DAREN of WV News November 6, 2016 (.C70)
WA8LLM (304) 679-3470 wa8llm@yahoo.com
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS, 319 COMMUNICATIONS DR, WAVERLY, WV 26184
www.wc8ec.com or 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 www.wc8ec.com and www.wc8ec.org websites.
Well, Day Light Saving Time has ended, now it will be getting dark earlier in the evenings. If you have all your clocks set, it's time to set the clocks in your Packet Radio TNCs (Terminal NODE Controllers), both your home station and any remote, hilltop or mountaintop stations, both DAREN, and all other regular Packet stations. When changing the time in the Packet stations, it's a good time to give them a "RESET", which may help them operate better. The information given here is for most of the Kantronics TNCs: KPC-2, KPC-3, KPC-4, KPC-9612, KAM, KAM Plus, KAM-XL, KAM-98, etc. Not only is it a good time to reset the TNC, it's also a good time to do other things. For one thing, it's a good reminder to change the battery in your Smoke and CO Detectors. With the coming of Winter, and the house sealed up with the doors and windows closed, CO can build up from furnaces and stoves, so you want to make sure the Detectors are working properly. Here's how to change the time in your TNCs. If you're at the TNC just type the command "DA", <space>, followed by the two numbers for the year, month, day, hour, minute, and second. Example: the command for the date of November 6, 2016, at 2:00 am would be; DA 161106020000, and then press <enter>. If you're connecting to a remote station over the air, you must give your passcode. After you get the (prompt:) command, then do the "DA" command. After you finish setting the time, and get the (prompt:) command back, do a "RESET" command. Doing the "RESET" command may clear out some minor problems that have been building up for the last few months, or the last time you did it. While you're in your remote station, and if you haven't done so already, now would be a good time to change the "MYA" to "DAREN". I know there are still some remote stations that are using the same "MYA" ALIAS as their "MYN" I found that's it's not necessary to make the "MYA" and the "MYN" the same. By changing the "MYA" to "DAREN" will allow any necessary, or EMERGENCY BEACONs, cover the DAREN system a lot better.
Sammy Mercer, N8SVX, Bill Davidson, N8JXO, John Riggs, WV8DOH, and I spent all of the daylight hours in Tyler County taking down a 105 foot tower. The tower used to house the Tyler County Amateur Radio Organization voice repeater on 147.36 MHz, and the DAREN NODE/PBBS of TYLEWV/NMARWV. The tower site lost it's commercial power a few months ago, and they were unable to get it repaired. The Tyler County Emergency Services Director Tom Cooper, WV8TOM, said the group has permission to relocate the repeater and DAREN station on the County tower. Maybe in a few weeks or months both stations will be back on the air.
Last week I said that I was having trouble getting into the Richwood PBBS of RWODWV. This week it looks like the Roane County NODE/PBBS of ROANWV/SPNCWV is off the air. It looks like I have a lot of work to do before winter sets in. I need to get the Wetzel County NODE/PBBS, the Wirt County NODE/PBBS, and the Roane County NODE/PBBS back on the air.
There were only 29 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net. Robert Sellars, KB2FEL, who has been participating in the net since September 9, 2006, has completed 450 check-ins, and will be receiving his certificate.