DAREN of WV News April 7, 2019(D96)
(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 started building the heavy-duty power supplies for the DAREN stations that I'm getting ready to put together. I'm using some high current transformers that were taken out of a fire alarm system which I acquired a few years ago. The Pass Transistors for the power supplies are PNP type that were taken out of some old Motorola MOTRAC radios. I could have used some switching type power supplies for the station, but where these power supplies will be going there will be other commercial and public safety radios, and I want to make sure the power supplies won't be producing any RF noise interference, like I've ran into in the past. I had to take a break from putting the stations together today while I was helping some other Amateurs provide the safety communications for the Challenge at Mountwood Mountain Bike Race. There was 13 Amateurs located around the 26-mile race course. I think they said there was about 150 bike races participating in the race. There were only a few minor injuries, nothing like we've seen in the past.
While at the race I was able to deliver one of the 100 watt Motorola radios and a J-Pole antenna to Conard Richarson, KE8HLU. Conard will be using the equipment to make a permanent set up for his WAVEWV DAREN station. When he's finished with the station, it will have several kinds of options, like a PBBS, Chat Room, and access to the Internet, and maybe more.
Next weekend I'm going to be tied up both Saturday and Sunday taking an AUXCOMM (Auxiliary Communications) class. From the reports that I've seen, there will be 14 other Amateurs in the class. Jim Mangus, WB8YST, from the Kanawha County METRO 911 Center in Charleston, and Dirk Burnside, WD8PAD, who is a radio technician for the West Virginia Department of Highways, will be teaching the class.
There were 37 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. Donnie Woodford, KC8YVR, needs only one more check-in to make 700.