DAREN NEWS (00-01-16)

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D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. January 16, 2000 (.392) by Ken Harris WA8LLM (304) 679-3470 (HOME) or 428-9980 (WORK) WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS, P.O. BOX 3328, PARKERSBURG, WV 26103 D.A.R.E.N. 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. A State Wide DAREN NET is operated every Saturday from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm. DAREN NET Announcements, 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'.

I received a message from Bob, W3RUA the other day saying that he was unable to connect to the Pendleton County NODE/PBBS of PENDWV/FKLNWV. I've tried to connect to it several times myself now and have had no luck. Bob still has a NODE/PBBS on in Pendleton County which you can use. The NODE/PBBS is a back-up station that he keeps on the air all the time, just in case something was to happen to the highest NODE in the state. The back-up NODE/PBBS isn't near as high as the main one, but is in operation. The NODE/PBBS is PENDWV-1/FKLNWV-1, and has a good path to the Tucker County NODE/PBBS of TUCKWV/PRSNWV. So until we can get the main station back in operation, you still have a path and a PBBS in Pendleton County. Since PENDWV was the best path to the Eastern Panhandle, that area of the state is limited. There is a path to the Eastern Panhandle by connecting to BERKWV through the Mineral County NODE of MINEWV, although it may be a marginal path. I'll try to get ahold of the PENDWV SYSOP and let him know the station is down. I also have a DAREN station down in this area. The Pleasants County NODE/PBBS of PLEAWV/STMYWV is off the air. There are two other Packet stations at the same site, and they too are off the air. I suspect the power supply that keeps the batteries charged has went inoperative and the batteries are dead. The other two stations at the site operate on the frequencies of 145.01 and 145.09 MHz. The stations are the .01/.09 crossover of N8JXO-2. I will try to get to the site in the next few days. I couldn't get to the site this weekend because the Wood County repeater of 147.255 MHz was off the air and I had to go to that site and get it back in operation. Of course it wasn't easy getting to the site since there was a tree across the road and Ken, KB8QPW and my son Kevin and I didn't have a chain saw to cut it out of the way. It was a good thing that Ken had his Jeep and a safety strap, he was able to pull the tree out of the way after some local engineering.

Remember, if there is anything that you would like to pass on to others about activities in your area, let me know so that we can get the word out. I am always looking for something to write about and would like to make the DAREN News informative and interesting to read. Don't forget about the Hamfest in Beckley on March 25, 2000. Contact Juddie, KC8CON for additional information. There were only 75 check-ins to this week's DAREN Net. The weather was nice outside, so I figure a lot of operators took advantage of it.

Bob, KB8QKY who's been checking into the DAREN net since November 16, 1996, and Juddie, KC8CON who's been checking into the net since June 8, 1996 have both completed 150 check-ins. Denise, KC8GJA who's been checking into the net since March 15, 1997 has completed 50 check-ins. All of these operators will be soon be receiving their certificates.

Ken WA8LLM@PKBGWV ===============================================================================