DAREN of WV News June 21, 2009 (.884)
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.
Don't forget that Field Day is this coming weekend. If you haven't read the Field Day Rules for the last couple of years, you might want to become familiar with them. I just assumed they are about the same each year, but they do change some once in awhile. Last year they dropped the Non-Traditional Mode Demonstration which you could use to get an extra 100 bonus points, and replaced it with an Educational Activity for an extra 100 bonus points. There have been no significant changes this year. I love Field Day since it's the only time of the year that I get on CW. I was able to copy 35 WPM when I was in the Navy, which was several years ago, but I had to brush up a little bit to pass the 20 WPM code when I got my Extra Class in 1989. I'm no CW operator, but I can operate CW, so Field Day I get to practice a little bit. The CW operators on Field Day don't care how good you are, they just want the contact. There are plenty of ways to get additional bonus points, and our group tries to take advantage of as many as we can. Don't forget to take advantage of Field Day being a training exercise especially before the event begins. Try to get the members of your club, group, or organization to learn ways of setting up antennas, running power lines safely, and keeping the generator in a place that will keep it dry and away from things that might start a fire. Field Day is a time to learn how to set up operating stations in a short period of time, which you may have to do in a real emergency. In a real emergency you probably won't be setting up three or four HF stations, but it will help to get ideas of how to set one up in a hurry, if you haven't already got a good way to do it. One thing that I've seen many times is Field Day groups always use the same location for their site, and they know the 75 Meter Antenna will be put in that tree, the 40 Meter Antenna will be put up in that tree, and so on. The only problem with doing that is, in a real disaster or emergency you may not be operating from that site, you may be setting up somewhere else. Try to make your setups self contained, which means it doesn't matter where you go, you won't have to rely on trees that may, or may not be there. Anyway, use Field Day to learn everything you can, have fun and do it safely. I hope to contact some of you next weekend.
There were 54 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Francis Fox, K8ATB, who's been participating in the net since January 27, 2007, has completed 100 check-ins. Charlie Dotson, WB8NSL, who's been participating in the net, on and off, since January 15, 1994, has completed 100 check-ins. Joe Forren, ND4B, whose been participating in the net since December 8, 2007, has completed 50 check-ins. All of these operators will be receiving their certificates. I was hoping to get all of the certificates printed up for those operators who have been waiting for them, plus the ones for this week, but things didn't work out like I had hoped. Matt Wright, KD8GWP, needs only one more check-in to make 50. As in the past the State Wide DAREN Net will be in operation over the complete Field Day period. This will give everyone a chance to get checked into the net sometime during the event.