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D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. July 5, 1998 (.312)
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, they would like to share
with others, may send it to WA8LLM @ PKBGWV on 145.69 Mhz. Outside of the
DAREN system, on the regular Nation Wide BBS System, it may be sent to WA8LLM
@ WA8OMR.WV.USA.NA. D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV is posted on several High Memory
DAREN PBBS', and on the regular BBS system @ ALLWV. A State Wide DAREN NET is
operated every Saturday from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm. 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 M county DAREN PBBS'.
From all of the messages and reports that I've received this past week it
looks like a lot of the Western part of West Virginia and Eastern Ohio was hit
hard by the high winds, rain, and flooding. I received weather and flooding
reports from John W8DRO, Chuck KC8WO, Harry KA8CMG, Bud W8OO, and Juddie
KC8CON. Anytime there's a SKYWARN or weather net that you're able to hear and
get into, you should always check in and give your weather report, no matter
what your weather is like. Even though you may not be getting or having any
bad weather, it's just as important for others to know so they can tell how
large or how small a storm is.
Terry KB8EIR says he's been having a lot of trouble with the Randolph County
NODE/PBBS RANDWV/ELKNWV this year. The MOV (Metal Oxide Varistor) power surge
protector has been tripping out due to the storms, and he's been making trips
to the mountain to reset it. He now has it set on automatic in hopes that may
take care of the problem. The battery he's using for backup power is 5 or 6
years old and feels it's time for it to be replaced. RANDWV is a very
important NODE in Central West Virginia.
Pat N3AAS now has another harmonic in the Woods' household. Pat's wife Vickie
gave birth to an 8 lb 3 oz baby boy witch was 20 and one half inches long.
Christopher Scott Woods was born July 4th 1998 at 2:37pm. There are now four
harmonics in the family, Michael 16, Ryan 6, Abby 2 1/2, and now Christopher.
Congratulations Pat.
I want to thank all of those who sent me messages about getting checked into
the State Wide DAREN Net on June 27th and 28th and was not on the list of
check-ins due to power outages and computer failures. Here's a list of those
who told me they had checked in and weren't on the list: W8OO, W8FZP, KC8CON,
N8KNG, KG8NV, WB8WKO, NM8T, WB8CNN, W8GUL, W3RUA, KC8GDV, NQ8B, KA8VAH, K8GLA,
KA8CMG, WA8FFG, N8ER, K8QEW, KB8HEK, N8OLT. These calls have been added to
the check-in list for the June 27th and 28th State Wide DAREN Net report.
There were only 69 ch-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Jack N8MDZ
has checked into the net 150 times, Bill N8RSM has checked into the net 100
times, and Sam N8SVX has checked into the net 50 times. All of these
operators will be receiving their certificates. There were two new stations
that checked into the net, KE4BIK and KE4VBP. I want to welcome them to the
DAREN system.
73 Ken WA8LLM
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D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. July 12, 1998 (.313)
After I wrote the article last week about the Randolph County NODE/PBBS of
RANDWV/ELKNWV, I was unable to connect to it. Something must have happened
which caused it to be off the air again. I wasn't able to post the DAREN News
Sunday or the net announcement on it on Wednesday either. It does seem to be
back in operation today.
I received more messages from a few other operators that had checked into the
State Wide DAREN Net June 27/28 before the records were lost due to the severe
storms that went through the area. The records of KB8QJM, KC8EUR, KG8XR,
KC8GJA, KB8VLS, WD8JNU, N8UXE, KB8NWU, and K8ZPR have all been updated.
By the way I received a message from Juddie KC8CON who is the Assistant ARES
EC for Fayette County, telling me about the PARC NODE that operates on 145.09
Mhz. It seems the building which it was housed in was broken into, but
nothing in the building was stolen or damaged. The NODE however was removed
from the building and is in operation at his house until the building can be
secured. The PARC NODE is a very important NODE in the operation of the PARC
Net which operates from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm every Thursday evening on 145.09
Mhz. Juddie is seeing the same things that I've been seeing for the past
couple of years, that some operators of Packet aren't operating as much, and
some are getting off of Packet. I notice that a lot of Packet operators have
Internet addresses and may be spending more time on it. I know Packet isn't
near as fast, or have near the capabilities as the Internet, but it is a way
to pass messages without the use of telephone lines. During the heavy part of
the storms last week when power and telephone service was off, I was still
able to operate using portable Packet. Even with our voice repeater down due
to no commercial power, I was able to find different paths to use Packet.
