DAREN of WV News April 9, 2017(.C92)
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 finally got some free time this week. I have put together three new packet stations to go to Jackson County, Wetzel County, and Wirt County. I also have a Kantronics KPC-3 Plus with version 9.1 firmware to be placed at the Ritchie County NODE/PBBS of RITCWV/HRVLWV. The version 9.1 firmware will allow the TNC to be programmed so that up to ten stations can be connected at the same time to the PBBS. The TNC has already been upgraded with one of the 512K Static Ram Memory chips that I received last week. I will set up the PBBS for 480K of memory and five stations will be able to connect to the PBBS at the same time. The first chance I get to go to the Ritchie County site, I will change out the TNC. Sammy Mercer, N8SVX, and I are planning to go to the Wirt County site tomorrow and change out that packet station. The 25 Watt Alinco transceiver will be changed out with a 100 Watt Motorola. While at the site we are going to repair the Remote Receiver for the 147.255 MHz repeater system, and make measurements for a new antenna outrigger.
I need to start working on racing clocks for the upcoming foot races this summer. Since the weather is going to be nice today, I'll start working on them. After using the clocks for the past couple years, I figured I needed to make some changes. When I built the clocks, I left a five inch shade shield around the front. I now know it was a waste, and added weight to the clocks. I'm going to remove about four inches of the shield. It will make the clocks a lot lighter, and easier to store, when not needed. The first time the clocks will be used this season is on April 22nd, at the Vienna River Road 6K Fun Run. The WCEC (Wood County Emergency Communications) group provides the Safety Communications for race, and a racing clock at each Mile Marker.
On April 3rd the Parkersburg Ward of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints asked WCEC to hold a One Day Technician Class Amateur Radio class. After working around some dates, it was decided the class would be held on May 6th at the church.
There were 35 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week.
That's it for the week. If you have any activities coming up, let me know about them.