DAREN of WV News September 7, 2014 (.B57)
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.
Terry Mills, KC8TUE, wanted to let everyone that he and a group of the Wood County Emergency Communications members are going to Universal Radio in Renoldsburg, Ohio, on Monday to pick up the Main Prize for the Parkersburg/Wood County Hamfest that will be held on October 11th.
Since there have been several new Packet Radio operators who have started checking into the State Wide DAREN Net in the past few months, I think I will do a little more training on how Packet Radio works, which I started last week. One of the main things about Packet Radio is how to connect from a Terminal Station to another station. To start with, Packet Radio is a virtually error free mode of data transmission. There is Error Checking and Error Correcting which takes place between "Connected" stations. Additional information can be found in the DAREN News of September 19, 2010, and January 23, 2011. There are two basic ways to connect from Terminal Station to Terminal Station, one is "Digipeating", and the other is "NODE Connecting". Digipeating is when you use the CONNECT Command "VIA" to connect through a remote station. An example of Digipeating is: C KC8HAI V WOODWV or C KC8HAI V WOODWV,JACKWV,RITCWV . When connecting using the Digipeat system, you can Digipeat through as many as eight digipeaters. The Digipeat system is the easiest way to connect, but it has it's drawbacks. If you Digipeat through more than one Digipeater, and there is a bad, or noisy path between any of them, the transfer is information will take a lot longer. The reason it takes longer is the fact that Error Correction is used between "Connected Station". Each station must verify the data being sent, and received, is correct before the Terminal Station user sees it. The connected stations verify back and forth until they are satisfied the data is correct. If there is a bad, or noisy, path between the two connected stations, there may be many send and re-send transmissions before the connected stations are satisfied that the data is correct before letting the Terminal Station users see it. "NODE Connecting" is a much better and quicker way of transferring data between two Terminal Stations. To NODE Connect one Terminal Station must connect to each remote "NODE" station in the path to the distant Terminal Station. If there is a bad or noisy path between any of the remote stations, the Error Checking and Error Correcting is done between those stations. The check, re-check, send, and re-send does not happen only between the Terminal Stations, as in Digipeating. The check, re-check, send, and re- send is done between each of the NODE-to-Node, and the NODE and Terminal Stations. In a long run NODE Connecting is a lot faster and better.
There were 48 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. My daughter Cathy Wotring, KC8DJJ, who's been participating in the net since March 15, 1997, has completed 950 check-ins and will be receiving her certificate. Mark Sweitzer, KD8MIV, needs only one check-in to make 200. And Brad Carabine, KC8TYU, needs only one check-in to make 550.