Juddie says that he's working on the Fayette County DAREN NODE. He says the
Plateau Amateur Radio Association has installed a new repeater on the 911
tower in Smithers. He wants to approach the 911 center about installing a
DAREN station now.
There were 74 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Dave KG8XR has
checked into the net 100 times and will be receiving his certificate.
73 Ken WA8LLM
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D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. July 19, 1998 (.314)
George K8QEW who's the ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator for West Virginia
would like any Emergency Communications activities that involve Amateur Radio
reported to Olie WD8V who's the ARRL Section Manager. It's more important now
then it has been to show that Amateur Radio is a vital Communications tool.
There are a lot of Communication companies and business' that are looking for
frequencies they can get control of, and if we don't justify the uses of
Amateur Radio, we're sure to lose some more of our frequencies. George also
wanted to remind us that Amateur Radio messages should be handled over the
Amateur frequencies and not over the Internet. It's hard to justify having
Amateur frequencies if we don't use them.
I'm finally getting things back together after the storms that went through
the area. I just got the NODE/PBBS WOODWV/PKBGWV station that operates on
145.09 Mhz back on the air. I've had several requests to get it back in
operation since it's one of the main NODEs into and out of Wood County. I'm
still trying to find a good path to get checked into the PARC net that Juddie
KC8CON operates every Thursday evening between 7:00 and 10:00 pm on 145.09
Mhz. I think the NODE PARC is still at his house waiting for the building on
Gauley Mountain to be repaired so it can be re-installed.
For those of you who have asked for information, I haven't forgotten about
you. I need to get George K8QEW updated DAREN maps, Harry KA8CMG all DAREN
Literature and the copies of past DAREN News, Joe N8UXE and Mike KC8FWD the
history of DAREN, and information to Juddie KC8CON on getting DAREN stations
in Emergency Operation Centers. I don't know where the time goes, but it sure
is flying past.
There were 74 check-ins again to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Nothing
much else to report except those who are waiting for their net check-in
certificates should be receiving them in the next few days.
73 Ken WA8LLM
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D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. July 26, 1998 (.315)
I tried to post the DAREN News last week on the Mineral County PBBS KEYSWV,
but didn't have any luck. I tried a couple more times later, but I still
couldn't get connected to it, so it may have been down. I was out of town
last week and didn't get any messages saying anything about it. I checked
this morning and the PBBS seems to be back up. It may have just been a power
failure and the batteries went dead. As long as it's back up that's all that
counts.
John W8DRO reports a frequency change of the Automatic Packet Reporting System
(APRS). To keep in line with the Canadian stations and reduce the possible
interference being caused to the nearby MIR Space Station Frequency of 145.800
Mhz, the APRS network is changing it's frequency from 145.790 Mhz to 144.390
Mhz. APRS hasn't expanded much in West Virginia, mostly in the Charleston,
Huntington area. Ohio and Kentucky have already changed to the new frequency
and Mac W8XF who is the APRS coordinator in West Virginia has already started
changing West Virginia over. The W8GK-10 station Charleston has already been
changed and the N8WBR-10 station in Hurricane is waiting for crystals so that
it can be back up and running. The link into Virginia has been lost since to
W8MOP-5 is still on the old frequency. Mac is hoping the W8MOP-5 will be
changing to the new frequency soon.
The 21st Annual Wheeling Hamfest sponsored by TSRAC will be held September 12,
1998. The Hamfest will be held on Saturday from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm at the
Wheeling Park. For more information and advanced tickets contact: William
Maxwell WD8JIA, 143 Miller Street, Wheeling, WV 26003-5913. Telephone number:
(304) 242-2509, Fax: (304) 242-8446, or E-Mail: BMAXWELL @ COMPUSERVE.COM.
There were 81 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net.
