DAREN of WV News July 4, 2021(F13)
(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.
I hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July Holiday weekend. I've already been hearing fireworks yesterday evening, I guess some people have started celebrating early.
I have located another tower that I can install an Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN) HSMM (High Speed MultiMedia) system node. The operators of the Network Associate Internet Service here in the county has offered us a spot on their tower. I've known the owners of the service for several years and have done a lot of work on their tower. One of the service technicians has been wanting to get his Amateur Radio License, but never took the time. I've given him a copy of the Technician Class Question Pool, I don't think he'll have any problem passing the test. He is very sharp on computers, networking, and does a lot of electronic repair. I think he will be a great asset to the AREDN network.
I've been busy getting things back in order after Field Day. It's about the only time of the year that all of the equipment we use is all in one place. Over the year some of the equipment gets used for other projects, so it needs to be re-located with the rest of the equipment and taken to Field Day. I've also been putting together some of things that we needed, and didn't have. Every year at Field Day we find a problem and need to work around it. No Field Day is ever perfect. You should learn something every time.
This year the Wood County Emergency Management Agency/E-911 Director Rick Woodyard, showed up at Field Day and we talked about a building the county has purchased for the new 911 dispatch center. Rick knows what Amateur Radio can do and wanted to know if we want to have an Amateur Radio room in the building. While he was at Field Day he called, and talked to, one of county commissioners about having Amateur Radio in the building. The commissioner was very positive about doing it. Rick ask us to figure how much room, and how many radios we would need. I don't think the county will purchase any radios, but just having a room in the 911 center would be great. We need to get back with Rick as soon as possible, so they can have the building architect figure the room into the building plans.
There were 31 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. Gene Roy, N8ER, needs only one more check-in to make 1450.