who have been waiting for them.