73 Ken WA8LLM
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D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. August 2, 1998 (.316)
Juddie KC8CON says the new club, Mountain Packet Association Inc., has become
and ARRL Affiliated Club, and they also have a webpage. The webpage is http:
//members.spree.com/mtnpacket. The Mountain Packet Association meets ever
quarter on the last Friday of that month at 6:30 pm. He says they are hoping
to set up two NODEs on 145.09 Mhz. One will be at the Summersville 911 Center
for non-emergency use, and the other is planning to be in Elkins. He says the
County Commission and the Director of Emergency Services have worked well with
them. They've already acquired the power supply (an Astron RS20), the antenna
is up and they have gotten a computer. Juddie will be donating a Panasonic Dot
Matrix Printer for the station. The TNC and radio have been checked out by
Tony, N8KNG and all is working well. Tony N8KNG sent me a message to let me
know the DAREN station is in operation at the 911 center. The NODE ALIAS is
NICHES and the PBBS ALIAS is SMVLWV. The main county NODE/PBBS is still
located on Grasshopper Knob with the ALIAS' of NICHWV/RWODWV. They are also
working on getting the Fayette County 911 Radio Room and stations upgraded, but
are running into a few problems. Juddie says the Plateau Amateur Radio Club
was demonstrating Amateur Radio at the Fayette County Fair from 6:00 pm to 9:00
pm nightly, and was there all day Saturday.
Lynn AI8I told me the Greenbrier County NODE/PBBS GREEWV/LSBGWV was out of
service and that Jim WB8DMS was out of town. They didn't have any storms so he
didn't know what the trouble might have been. The station was off the air
since about Tuesday. I checked this morning and it's now back on the air.
With the loss of the Wyoming County NODE, WYOMWV, GREEWV is about the only way
to get to the lower part of West Virginia and into Virginia. Lynn hasn't got
an update on the Pocahontas County NODE/PBBS POCAWV/MARLWV, it's been off the
air for the last couple of months. Lynn said he renewed his Amateur Radio
License via the Internet on July 21 and got the new one on July 25. While I'm
writing about licenses, you might want to take a minute to see when yours
expires, remember, the FCC doesn't send out reminders any more.
For those who check into the PARC Net that is held on Thursday evenings between
7:00 pm and 10:00 pm on 145.09 Mhz there are a couple other paths into the Net
Control. If you can get into WOODWV, there is a fairly good path to MTNNIC
(Nicholas County) and sometimes to MTNWEB (Webster County) and then to "NET".
The NODE "PARC" is still at Juddie KC8CON's house till further notice.
There were 82 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. John N8RIG needs
only one more check-in to make 200, Pat N8AAS needs only one more check-in to
make 150, and Tina KC8EOI needs only one more check-in to make 50.
73 Ken WA8LLM
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D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. August 9, 1998 (.317)
Lynn AI8I isn't for sure what's wrong with the Pocahontas County NODE/PBBS of
POCAWV/MARLWV. The station has been off the air since May 19, 1998. He's not
sure if it will ever get back on the air.
I missed putting out the announcement about the Huntington Hamfest which was
held yesterday, August 8th. If you know of any hamfests or other activities
that involves Amateur Radio let me know so that I can get it in the news. The
state ARRL Radio Council will be held at Jackson's Mills on August 29/30, and
the Wheeling Hamfest will be held September 12th. George K8QEW says that Pat
Murphy from the Pittsburgh National Weather Service will be a guest speaker at
the state convention.
There were 90 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. John N8RIG, who
first starting checking into the DAREN net January 30, 1993 has now checked
in 200 times. Pat N3AAS who's been checking into the net since November 12,
1994 has now completed 150 check-ins. Both of these stations will be
receiving their certificates. One station, who I've still got to get a name
for, K8VKI needs only one more check-in to make 50 check-ins.
73 Ken WA8LLM
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D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. August 16, 1998 (.318)
Well here it is another week and things seem to be quiet, and nothing to write
about. This week the news is going to be the least that it's ever been. If
you have something to pass along to others send it to me so we can get it in
the news. Remember, the ARRL West Virginia State Convention is going to be
held the weekend of August 29th at Jackson's Mill. I've heard rumors it will
only be on Saturday since everyone starts leaving and there's very little
activity on Sunday, this could be wrong, you'll just have to find out for
yourself. All I can say is that I'm planning to be there.
There were only 73 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Tina KC8EOI
who first started checking into the net September 7, 1996 and Paul K8VKI who
first started checking into the net May 3, 1997 have both checked into the net
50 times and will be receiving their certificates. Judy N8UFQ needs only one
more check-in to make 300 and Kevin KD4GJQ needs only one more check-in to
make 50.
