DAREN of WV News January 11, 2009 (.861)
Kenneth Harris WA8LLM (304) 679-3470 wa8llm@yahoo.com
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS, P.O. BOX 3328, PARKERSBURG, WV 26103
http://www.wc8ec.com
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 wc8ec.com website.
Not much news this week, everything seems to be pretty quiet. I got a message from Liz Myers, K8LIZ that she posted on the PKBGWV PBBS yesterday. Liz is new to Packet Radio, but she is learning pretty fast. The only way to learn how to use a system is to play with it. The DAREN system isn't used that much except for the State Wide DAREN Net, so there's plenty of time to practice using the NODEs and PBBSs by connecting to them from different locations. There are several tools that can be used. Randy Thomas, K8KHW, has several interface devices that allow you to connect to the Internet, cross over to the networks that are on 145.09 MHz, and also to cross over to the HF Bands. The only thing about crossing over to the HF bands is to be sure you are at a General Class licensee. There is a data storage system called FINDER where you can store and retrieve resources during drills, exercises, or actual disasters and emergencies. There's also the Chatroom system called DAREN, where several stations can connect in and chat with each other. It could be used to coordinate activities such as passing traffic on HF or the DAREN system. It's nice to have a system that will allow you to communicate if the HF Band goes out while you're trying to operate a net on a regular basis, or during an emergency or disaster. Since the DAREN system isn't that busy most of the time and winter is here, now would be the time to learn how to use some of the tools that are available. Don't be afraid to practice and learn how to use them. The time to learn is not during a real emergency.
I've been talking to the Chairman of the Wood County LEPC about the hospitals in this area establishing a database to keep track of items and material they might need in an emergency. Items like the number of beds, the amount of blood, regular hospital supplies, etc. They will be using the Internet to have access to the database, but they want a backdoor system in case the Internet is unavailable. They know about the DAREN system and they want it to be that backup system. The database will be located at an (ISP) Internet Service Provider computer system. The owner of the ISP is Brian Harper, AF8I. Brian will be putting the database together, and he is also going to have a port on the database to connect Packet Radio. He knows that DAREN is only a 1200 baud system, but he says that will be no problem, since he will be only putting the important part of the data on the Packet Radio system, not all of the fancy frills of the Internet. I'll keep everyone posted.
There were 68 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Shane Harper, KD8BMX, who's been participating in the net since March 17, 2007, has completed 50 check-ins and will be receiving his certificate. Gladys Gorrell, KC8GIZ, needs only one more check-in to make 600. And, Randy Thomas, K8KHW, needs only one more check-in to make 350. There was one station on the net again this week with the call sign of "NOCALL". The station checked into the net last night at about 10:43 pm. If you don't see your call sign on this coming week's State Wide DAREN Net Announcement, and think it may have been you, let me know so that I can update your check-in records