DAREN of WV News March 23, 2014 (.B33)
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.
Even though spring is finally here, it's still cold, and they are still talking about snow this coming week. I'm sure that what ever snow we get won't last too long. I need to start getting ready to hit some of the tower sites that have DAREN NODEs that have problems, and try to get them corrected.
Has anyone been looking into the HSMM-MESH (High Speed Multimedia) MESH systems? A couple of guys here in Wood County are reading up on the system and planning on putting one together. The system is similar to Packet Radio except it operates on 2.4 GHz. The equipment it uses is readily available Internet type routers that have been modified to operate on the 2.4 GHz channels that are in the Amateur Radio authorized frequency band. There's a good article on Pages 80 and 81 in the April, 2014 issue of QST magazine. The distance between NODEs will need to be closer together, but it will handle high speed data, video, and VOiP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) signals. From the articles that I've read, a HSMM-MESH system will be a great back-up and overload communications for emergencies and disasters. I'll keep everyone posted as the system gets put into operation.
I had 12 people at the Basic Electronic class that I held yesterday. The class started with the make-up of the atom, and how electronics are forced to flow through conductors. There was the explanation of how diodes, capacitors, resistors, inductors, and other electronic components were constructed and used in electronic circuits. I think the students had a good time and now have a better understanding of how electronics works.
That's all I have for this week.
There were 52 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. I think I'm going to be able to start printing up the certificates for those who have been waiting for them. I don't have any meetings that I'm going to be able to attend this week, so now would be a good time to get caught up on certificates.