DAREN of WV News February 8, 2009 (.865)
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.
Joe Peterson, N8DSN, sent me a story of how he used the DAREN system. Wednesday Joe tried to call his father, John, K8ZPR, in Weirton on the telephone, but was unsuccessful. He was immediately instructed to leave a message on an answering machine. Joe figured that his mom or dad was on the telephone so he tried again later, same thing. After several attempts he became concerned. John has his telephone service through Comcast Cable and they had just completed a major upgrade to their service in Weirton. Joe figured the cable modem needed to be reset so he contacted the cable company to have a technician stop by to reset the modem. They said they would have a technician sent in a day or two, but that would be too late if there were an emergency and they would need to use the telephone. Joe tried to contact one of John's neighbors, but no one was home, but left a message on their answering machine anyway. Since John leaves his Packet Radio station set up on the DAREN system 24/7, he thought he would give it a try. He connected his way up the river to his dad's house and left a message on the screen of the station, telling him the telephone was out of service and the cable modem needed to be reset. John contacted one of the local Amateurs in his area who came over and reset the modem. All is well, chalk one up for DAREN, and to Joe for thinking to use it.
I got an E-Mail from Russell Lucas, W8UFX, telling me they are trying to get the DAREN station at the National Weather Service in Charleston up and running again. Russell wanted to know where the Kanawha County NODE/PBBS KANAWV/CHASWV station was located and if it was operated by a local Amateur. I told him where the station was located and that it was owned and installed by Wood County Emergency Communications. I told him it would be nice to have an Amateur in the Kanawha County area that could keep an eye on the station, and help keep it in operation. I would like to upgrade the Kanawha County station TNC to a Kantronics version 9.1, since it is capable of having up to ten stations connected to the PBBS at one time. The only DAREN station that can have multiply stations connected to the PBBS is PKBGWV in Wood County. The PKBGWV PBBS can have up to five operators connected to it at the same time, posting and receiving, messages. During a major emergency in which messages would need to be sent to the State Office of Emergency Services in Charleston, operators would not be getting a busy when they would connect to the PBBS to leave their traffic. And, at the same time those at the Office of Emergency Services wouldn't have to wait for the PBBS to be clear so they could pick up their messages.
There were 63 check-ins this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Ray Gorrell, WV8RG, who's been participating in the net since December 25, 1993, has completed 75