DAREN of WV News November 4, 2012(.A61)
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.
Here it is again, the first Sunday in November and time for Day Light Saving Time to come to an end. If you didn't set your clocks back an hour before you went to bed, you need to do it now, unless you have the Atomic Clocks. If you have any of them you shouldn't have any problem with them unless they didn't receive the timing signal from Ft. Collins, Colorado. After you've set your clocks in the house, it's time to set the clocks in your Packet Radio TNCs (Terminal NODE Controllers), both your home station and any remote, hilltop or mountaintop stations, both DAREN, and all other regular Packet stations. When changing the time in the Packet stations, it's a good time to give them a "RESET", which may help them operate better. The information given here is for most of the Kantronics TNCs: KPC-2, KPC-3, KPC-4, KPC-9612, KAM, KAM Plus, KAM- XL, KAM-98, etc. Not only is it a good time to reset the TNC, it's also a good time to do other things. For one thing, it's a good reminder to change the battery in your Smoke and CO Detectors. With the coming of Winter, and the house sealed up with the doors and windows closed, CO can build up from furnaces and stoves, so you want to make sure the Detectors work properly. Here's how to change the time in your TNCs. If you're at the TNC just type the command "DA", <space>, followed by the two numbers for the year, month, day, hour, minute, and second. Example: the command for the date of November 6, 2011, at 2:00 am would be; DA 121104020000, and then press <enter>. If you're connecting to a remote station over the air, you must give your passcode. After you get the (prompt:) command, then do the "DA" command. After you finish setting the time, and get the (prompt:) command back, do a "RESET" command. Doing the "RESET" command may clear out some minor problems that have been building up for the last few months, or the last time you did it. While you're in your remote station, and if you haven't done so already, now would be a good time to change the "MYA" to "DAREN". I know there are still several remote stations that are using the same "MYA" ALIAS as their "MYN" I found that's it's not necessary to make the "MYA" and the "MYN" the same. By changing the "MYA" to "DAREN" will allow any necessary, or EMERGENCY BEACONs, cover the DAREN system a lot better.
I finally got the DAREN Net Check-in Certificates mailed out. If you have been waiting for a certificate and haven't received it yet let me know. I want t make sure everyone who deserves one, gets it.
I will be attending meeting on Wednesday about the Regional Hospital exercise to be held on December 6th. I need to get at least two Amateur Radio operators at each of the hospitals to provide back-up and overload communications. If you are interested in helping with the exercise let me know. I'm planning to hold as Amateur Radio Packet class this month to help get operators interested in Packet Radio. For now the class is scheduled for November 24th.
There were 47 check-ins again to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. Tricia Magyarosi, who's been participating in the net since December 28, 2002, has completed 450 check-ins, and will be receiving her certificate.