DAREN of WV News May 7, 2017(.C96)
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.
Sammy Mercer, N8SVX, my wife Dot, KC8HAI, and I just got home from the Ripley Hamfest. While we were in Jackson County we changed out the antenna on the Jackson County NODE/PBBS of JACKWV/RPLYWV. We tried to change out the radio, but there is a small problem. The power supply that powers the station is only putting out 12.6 Volts. The Motorola radio needs at least 13 Volts, just to get it to key up. For a test we connected it to some of the batteries that are used for some of the other radios systems, and it would key up just fine. To keep the station on the air, we left the 25 Watt Alinco DR-1200 in place. The antenna that we replaced had a 90 degree bend about half way up it. We replaced it with a copper J-Pole antenna. The new antenna doesn't seem to be doing as good a job as the old one, even with the 90 degree bend. Sammy thinks we may have to turn the antenna a little bit. He said he noticed the ones he has at his house seems to be a little directional. I got and E-Mail from Matt Gregg, WV8MAT, in Mason County who says the signal in his direction is about three times better. Matt also sent me a Packet Message saying that within a couple weeks, the Mason County people may have their DAREN station back on the air. The station will be at the same location as their voice repeater in Mason County. He said the Packet station will be running on the VHF side of their repeater antenna. He figures the only path from the Mason station will be to the Jackson County NODE/PBBS. But, he figures that will be better than nothing at all, and he's right.
I did get a new antenna outrigger for the Wirt County tower site built. All I need to do now is give it a paint job, and build some mounting adaptors for the new J-Pole antennas that I already have made to mount on it. I've got the paint, but I need to wait for a dry day to paint it. Maybe in a couple weeks we can get the new outrigger mounted on the tower and the antennas changed out. One of the J-Pole antennas will be used for the Remote Receiver of the Wood County 147.255 MHz voice repeater, and the other one will be used for the Wirt County NODE/PBBS of WIRTWV/ELIZWV.
I got an E-Mail from Henry (Hank) Kenealy, K1DOS, who has a Kantronics KAM XL TNC for sale. He is asking $300, which is $100 less than a new one. If you are interested in the TNC, you can contact Hank at his E-Mail Address of: henry@kenealy.com
The Wood County Emergency Communications group held a one day Technician Class Radio class yesterday. There were 14 people in the class. All but one of them passed their test, and will be receiving their license.
There were 35 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net again this week. One station checked in with the callsign of "REMOTE". That station checked into the net on Saturday at around 7:38 pm. If you don't see you callsign on this week’s State Wide DAREN Net Announcement, and think it may have been you, let me know so that I can get your net participation check-in records caught up. No one but me and you will know who it was. I just want to make sure you get the credit you deserve for using and supporting the DAREN system,