DAREN of WV News April 29, 2018(.D47)
(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 had a lengthy conversation on the telephone with Mark Sweitzer, KD8MIV, this week. He said the boys are working on the Randolph County NODE/PBBS of RANDWV/ELKNWV. They are hoping to have it back in operation soon. He told me that if the station isn't back on the by net time this week, he has a station that he can put on the air that can be hit from several NODEs. His station can also get into the Ritchie County NODE/PBBS of RITCWV/HRVLWV. If and when he needs to put his station in operation the ALIAS will be "TUCKEC". The station will be located at the same tower site as his 145.37 MHz repeater. He can only keep it on for short periods of time since the two stations are so close in frequency, they interfere with each other. Speaking of the Ritchie County station it has many problems with the NODE Channels. At the present time, the only way through the station is to Digipeat, since the NODE Channels aren't working. Before long I will be able to make a trip to the tower site and correct the problems.
The Amateurs in the Wood County area helped provide the communications for the Vienna River Road Fun Run yesterday. We sat up the clocks as we have in the past, but this year we tried something new. The clocks were modified to be started by radio. Only two out of the five worked like they were supposed to. Some of the operators at the clocks noticed there was some kind of RF interference coming out of the clocks. The RF interference may be coming from some of the switching circuits inside the clocks. The Hand Held radios that were placed in the clocks only have a short Rubber Duckie antenna, and are located near the other electronics. Plans are to install a longer telescoping antenna on the outside to get a stronger signal from the starting radio, and farther from the other electronics. The next test for the clocks will be on May 19th at the Chic-Fil-A Fun Run in Parkersburg.
There were 32 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. Donnie Woodford, KC8YVR, who's been participating in the net since November 27, 2004, has completed 650 check-ins. Remington Sweitzer, KB3TXG, who's been participating in the net since October 2, 2010, has completed 250 check-ins. Both of these operators will be receiving their certificates.