DAREN of WV News November 22, 2009 (.906)
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 want to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Since Deer gun hunting season starts this week, I hope that everyone is careful when they are in the woods, or if you happen to go to work at a radio tower site that's in or even close to the woods.
I've received some information from Randy Thomas, K8KHW, the last couple of weeks about his Winlinks system. He says that he's been working on the systems, and they seem to be operating again. He's had to replace some of the radios and do some antenna work. He's still having callsign issues between the Tnos system and the Winlink system. The Tnos takes several calls between all of the servers because each one has to have a different one. He says for now the Tnos will remain K8KHW-7/OHA105. The Winlink system will use the callsign of K8KHW-10. He says he's still having some transmit problems on some of the radios. For some reason they just want to quit transmitting. He says he has to give them a little tap, and they are up and running again. He will keep us posted on the systems. The Winlink and Tnos systems can be accessed through the Ritchie County NODE of RITCWV.
I spent about three hours last Sunday trying to equalize the TNC tones on the Ritchie County NODE/PBBS of RITCWV/HRVLWV. The TNC tones are the ones that are transmitted when data is being sent. On packet the data transmissions are shifted between two audio frequencies. One is called Mark, the other is called Space. The Mark frequency is 2200 Hz, and the Space frequency is 1200 Hz. To make reliable data transmissions, the audio levels of the two frequencies should be as close together as possible. If you are using about any of Kantronics TNCs, there is a command called calibrate. To get into the calibrate mode you use the command "CAL". When you type a "T" the transmitter transmits the Mark and Space tones. If you just want the Mark tone, just press an "M". If you want only the Space tone, you just type an "S". If you have a way to measure or compare the two frequencies, you can see if they are about the same level. If there's quite a bit of difference in the tone levels, you may have problems connecting, and transmitting data to another station. The closer the two frequency levels are, the less trouble you'll have. Most operators don't have a way of measuring the levels, and don't have any problem when they put their Packet stations together. I've monitored and measured several Packet stations, and some of their frequencies are as much as 8db difference, and they still work. The stations whose levels are that much different may take a two or three tries on each transmission to get the data through. Those stations whose levels are only 2 or 3 db different usually connect and pass their data the very first time. If you notice that your station takes several tries to get through, you might want to measure the Mark and Space tone levels.
There were 67 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Brad Carabine, KC8TYU, who's been participating in the net since October 19, 2002, has competed 300 check-ins and will be receiving his certificate. Bob Ott, WB8OIF, needs only one more check-in to make 200. There was one new participant to the net this week and that was Crystal Barnett, KD8LOB, from Walker. I hope she continues to check into the net and get active on the DAREN system.