73 Ken WA8LLM
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D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. August 23, 1998 (.319)
For the last few weeks the Greenbrier County NODE/PBBS GREEWV/LSBGWV has been
on and off the air several times. Jim WB8DMS says the station has wore out
it's welcome on the tower site and has had to be moved. It's now located at a
temporary site in Alta. The only path to the station is through the Giles
County, Virginia NODE GILEVA. There's a marginal path between the Giles NODE
and the Kanawha County NODE KANAWV which will have to be used until the
station gets moved to another tower site on Keaney Mountain. Jim says that
WB8SPW hopes to get the station back on the mountain soon.
Don't forget the ARRL West Virginia State Convention will be held at Jackson's
Mill this coming weekend.
There were 83 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Judy N8UFQ who
has been checking into the net since it first started October 31, 1992 has now
checked in 300 times and will be receiving her certificate. I'm a little
behind getting the last couple of weeks of DAREN Check-in certificates sent
in, but they will soon be on their way. The last few weeks has been busy with
getting ready for the Parkersburg Homecoming and Half Marathon, but I plan on
being caught up shortly.
73 Ken WA8LLM
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D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. August 30, 1998 (.320)
It's hard to believe, but the PARC Plateau Amateur Radio Club Packet Net has
been in operation for almost two years. Juddie KC8CON says that to celebrate
he will be running a 24 hour net on September 10th, 1998. The net will start
at 0000 (local time) September 10th and will end at 0000 September 11th. The
PARC Net operates on 145.09 Mhz every Thursday from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm.
There are several NODEs on 145.09 Mhz which were installed and are maintained
by the Mountain Packet Radio association. Juddie has worked hard trying to
make the PARC Net grow and keep Packet Radio activity alive in the Southern
part of the state.
George K8QEW, the West Virginia ARRL ARES SEC (Section Coordinator) gave a
report on the ARES/RACES Program in West Virginia. He is looking for someone
to fill the vacancies of EC (Emergency Coordinator) in Jackson, McDowell,
Pleasants, and Roane Counties. If any one would like to hold these positions
just let George know. The only thing that you need to do is keep George, or
the SEC, informed of activities that are happening in your county. The ARRL
needs to have this information when they work with the FCC on keeping Amateur
Radio Frequencies. With the amount of businesses wanting our frequencies it's
more important then to have reasons to keep our frequencies. Reports that
need to be sent in monthly are all Nets that are held, the number of messages
that are handled, the amount of Amateurs that are signed up as ARES members,
and all activities that uses Amateur Radio for communications. Activities
such as Disaster Drills, Actual Emergencies, Providing Back-up and overload
communications for Public Safety agencies, providing communications for Public
Service events such as Road Runs and walks, and River Regattas should all be
reported to the SEC so that it can be passed on to the ARRL. It's not a hard
job and only takes a few minutes each week or month to send the reports in.
Pat Murphy KB8QEV, the SKYWARN Amateur Radio Focal Point of the Pittsburgh
National Weather Service talked about activities going on with the National
Weather Service and Amateur Radio. He also set up a display table of Weather
related hand outs.
At the Convention I met Rich KA8UEU and Larry KB8CVP. They wanted me to
remind everyone of the Preston County and Kingwood Volunteer Fire Department's
Annual Buckwheat Festival. The Festival will be held September 24th through
the 27th at Kingwood, West Virginia. Let me tell you it's a great festival
and I would be there if it weren't for the Volcano Days Festival in Wood
County which we are involved in operating the BINGO games as a fund raiser.
The Net Control for the State Wide DAREN Net on September 26th will be at the
Buckwheat Festival.
There were 80 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Some of the
regular operators that normally check-in didn't make it because they were
still at the West Virginia ARRL State Convention at Jackson's Mill.
73 Ken WA8LLM
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D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. September 6, 1998 (.321)
I can't remember who told me, but while I was at the State Convention last
week I was told the Morgantown E-911 center NODE/PBBS, MONOES/MGTNES has about
the same coverage as the main county NODE/PBBS MONOWV/MGTNWV. He said the
station seems to be working great.
Mike KC8FWD, who is a member of the Stonewall Jackson Amateur Radio
Association, is interested in installing a DAREN station in Harrison County.
He's hoping to install the station at the United Hospital Center in
Clarksburg. The club has a computer, a Kantronics KPC-3, and Coax. I'll be
sending him the information he needs to get the station programed and in
operation. The Harrison county E-911 had a station in operation at one time,
but it just seems to have disappeared. There might be a radio that could be
used to get Harrison County back on the map.
