DAREN of WV News November 23, 2014 (.B68)
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.
Jim Woodford, KC8MLK, said that he read the DAREN News last week about the spare Packet equipment that Roy Humes, N8RH, has offered to the DAREN system. Jim said the Barbour County NODE/PBBS of BARBWV/PHILWV, has been off the air for several months, and would like to get it back on. He has passed the information on to Tim Davis, KC8TYK, who is the SYSOP for the Barbour County station. Maybe in a few weeks we will see the station back on the air.
Two major events are coming up this week. Monday is the opening of Buck Deer season in West Virginia, and on Thursday, it's Thanksgiving. If you are going hunting this week, just be careful in the woods, and be sure to know what you are shooting at. I want to tell everyone to have a safe and happy Thanksgiving and don't eat too much. Also be careful if you are traveling to friends or family for visit and dinner.
We held an antenna class yesterday, and had a pretty good turnout. There were 14 Amateurs that made it to the class and a lot of information was discussed. We talked about how BALUNs worked and when to use them. We set up a wide band 75/80 Meter antenna, a wide band 40 Meter antenna, and a wide band 300 foot Loop antenna. We also played with, and tuned a wide band 6 Meter Cubical Quad antenna. The class ran from about 9:00 am until 4:00 pm. I think everyone got something out of it, including me.
There were 40 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. Buford Lemon Jr., KB8QLG, who has been participating in the net since July 8, 1995, has completed 600 check-ins and will be receiving a certificate, as soon as I get all of the certificates printed up. There was one station that checked into the net on Saturday evening at around 8:50 pm, with the callsign of "TEST". If you checked into the net around that time and don't see your call on this week’s DAREN Net announcement, and think it may have been you, let me know so that I can get your net participation records updated. I don't want anyone to miss out on a check-in just because of a mistake. No one but you and I will know who it was.
That's all I have for this week.