DAREN of WV News February 8, 2015 (.B79)
WA8LLM (304) 679-3470 wa8llm@yahoo.com
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS, P.O. BOX 3328, PARKERSBURG, WV 26103
http://www.wc8ec.com
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.com website.
Well, some Groundhogs saw there shadows, and others didn't, but it really doesn't matter, spring will get here, when it gets here. In the mean time, now is the time to think about Field Day. Start thinking about how many stations you are going to operate, how many antennas you are going to put up, and what stations and transmission modes you're going to use. Try to work out any bugs that you ran into last year so you don't make the same mistakes this year.
Last week I talked about holding a one day Technician Class License class in April for about 10 members of the Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church in Marietta, Ohio. The date for the class has been set for April 11th. W5YI VE Testing will be held after the class. A one day General Class License class has been scheduled for May 9th at the same location. It looks like this is going to be a busy year again for the Wood County Emergency Communications group, since the groups Fund Raising committee has scheduled to participate in the Chic-Fil-A Spirit Night event. The group needs to have five or more members help at the local restaurant for about three hours. The group will receive 15 percent of the days receipts that are put into a special jar. The last Spirit night event brought in $142. The Spirit Night event will be on April 10th, the evening before the Technician class. On April 12th, the day after the Technician class, Amateurs from Wood County and Washington County, Ohio, will be providing the Safety Communications for the Challenge at Mountwood Mountain Bike Race at Mountwood Park on Rt 50 in Wood County. The Amateurs will be stationed around the race course to keep track of the Bike Racers and report any accidents or incidents back to the race officials. These are the kinds of activities that Amateur Radio operators in West Virginia can participate, and make Amateur Radio visible to the public, to Public Safety officials, and other groups.
Gene Roy, N8ER, told me that Jeffery Broschart, KC8OBS, from Elkins, is the new ARRL Emergency Coordinator for Randolph County. Also the callsign on the Randolph County NODE/PBBS of RANDWV/ELKNWV has been changed to KC8OBS.
There were only 38 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. Lisa Hendershot, KB8UER, who has been participating in the net since August 20, 1994, has completed 1050 check-ins and will be receiving her certificate. Keith Dobins, N8KLD, who has been participating in the net since May 3, 2008, has completed 100 check-ins, and will be receiving his certificate.
That's all I have for this week. As you can see, if you have any activities or news from your area, let me know.