DAREN of WV News February 28, 2021(E95)
(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 hard to believe that it's the end of February already. It doesn't seem to be that long ago that we were wondering if the Groundhog was going to see his shadow. I finally got a list of all those who have been waiting for a State Wide DAREN Net Certificate. I can't believe that the last time I printed certificates was in July 2019. The year 2020 was a screwed up year for me starting January 22nd, that threw me way behind. I finally did get the ink cartridges for my printer, so now I will start printing certificates.
There are plans to install another Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN) HSMM (High Speed MultiMedia) station this coming Wednesday. We've talked about installing that station for some time, but we just never got started on it. We're hoping the new station will fill in a couple paths that are needed so some of those Amateurs using the AREDN system will have better coverage. We're still trying to build antennas that will work about the same as the commercial ones that we are using. We have used a lot of homemade designed antennas, but they aren't even close to the commercial ones. The commercial antennas keep going up in price, and it's keeping us from installing AREDN stations where we need them. If, and when, we get a good designed antenna, we'll pass the information on to others who are interested in building one, or more. We haven't forgot about Packet Radio and the DAREN system, the AREDN system is just another way to tie Amateur Radio operators together using digital modes.
There were 34 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. I want to welcome back Ed Messenger, N8OYY, back to the net. Ed has been missing from the net since July 1, 1995. I hope Ed will be participating in the net, and the DAREN system as often as he can.