DAREN of WV News March 12, 2017 (.C88)
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.
It's time to set your clocks ahead an hour unless you have any of the SkyScan Atomic Clocks, that should have set themselves. If you have set your house clocks, don't forget to set the clock in your car or truck. It's also time to set the clocks in your Packet Radio Terminal NODE Controllers (TNC), 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. Don't forget to change the batteries in your Smoke and CO Detectors. Here's how to change the time in your TNCs, if they are made by Kantronics. If you're at the TNC just type the command "DA", <space>, followed by the two number year, month, day, hour, minute, and second. For example: the command to set the date of March 12, 2017, at 2:00 am would be; type DA 170312020000, and then press <enter>. If you're connecting to a remote station over the air, you must connect to your Remote Access callsign or ALIAS, and give your passcode. When you get the (prompt:) command, then do the "DA" command. I'm sure that you didn't get up at 2:00 am to set your clocks or TNC, so be sure to adjust the above procedure for the time that you do make the changes. While you're into your remote station, and if you haven't done so already, now would be a good time to change the "MYA" to "DAREN". By changing the "MYA" to "DAREN" will allow any necessary, or EMERGENCY BEACONs, cover the DAREN system a lot better. After you finish setting the time, and the MYA, and have 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 past few months, or the last time you did a RESET.
I received and E-Mail Steve Houchins, KB8KKV. Steve has been busy the last few years, and hadn't been able to get his Packst station on after moving. Steve is about ready to retire, and said he will be more active. He said the Southern WV Amateur Radio Association in Greenbrier County has started back up. He's hoping to convince the members to put up a DAREN Node in the county. He said he will keep us posted.
The article about modifying old computer power supplies will continue next week.
There were only 32 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. Donnie Woodford, KC8YVR, needs only one more check-in to make 600. Sammy Mercer, N8SVX, needs only one more check-in to make 350. And, there was one station that checked into the net around 5:15 pm, Saturday, with the call of "REMOTE". If you don't see your call on the Net Announcement this week, and think it may be you, let me know so that I can get your check-in records caught up. I want to make sure everyone gets credit of supporting the DAREN Net and the system.