DAREN of WV News February 5, 2017 (.C83)
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.
For those who didn't catch them, the last three DAREN News had the wrong dates on them. Some how I put the put the date of 2015 in stead of 2017 on the January 15th, 22nd, and 29th. I guess that's what happens when you copy and paste. I also had the page number in the upper right corner messed up, but I have everything okay on this one. I'm still working with Bill Davidson, N8JXO, who's the webmaster for the Wood County Emergency Communications web site to get the ones on the www.wc8ec.org site corrected. At least it gives me something to write about.
I talked to Duane Jones, N8LDM, about the Challenge at Mountwood Mountain Bike Race. He told me that it will be held on April 2nd this year. The Mountain Bike race is a very active race. Several Amateurs are placed around the race course at Mountwood Park, to keep track of the racers as they go around the course. The Amateurs are placed at locations on the course that are hazardous, and may need to report racers that need help. Most of the time there are between 250 and 300 bike riders that show up for the races. The challenge for the Amateurs is to be able to communicate with the Race Control since some of the Amateurs are on the back sides of hills or down in the valleys. The Amateurs get the racer number as they go by so they know where everyone is at during the race. If a racer goes by one location, but not the next, they know where to start looking for him/her. It's a good practice for communications.
I know Field Day is a few months away, but I like planning on what new things to try. I would like to have everything ready this year, but I never seem to have them done. Last year I started putting together microphones for some of the HF Radios, but they didn't get finished. I would also like to get more of the stations operating some of the digital modes, so I may try to get them ready. Now is the time to work on those things since it's too wet and muddy to work outside. This hasn't been a bad winter so far, but we still have a couple months left. We will probably pay for it before winter is over.
There were 35 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. Melvin Shiflett, KD8OHG, needs only one more check-in to make 250.