DAREN of WV News December 11, 2016 (.C75)
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.
I got an E-Mail from Ken "Cappy" Caplinger, WV8KDC, yesterday. Ken said that he was not able to get checked into the State Wide DAREN Net since he was having trouble getting past the Ritchie County NODE of RITCWV. When I checked out the station, he was right. It seems there is a problem with the NODE. When you connect to the NODE, that is all that you get. I tried to go into the back door of the station and give it a RESET, but that failed also. The PBBS of HRVLWV, which is the same TNC, is working okay. You CAN go through the station "IF" you Digipeat using the VIA command. If you have been using the RITCWV NODE to get to the Net Control Station during the State Wide Net, you may try Digipeating through the station. I'm not much in favor of using Digipeat for going through any of the stations, but for now that may be the only way to get through RITCWV.
I did get a telephone call from Jason Means, W8KTM, the new ARES Emergency Coordinator for Kanawha County. Jason is going to try to locate the equipment from the Kanawha County NODE/PBBS of KANAWV/CHASWV. The station was taken off the air a few years ago, when the tower it was on had to be taken down. Jason is working on getting a tower location, and get the DAREN NODE/PBBS back on the air. He is also getting training for his ARES group using the digital program of FLDIGI. Jason wants to get more digital programs in operation.
The list of Packet Radio stations that I need to work on keeps getting longer. By adding the Ritchie County NODE/PBBS of RITCWV/HRVLWV, I also need to work on the Wetzel County NODE/PBBS of WETZWV/NMARWV, the Wirt County NODE/PBBS of WIRTWV/ELZBWV, and the Roane County NODE/PBBS of ROANWV/SPNCWV. Someone told me that now would be the time to work on the stations, since I won't have to worry about snakes. The only problem is the bad weather and where I need to go to work on them.
There were only 32 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. The net may have been lower this week due to the problem with the Ritchie County NODE. If anyone had trouble getting into the net last week, let me know, and I'll add you to the check-in list. This week try Digipeating through "RITCWV".