DAREN of WV News March 17, 2013(.A80)
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 had a great time at the Charleston Hamfest yesterday. I met several of the DAREN operators, and talked to a few Amateurs that I have heard on the air, but had never meet. I won one of the hourly door prizes, which was a Baofeng Handheld UHF/UHF Transceiver. Now I need to figure out how to program it. Speaking of which, I got an E-Mail from Bob Sellars who received a MARS (Military Affiliate Radio System) message talking about viruses being hidden in programming software. The message talked about how viruses are placed into the software of Compact Disks that come with the radio programming cables. The message was in reference to the low price radios that come from China. For the last couple of weeks, there has been a lot of news about the Internet being hacked and viruses being installed on different websites. The U.S. government has supposedly tracked down the source as coming from China. If that is the case, then it was suggested that any software used for programming radios, such as the one I won, needs to be carefully scanned for viruses. What a nifty way of passing on viruses, you acquire a very low price radio with complicated programming instructions. It would be so much easier to purchase a programming cable and software to help program the radio. You install the program, and program your radio, but at the same time you just ruined your computer. There are several good reliable and safe websites that can provide programming software which you can trust. Just beware of any programs and programming software that you get your hands on. The message suggested that any CD's that come with a programming cable be destroyed, and not be placed into your computer.
Do you have any events or activities that you would like to advertise, or give a report on? If so just send me the information and we'll put it here in the DAREN News. That's all I have for this week.
There were 50 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. Kendale Peterson, KD8QAK, who's been participating in the net since April 23, 2011, has completed 100 check-ins, and will be receiving his certificate.