DAREN of WV News September 30, 2012(.A56)
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. There are still several NODEs and PBBSs that are off the air. I have one that I'm still trying to get access to. The Washington County, OH, NODE/PBBS of WASHOH/MRTAOH has been off the air for a few months. Access to the cabinet that it's mounted in is not a problem. The problem is getting inside the fenced in area. We used to have a lock in series with the other locks on the gate, but when I went to check on the NODE/PBBS, I found my lock cut off and laying on the ground. The DAREN NODE/PBBS isn't the only station in the cabinet. There is also a Remote Receiver for the Wood County Emergency Communications voice repeater on 147.255 MHz. I may have a contact that will let me into the gate, if we can get together. I'm not for sure what is going on with the Kanawha County NODE/PBBS of KANAWV/CHASWV. A few months ago I took some antennas down to Charleston, one of which was supposed to be put on the station. Since then I've heard nothing. I don't know what happened to the Putnam County NODE/PBBS of PUTNWV/HURCWV. It went off the air a few weeks ago, and I haven't anything about it. With winter coming we need to get as many DAREN stations back on the air as we can. The high winds and ice of winter tend to cause stations to go off the air, and we can stand to lose very many more.
That's all I have for this week. If you have something to pass on to others, please send me the information so that I will have something to write about. The Parkersburg/Wood County Hamfest is coming up soon. I was just working with Bill Davidson, N8JXO, the webmaster for the www.wc8ec.org website. He has as much information as he could come up with posted on the site. Check out the website and come to the Hamfest.
There were 48 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. Lee Mairs, KM4YY, who's been participating in the net since March 15, 2008, has completed 200 check-ins, and will be receiving his certificate. My daughter Cathy Wotring, KC8DJJ, needs only one more check-in to make 850. Brad Caribine, KC8TYU, needs only one more check-in to make 450.