DAREN of WV News October 1, 2017(.D17)
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.
There hasn't been very much happening this week, so I started to print the DAREN Check-in Certificates. That didn't last too long. The Black Ink for my printer ran out on the first one I printed. When I go to town on Tuesday for the WCEC Business meeting, I'll stop and get a new ink cartridge. Since I couldn't print certificates I've been cutting brush around my towers. It's been several years since I checked on the guy wires. All kinds of brush, trees, and vines had made it almost impossible to see the guy wires. I've cut most of the brush so I can get to the anchors, and I've cut the bottoms of all the vines so they will die, but the big problem is how to remove the vines that have grown up the guy wires. I know they are going to dry out, but I would still like to get them removed. They are heavy now, and I can only imagine how heavy they are going to be when the snow and ice starts.
After checking my calendar, I see there are more Cross Country races. They are scheduled for Thursday, October 19th. They are Regional races and there are four of them. I hope that will be the end of the races for this year. The races will be held at the same location as the Parkersburg/Wood County Hamfest which will be held on the Saturday the 14th. I hope to see everyone at the Hamfest.
I don't know what has been happening, but the State Wide DAREN Net has been dropping off. There were only 28 check-ins to the net this week. It could be that everyone is trying to get their outside activities completed before the weather start turning bad. I'll keep the net going as long as I can. I figure if the net stops, no one will have a reason to keep their Packet station in operation. Then when we need them, we won't know if they are working or how many NODEs and PBBSs are working. I still have several stations to work on and I'm afraid winter will get here before I can get them back in good working order.