DAREN of WV News July 23, 2017(.D07)
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.
Tuesday Sammy Mercer, N8SVX, and I met with Frank Hughes, WD8DEP, at Clarksburg and picked up some electronic equipment that he was wanting to get rid of. Frank is moving from Philippi to Elkins and needed to clean out his storage building. Sammy and I thought it was Christmas in July. We have been going through all of the equipment and finding a lot of good things to work with. It's hard to believe how much reusable electronic equipment goes to a landfill if it's not needed any more. I want to thank Frank for the equipment and I'm sure some of it will be put to good use.
There was a very severe storm that went through our area earlier today. I wasn't home at the time, I was at my daughter, Cathy Wotring, KC8DJJ's house about 10 miles away, for a birthday party for her daughter Kymber, KD8UQR. We could see the storm, but it wasn't in her area, and we were getting updates from some of the Amateurs who were watching as it went through. When we started home we could tell by all of the damage it was a severe storm. We got a little bit of water in the basement, but that wasn't the worst of it. When I started to check into the WV Phone Net on 3810 KHz, at 6:00 pm, the net control station, Jim Woodford, KC8MLK, didn't hear me. I wasn't watching the meter on the antenna tuner, at the time, and didn't realize I wasn't putting out any power. Later I got to checking and found I didn't have any audio on the radio. When I checked the power on the tuner meter it said that I was only putting out 10 watts in the AM position, which should have been 40 watts. The radio had been turned off, and the antenna was disconnected during the storm. Later I noticed that I wasn't getting any telephone calls, and when I tried to make a phone call, all I got was a hum on the line. While checking out the telephone system I found the base station on my cordless phone was the problem. There must have been a near by lightening strike that caused the problems. I don't know what other problems I'm going to find in the next few days.
There were 34 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. My sister, Anna Hendershot, KC8JWW, who has been participating in the net since May 9, 1998, has completed 1000 check-ins and will be receiving her certificate. My daughter Cathy Wotring, KC8DJJ, needs only one more check-in to make 1100. And, Brad Carabine, KC8TYU, needs only one more check-in to make 700. There was a new participate to the State Wide DAREN Net this week and that was Randall McGill, N7WWA, from Point Pleasant, WV. I want to welcome Randall to the DAREN system and hope he checks into the net again and uses the system as often as he can.