D.A.R.E.N. News 2013

DAREN of WV News November 3 2013(.B13)
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.

In case you didn't know it, it's the first Sunday in November and time for Day Light Saving Time to come to an end.  If you have all your clocks set, 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 are working 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 3, 2013, at 2:00 am would be; DA 131103020000, 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 some 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've been waiting for a telephone call from the people who are going to change out the Jackson County DAREN NODE antenna.  It's been a couple of weeks and I haven't heard from them.  I'll give them a few more days and see if they have installed the new antenna yet.  I left an antenna and feed line at the tower site so they wouldn't have to take the antenna down from the old tower and move it to the new one.  As soon as it gets installed I'll make a trip to the tower site and put it in operation.

There were 45 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week.  Roy Humes, N8RH, who's been participating in the State Wide DAREN Net since April 2, 1994, has completed 850 check-ins.  Allen Poland Jr., K8AXW, who's been participating in the net since October 11, 2008, has completed 200 check-ins.  And, Ashley Shiflett, KD8QOQ, who's been participating in the net since August 13, 2011, has completed 100 check-ins.  All of these operators will be receiving their certificate.  Ron Wilson, K8RWW, needs only one more check-in to make 400.