DAREN of WV News July 29, 2018(.D60)
(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.
Well, I received the service manual for the Yaesu FT-840 radios that I ordered, but it is not an original Yaesu manual. What I got is a copy of one that someone put in a PDF format. The copy is just as blurry as the PDF copy I found on the Internet. So, I'm back to searching for a manual that has a good copy of the schematics so I can follow the transmit audio path. I would hate to have to find someone who repairs the FT-840, but it might come to that.
I needed to get into the cabinet where the APRS of WC8EC-7 is located. I figured it would be full of Wasps. When I opened the cabinet door, I was right. I was able to clean out the cabinet without getting stung. I assume the station is still on the air. The transceiver frequency is still set on the APRS frequency. I didn't remember what TNC was on the APRS station, but it is a Kantronics KPC-3. I figure it is a Version 5.0 or 5.1 firmware. Since I have plenty of Version 8.2 Firmware and some 100K Static Rams, I'm going to upgrade the TNC to an 8.2, which is great for APRS. I'll save the parameters and put them in the upgraded TNC. Since I don't play much with APRS, I'll need to find someone who would like to take care of keeping the station updated. Tim Davis, KC8TYK, used to take care of it, but I haven't heard from him in a long time, and don't know if he still gets into it. If anyone would like to keep it upgraded, or knows someone who would, I can give them the passcode for the station. If anyone is interested, let me know.
There were only 29 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. Tricia Magyarosi, KC8VLI, who's been participating in the net since December 28, 2002, has completed 750 check-ins and will be receiving her certificate. Gene Roy, N8ER, needs only one more check-in to make 1300. Krista Mills, KC8VLJ, Tricia Magyarosi's sister needs only one more check-in to make 750. There was one new check-in to the net this week, and that was Kenneth Weigel, W9GM. Kenneth either found the High Frequency path through Randy Thomas, K8KHWs, Winlink 2000 system, or he was visiting someone in the DAREN system area. Either way, I want to welcome Kenneth to the DAREN system, and hope he uses it on a regular basis and checks into the State Wide DAREN Net as often as he can.