DAREN of WV News October 27, 2019(E25)
(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 Statewide 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, the weather didn't cooperate. Joe Thomas, N8MEV, Sammy Mercer, N8SVX, and I started to work on the tower yesterday morning but didn't get very far. It didn't start raining too much until we had 35 feet of the tower in the air. We are still hoping to have at least 45 feet in the air before the weather turns really bad. As in the past years we have had some pretty good weather days up into December, so we'll see what happens. In the meantime, I'll start building the outriggers for some of the antennas that will go on the tower.
The organizers of a benefit that was going to be held yesterday heard the weather was going to be bad, so they decided to postpone the event until next Saturday. The Wood County Emergency Communications group took most of them trailers down to the location on Friday any way since it was already planned and it was a good weather day. I guess we will see what happens this coming Saturday.
I received an E-Mail from Eric Powell, N9RZR, and Mike Sipin, KA9CQL, who said they had launched an HAB (High Altitude Balloon) on Tuesday, October 8th, from St. Louis, MO. They said the batteries are probably dead by now, but from their last APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System) tracking report it looks like the balloon came down somewhere in the Pleasants County/St. Marys area. Randy Thomas, K8KHW, who live across the Ohio River from St Marys, said he drove around the area of the last coordinance of 39 22 49.8N, 081 12 58.8W but didn't see anything. We are hoping some of the local GEOCASH people might want to look for the balloon. Eric and Mike would still like to find the balloon, and the equipment.
There were 31 check-ins to the Statewide DAREN Net. Judy Peterson, N8UFQ, who's been participating in the net since October 31, 1992, has completed 1400 check-ins. Judys son Kendale, KD8QAK, who has been participating in the net since April 23, 2011, has completed 450 check-ins. And, Jeffrey Holstein, K8JMH, who has been participating in the net since July 19, 2014, has completed 100 check-ins. All of these operators will be receiving their Net Participation Certificates.