DAREN of WV News December 15, 2019(E32)
(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.
Not much to talk about this week. I've checked the PKBGWV PBBS and my E-Mail for any articles I could write about, but there was nothing there. It's been too wet and cold to be doing anything outside.
I've been wanting to get some more Amateurs interested in Packet Radio, so I've been talking to some of the locals, and bringing it up the voice nets. I've been telling them there is no cost to get on Packet Radio, if they have a computer, with Soundcard, and a radio that has VOX (Voice Operated Transmit) capability. With a couple cheap transformers, and a free downloaded Soundcard Program such as MIXW, they can get right on Packet. There is a learning curve on how to use the Soundcard Programs, but it will get them on the air. I'm not all that up to date on Soundcard Programs, but I do know they work. A couple years ago Sammy Mercer, N8SVX, and I played around with Packet using one of the Soundcard Programs. With the Soundcard Programs I don't think you can have a mailbox, or let your station be a NODE or Digipeater, but that's not necessary. There are plenty of DAREN NODEs, Digipeaters, and PBBSs around, that you don't need one of your own. As long as you have a terminal station, that's all you need. By using the VHF to HF crossover of WAVEWV that Conard Richardson, KE8HLU, has set up, you can get on HF and talk around the nation. If you plan on using the cross over station to talk on HF, remember you need to have at least a General Class Amateur Radio License.
There were 32 check-ins to the Statewide DAREN Net again this week. Timothy Stout, KC8QWV, needs only one more check-in to make 50.