DAREN of WV News November 22, 2020(E81)
(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.
Some of the Amateurs in the area have been busy working on the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN) 2.4 GHz HSMM (High Speed MultiMedia) system. Some have started to place terminal equipment on the system to monitor the temperature and humidity in their voice repeater buildings. They are just testing right now to see if they can make it work. Thursday I went to Bill Davidson, N8JXO's, house for a on line meeting. After the meeting was over we traded out his AREDN station and antenna trying to get an RF path into the rest of the system. Bill's location isn't that far away from the nearest node which is only 2 1/2 miles away, but we are having trouble getting into the node. We may need to find another location to place a node that can connect into the system, and also get to Bill's house. On Wednesdays when I go into town, I usually make trips around the area setting up my portable test station looking for paths, but so far I haven't been able to find a path for him to get into the system. This past week I placed a temporary AREDN station in the north end of Parkersburg, and had some success getting at least three more Amateurs so they will have access to the AREDN system. As soon as we get some more equipment we will be placing a permanent station in it's place. Tim Miller, KB8MOI, from Miller Communications donated some 2.4 GHz parabolic dish antennas, which he took out of service, to help with the project. This project has been an all summer event, with a lot of testing, traveling, and tower climbing. With winter coming things may slow down. I still need to get around to some of my DAREN stations and get them back up and running.
That's it for this week. I will keep testing for AREDN paths and get more Amateurs interested in the system.
There were 30 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net again this week. Lisa Hendershot, KB8UER, who has been participating in the net since August 20, 1994, has completed 1350 check-ins and will be receiving her certificate.