DAREN of WV News March 15, 2009 (.870)
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.
I got an update on the Berkeley County NODE/PBBS of BERKWV/MRTNWV that I didn't get in last week's News. Bob Ott, WB8OIF, now has a key for the tower site and said that he took station TNC home with him. He checked out the TNC which seemed to be okay. Then he took the TNC and a computer back to the tower site and tried to connect to his home station, which he can almost see from the site, but no luck. Since he was plugged into the TNC he monitored the frequency and was able to see MINEWV, RANDWV, and PENDWV, but was unable to connect to them, so he knew the transmission line and antenna were okay. Then he used his handheld radio to listen to the transmissions from the DAREN station. He said there was virtually no signal coming from the transmitter, and what tones he did heard didn't sound right, so he figured the problem was in the transmitter. The radio is a General Electric Phoenix SX which Mark Kraham, W8CMK, had picked up from somewhere and crystaled up for the DAREN frequency. Bob has a couple of sources that he's going to check with to see if he can find a radio and put the station back together. If anyone has an old GE Phoenix SX laying around that they no longer need, you might get in contact with Bob. Maybe in a few weeks Bob will have the NODE/PBBS back on the air.
That's all I have for this week. I hope to see everyone at the Charleston Hamfest next Saturday, March 21th. Also keep an eye on the Wood County Emergency Communications website: www.wc8ec.com The Wood County group is holding a Hamfest on October 10th in Parkersburg. In conjunction with the Hamfest they will start selling tickets for a Radio-A-Day Give Away on May 1st. The giveaway will be based on the September 2009 WV Pick-3 Lottery. Most of the planning is done, and the radios that will be given away have been assigned. The only thing they have to do now is order their Raffle License. Information flyers for the Radio-A-Day Give Away will be available at the Charleston Hamfest. When the tickets go on sale they can be purchased in person, over the internet, or over the telephone. There is also a Hamfest at Athens, Ohio, on Sunday, April 26th, and a Hamfest in Ripley on Sunday, May 3rd.
There was a good turnout for this week's State Wide DAREN Net. There were 71 participants in the net. Russell Kirk, KC8RHO, who's been participating in the net, on and off, since December 31, 2005, has completed 50 check-ins and will be receiving his certificate. I should be sending out certificates for those who have been waiting for them. I printed up some of the certificates last week, but didn't get them sent out. I'll try to get the rest of them printed up in the next couple days and hope to have all of them in the mail this week.