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

DAREN of WV News November 17 2013(.B15)
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.

At a meeting this past week in Ripley, I met the Marshall County ARRL Emergency Coordinator, John Gorby, KC8FZH.  John said he would like to get the Marshall County DAREN packet NODE/PBBS back in operation.  Also while I was in Ripley, I stopped by the tower site where the DAREN NODE/PBBS of JACKWV/RPLYWV is located, to check on the new packet antenna.  I was hoping it would be installed on the new tower by now.  The antenna was still where I left it. Since the antenna is a "J" Pole, made of copper, I was afraid it would walk off.  I decided to bring the antenna back home and wait for the tower workers to let me know when they will be going back to the Ripley tower site to complete the work that needs to be done.

I made a trip to Marshall County yesterday to demonstrate Amateur Radio to a group of Boy Scouts.  Only about 10 out of the 20 boys listened to the presentation.  After the presentation was over four of the boys hung around and asked questions.  I didn't set up any packet equipment, but I told them about packet radio, and how it connects to the computer.  I told them even though it is a lot slower then the Internet, it is reliable since it doesn't rely on hardline or Fiber infrastructure

If things go well, next Saturday I will be stopping by the Wirt County tower site, on the way to a meeting in Elizabeth, to replace the DAREN NODE/PBBS of WIRTWV/ELIZWV.  I need to put another station together since the one there is not working properly.

There were 47 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net again this week.  Ron Wilson, K8RWW, who's been participating in the net since March 27, 2004, has completed 400 check-ins, and will be receiving his certificate.  Shaun Neidlinger, KB3CXQ, needs only one more check-in to make 150.  Somewhere around 3:30 pm on Friday, November 15th, someone checked into the net with the callsign of "CALL".  If you checked into the net around that time, and don't see your callsign on this week's Net Announcement, and think it may have been you, let me know so that I can give you credit for the participation in the net.  I want to make sure everyone gets the credit they deserve for supporting the net, and the DAREN system.