DAREN of WV News August 2, 2020(E65)
(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.
It's been another quiet week, as far as the DAREN system. I assume that we haven't lost anymore DAREN stations. On Thursday I was on a Zoom type conference meeting for the SIRN (Statewide Interoperablity Radio Network). While on the conference call the subject of the DAREN system came up. I was asked if the DAREN system was still in operation. I explained that it is still up, even though we have lost several stations in the past few years, and only about 30 operators check into the weekly Statewide DAREN Net. The reason for the question was the fact that a tower in Kanawha County owned by the National Weather Service has been vacated and turned over to the Amateur Radio operators. I was told the tower is going to be used for Amateur Radio systems, and DAREN can be one of those systems. They are going to try to locate the old Transceiver, TNC, and Power Supply from the Kanawha County NODE/PBBS of KANAWV/CHASWV. They are going to keep me posted on how things are going. Maybe in a few months we will see the Kanawha County station back on the air.
I am busy getting all the paper work ready for the monthly WCEC (Wood County Emergency Communications) business meeting that will be held this coming Tuesday. Before I go to the meeting, I want to stop by the 4-H office and talk about the building that we use for the Parkersburg/Wood County Hamfest. I need to know if the building will still be available on October 10th for the Hamfest, and what we will have to do if we have to cancel the event this year. If the governor doesn't allow more than 25 people to be together by the time of the Hamfest, we may have to cancel it for this year. We are still planning to hold the Hamfest for now. We will make a final decision at the September WCEC business meeting. The business meeting will be held on September 1st.
There were only 29 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. I'm sure I'll get started printing the certificates for those who have been waiting for them. Even with very few activity events this year I'm still busy getting things done around the house.