There are other areas of the state that doesn't have any coverage, or access
into the DAREN system. I know the internet is getting a lot of Amateur's
attention, but we still need back-up communications systems. If you're
interested in getting a DAREN NODE/PBBS in your county, talk to your county
Emergency Services Director. Most of the county Emergency Services Directors
know about Amateur Radio and may be willing to help. If they aren't sure if
they can help, have them talk to the State Emergency Services Office, they
know about Amateur Radio and DAREN, they may be able to be of some assistance.
Don't forget the special second anniversary Plateau Amateur Radio Club Packet
Net (PARC) Packet Net this coming Thursday. It operates on 145.09 Mhz from
0000 (local time) September 10th till 0000 September 11th.
There were 71 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. I know some of
the regular operators were in Morgantown at the Ohio/West Virginia football
game and didn't get home in time to check in. They probably weren't in any
mood to check in anyway, hi hi. Denise KC8GJA needs only one more check-in to
make 50.
73 Ken WA8LLM
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D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. September 13, 1998 (.322)
I don't know what happened to the Wheeling Hamfest this year, but it was sure
down in size this year. I hope this isn't a trend, but just an off year. The
Wheeling Hamfest has been the biggest and best for several years and I hope
that it picks back up next year. There were several other Hamfests within
driving distance over the weekend and that may have played a part in it being
down. Don't give up on next year just because it was down a little this year.
George K8QEW said that Hancock County held a Nuclear Power Exercise this past
Thursday. The exercise lasted about 12 hours. I don't know who all was
involved in the exercise.
The four hospitals in the Wood County area will be holding their second drill
this year on September 19th at about 10:00 am. Amateur Radio will be the
primary hospital to hospital communications. The hospitals have to hold two
drills a year to meet their certification. The first one was held in February
and all communications was handled via Amateur Radio, both voice and packet.
The ARES/Data system (FINDER) was used to keep track of simulated victims.
Juddie KC8CON said there were 16 check-ins during his 24 hour anniversary net
held between 0000 Thursday morning to 2400 Thursday evening on 145.09 Mhz.
He's going to put together a list of all of those who have checked into the
net for the last two years and the amount of check-ins and post them where
they can be seen.
There were 66 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Lisa KB8UER
needs only one more check-in to make 200, and Jim N3BHY needs only one more
check-in to make 150.
73 Ken WA8LLM
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D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. September 20, 1998 (.323)
I'll be leaving for school in Philadelphia about noon on Sunday September 27.
If you have anything you'd like to have in the DAREN News that day, let me
know in plenty of time. I need to get the News typed up and posted before I
leave town, otherwise I won't be able to get it out till I return on Thursday.
I know activity on DAREN and Packet in general has been down a little bit
since it's summer time, but it will pick back up.
John W8DRO is changing the operating system on the Central Message Center
"DAREN" from FBB software to MYSYS software. He's been trying to get the
center to Autoforward messages, but has been having trouble getting it done.
The problem with autoforwarding messages is the format that is needed so that
messages can be SEEN by anyone and still be DELETED by anyone. If messages
are posted as "Personal" or as "Bulletins" then only the person that leaves
the messages, the SYSOP of the PBBS, or the person that it is going to can
Delete the message. DAREN News and DAREN Net Announcements need to be posted
as traffic so that whoever is keeping the PBBS cleaned up can remove any old
messages. He's hoping to have the system working this week.
There were 81 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Lisa KB8UER who
has been checking into the net since August 20, 1994 has checked in 200 times
and Jim N3BHY who has been checking into the net since April 22, 1995 has
checked in 150 times. Both of these operators will be receiving their
certificates. Larry KB8CVP and Jerry NQ8B need only one more check-in each to
make 200 check-ins. Bill W8OO needs only one more check-in to make 50. There
were three new operators to the DAREN system that checked in this week and
they are KC8HXB, N8ZIJ, and KI8CI. I want to welcome them to the DAREN
system.
73 Ken WA8LLM
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D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. September 27, 1998 (.324)
The DAREN News is a little late getting out this weeke to
get it posted before I had to leave for school in Philadelphia on Sunday,r
the company.
Bud W8OO has sent me a message about a Silent Key. George W8GSN who started
checking into the State Wide DAREN Net July 12, 1997 has checked in almost
every week since, has passed away. George passed away on September 4th.
