DAREN of WV News January 15, 2017 (.C80)
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.
Things have been slow this week, so I've been cleaning up my radio room. Several years ago I installed my HF Radio on a bench that I could sit down and operate it. The only problem was the transmission line. The antenna is a 550 loop up about 40 feet with homemade twin lead for the transmission line. The line is made of number 14 gauge wire spaced 3 inches apart. The spacers are made out of 1/2 inch PVC pipe. The transmission line comes to the house, down the outside wall and into the basement, where the radio room is at. The line was attached to the ceiling to get across the room, and hung down to the tuner. When I wanted to hook the antenna to the tuner I used a couple banana plugs, which was okay, but it was a pain. With this arrangement I'm sure there was a lot of RF floating around the room. I did notice that any time I used the radio on 10 Meters, it would shut down my Packet Computer. The system stayed that way for more then 15 years, until I decided to clean the room and move the HF radio to the other side of the room, which is the outside wall. Now the transmission line comes into the basement, down the wall, and is connected to a couple single pole, single throw knife switches, then into the tuner. Now when I want to disconnect or connect the antenna to the tuner, I just need to open or close the switches. While tuning the tuner for the different bands and making a note of their settings, I noticed the Packet computer no longer shuts down when I'm on 10 Meters. I guess I'll find out if that takes care of that problem when I check into the local 10 Meter Net on 28.405 MHz this coming Thursday at 9:00 pm.
Now that I have the radio room and work bench pretty well cleaned up, I can start putting together a couple packet stations. I need to replace a couple stations that are off the air. It will be easier to just change them out as opposed to working on them in the field.
The Wood County Emergency Communications group is getting ready for their annual Hamfest. The Hamfest will be held on October 14th. The location will be the same as last year. The rent for the building has already been paid, and the application to make it an ARRL sanctioned Hamfest has been requested. The main prizes have already been purchased, and the main door prize, the 800 Watt Generator has been acquired. They have already received confirmation that an Official ARRL Card Checker should be at the Hamfest to check QSL Cards for certificates. The Vendor Tables at the Hamfest are FREE, if requested at least a week in advance. Be sure to put the date on your calendar, and keep an eye on the website: www.wc8ec.org for any updates.
There were 35 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. Randy Thomas, K8KHW, who has been participating in the net since February 13, 1999, has completed 650 check-ins, and will be receiving his certificate.