DAREN of WV News December 20, 2009 (.910)
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.
Since this is the last DAREN News before Christmas, I want to wish every one of you a Very safe and Merry Christmas. I hope Santa Clause brings everything that you've been wishing for.
I may be getting the News out a little late this week. I've been busy getting things ready for Christmas, and also getting our group's communication trailer ready to take to the I-77 Minerals Wells Northbound Rest Area. The group will be operating Free Coffee Safety Breaks over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
The Region 5 Hospital association held their exercise this past Thursday. The exercise went very well, with lots of problems, and there were several lessons learned. Here are some of the problems and lessons learned out of the event. Right off the bat was the need for the use of earphones if radio communications are going to be in the same room as the command center. Sometimes it's hard to hear the radios with all the officials talking in the background. Be sure to have your own communications equipment available with you, even though the communications center has its own equipment. One of the communication centers that was used had a Packet Radio system, but the computer had disappeared since the last time it had been used. Practice using other radio systems before an actual event. There were other radio systems available for use, but some of the Amateur Radio operators had never been exposed to them, and wasn't for sure of the procedures. Just because you are only licensed as an Amateur Radio operator doesn't mean you can't operate on other radio systems which are licensed to the agencies that you're providing service for.
There were 63 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Tricia Magyarosi, KC8VLI, who's been participating in the net since December 28, 2002, has completed 300 check-ins, and will be receiving her certificate. Roy Humes, N8RH, needs only one more check-in to make 650. There was one new participant to the net this week, and that was Tim Dooley, N8WO, from Parkersburg. I didn't know Tim had Packet radio. It's possible that he may have been visiting Ken Riffle, KB8QPW, since they communicate with each other on a regular basis.