DAREN of WV News June 10, 2018(.D53)
(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 made a big Boo Boo in last weeks DAREN News. Mark Sweitzer, KD8MIV, sent me an E-Mail to let me know about the mistake. I had the right call sign of the new check-in to last weeks DAREN Net, but when I went on the FCC Database I put in the wrong call sign, and came up with the wrong information. The call sign of KC3LML belongs to Jackalynn Wolf from Oakland, Maryland. Jackalynn rode to the Dayton Hamvention with Mark and his family. Jackalynn bought a Gorden West book on Friday, and took her test on Saturday at the Hamvention. Jackalynn received her call in just a few days after the Hamvention. It was Jackalynn's first check-in on the DAREN Net. I hope she checks into the net as often as she can. I want to thank Mark for bringing the mistake to my attention. Sorry about the mistake Jackalynn.
I'm working on a couple big projects right now. I'm trying to get everything ready for Field Day, and I'm still working on the racing clocks. I ordered some small 3 Amp batteries to go inside the racing clocks. The clocks draw about one Amp of current when they are running, and only need to run for about three hours for the longest race. I'm fixing the batteries so they can be daisy chained together if they need to be for longer running time. Since the batteries are going to be mounted in the clocks, I didn't want big batteries that would make them too heavy to handle. We are planning to have two PSK-31 digital stations set up at Field Day, so I'm getting them ready. I have them put assembled, I just need to test them out.
Sammy Mercer, N8SVX, came out to my house on Wednesday, and we put the Version 8.2 Program in the eight Kantronics KPC-3 TNCs that I use when I teach a Packet Radio class. He brought his MFJ 1270, 1270B, 1270C, and 1274 TNCs with him so we could see if we could repair them. The thing about the MFJ TNCs is that all of the ICs are plug-ins. By swapping chips around, and using chips from some of my bad MFJ TNCs, we were able to send him home with several good MFJ TNCs. I want to thank Sammy for all the help upgrading my TNCs.
Not much else happening around here. If you have anything going on in your area let me know so I can have something to write about.
There were 32 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. Frank Hughes, WD8DEP, needs only one more check-in to make 650.