DAREN of WV News May 30, 2021(F08)
(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.
A few weeks ago I made a trip to the Williamstown, WV, tower site to get power back on in the radio cabinet, and check out the antennas. I'm working on a new DAREN Packet station to re-install at that location. It went off the air several years ago when we lost power to the cabinet. But since we have power back on, we're going to get the DAREN station back on. Even though the station is located in WV, it looks down on the Ohio River and covers a good portion of Washington County, OH, so the NODE/PBBS is called WASHOH/MRTAOH. There are still a few Amateurs in Washington County who use the DAREN system. With new Amateurs getting on the air in the area, maybe we can pick up some more DAREN users in Wood County, WV, and Washington County, OH.
Ted Jacobson, W8KVK, who used to live in Ripley, WV, but moved to Athens, Ohio, several years ago sent me an E-Mail telling me he continues to publicize the DAREN system and the Washington OH/Wood WV AREDN Mesh Network as part of their ongoing Ohio ARES District 9 packet network initiative. He said this week's Ohio ARRL Section newsletter contains a brief article about the systems. You can find a copy of the newsletter on the website of: http://www.arrl-ohio.org/news/2021/ps-05-31-21.pdf Ted said that it's neat being able to check into the DAREN Net again after being away for so many years. He wants to thank Randy Thomas, K8KHW, for providing the important interstate linking to allow the access. He also wants to thank the Wood County Emergency Communications group for keeping packet alive in West Virginia.
There were 37 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. Anna Hendershot, KC8JWW, needs only one more check-in to make 1200. There was one station that checked into the net at about 7:10pm last night, with the callsign of "KC8". If you checked into the net at around that time, and don't see you call on this week's State Wide DAREN Net check-in list, please let me know so that I can add you to the participation. I finally got started on printing up some of the check-in certificates for those who have been waiting. Maybe I can get the rest of them printed and mailed out in the next week or so.
I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day Holiday weekend.