DAREN of WV News January 22, 2017 (.C81)
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.
Even though things are slow on Packet, I still don't seem to have enough time to get to work on the DAREN stations that I need to get back into operation. It seems like every time I get ready to work on the stations, something else comes up and takes my time. On Thursday last week I was asked to go to a State Interoperability Radio Network (SIRN) meeting in Winfield. There were at least 10 other Amateur Radio Operators at the meeting. I did get to talk to Matt Gregg, WV8MAT. He said the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) group in Mason County and the surrounding counties are practicing on other digital modes on 2 Meters. The have been using the FLDigi soundcard program using Olivia 8- 500 Mode through the local 442.400 MHz UHF Voice Repeater. They would like to establish a state wide network by tying several repeaters together. The Olivia Mode can send complete forms, such as the ones used with the FEMA Incident Command System (ICS). It can also send pictures using JPEG computer files. I told Matt that I would try to set up a UHF radio link to the 442.400 MHz repeater and try to learn about the Olivia 8-500 mode. If I can get a link to the UHF repeater, I may try to tie it a low profile VHF repeater here in the Wood County area. If my notes are correct from talking to Matt, they hold a net on the UHF repeater every Thursday evening between 7:30 and 8:00 pm.
Speaking of wide area nets, the West Virginia Hamtalk system has added a new repeater to the system. The repeater is located in Doddridge County. The repeater operates on 146.955 MHz with a PL Tone of 103.5 Hz. There is a state wide ARES/RACES voice net held on the Hamtalk System every Friday evening at 9:00 pm. If you get a chance check it out. The more state wide communications systems that we use, the better chance we will have when the time comes that we need to be able to communicate state wide.
There were 35 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net again this week.