John W8DRO has the Central Message Center "DAREN", in Charleston, set up to
autoforward messages which have been provisioned with the proper format. He
doesn't have all of the paths built into his system yetut he says it won't
be long. What he does have set up seems to be working pretty good. To make
the "DAREN" autoforwarding system work better with more efficiency we need to
et up the other DAREN PBBS's with proper format which will allow messages to
be processed through them. There are just a few parameters that need to set
to allow autoforwarding to work. The most important ided is to
have the right type of TNC that is used on the PBBS. If the PBBS is using a
Kantronics KPC-2 TNC it needs to have at least a version 5.0 Firmware before
it can be used to Autoforward messages. The KPC-3 and later versions of
Kantronics can be used for autoforwarding, with just parameter changes. If
you need to know how to set up your county PBBS for forwarding let me know.
I finally got the certificates sent out for those who have been waiting for
them. The DAREN Path Map has been updated again with a few less NODE/PBBS',
and one new one. The last time the map was updated was about a year ago and
since then a few NODEs went off the air, some from lightening, and some for
other unknown reasons. The system is still covering a large portion of the
state, but new NODEs are always welcome. If you can helpep the DAREN
system up and running and would like information, let me know.
Larry KB8CVP, who was the Net Control Station at the Buckwheat Festival
Special Event Station reported 70 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN
Net. A couple of stations called me on the repeater and said they tried to
get checked in, but were unable to make it. Larry KB8CVP, who started
checking into the net October 9, 1993, and Jerry NQ8B, who started checking
into the net November 7, 1992, have both checked into the net 200 times. Bud
W8OO, who started checking into the net July 5, 1997, has checked into the net
50 times. All of these operators will be receiving their certificates. John
KF8OM needs only one more check-in to make 150, and Skip K8SOR needs only one
more check-in to make 100.
73 Ken WA8LLM
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D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. October 4, 1998 (.325)
For those of you who haven't already caught the mistakes in last week's DAREN
News, there are a couple. The big one is the date. I guess I wasn't paying
any attention to what I was doing and got a brain cramp. The date on last
week's news was the same as the week before, I just forgot to change the date.
I don't know what happened to the good copy of the news, but some of the PBBSs
has a copy that got garaged up. I may try to get a good copy of the news
posted when I post this one.
I forgot to thank Larry KB8CVP and Rich KA8UEU for running the State Wide
DAREN Net last weekend at the Buckwheat Festival. If anyone knows of an event
festival, or other activity which is going to be running a Special Event
Station and wants to be the Net Control Station for the State Wide DAREN Net,
just let me know. It's not hard to do and sometimes it fun just watching
other stations trying to get connected to you.
I received a message from Edgar KB8QEU who runs a landline BBS that you might
be interested in. I'll just print the message instead of rewriting it.:
1 r KB8QEU Sophia, WV 12:00Pm Edt Oct. 4 1998
Ken Harris WA8LLM
Rt 1 Box 124
Waverly, WV 26184
Hello Ken,
This is being fowarded to you via WB8CNN to the DAREN system.
I wish to announce that my move to Sophia, West Virginia was successful.
The BBS survived!!! Please inform, via DAREN, to those who wish to check in
to HONAY's BBS at 304 683 5816, are more than welcome.
HONAY's BBS is Amateur Radio Oriented along with a method for those who has
a disability to have access to the cyber community.
HONAY's BBS is also a weather information distribution site. The weather
information is up to date, including National, Statewide, local forcasts,
hurricane and up to the minute severe weather information!
Ken, I'd like to get the DAREN NEWS to be posted on the WISE BBS in
Morgantown. They can be reached via the internet by searching for WVWISE.ORG
They have several local telephone numbers.
Well that's enough and keep keeping on!
73 from KB8QEU
Edgar McKinney
There were 80 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. John KF8OM who
started checking into the net December 3, 1994 has checked into the net 150
times and will be receiving his certificate.
73 Ken WA8LLM
==============================================================================
D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. October 11, 1998 (.326)
For those who need new DAREN path maps send me a message at PKBGWV and I'll
get it out to you. There are several changes since the last map was updated.
A few of the very important NODEs are off the air and it's leaving some dead
spots, or at least making it hard to get through the system. If you're in an
area that you don't have access to the DAREN system let me know and maybe we
can do something about it.
I saw a message some where from David KB4LCI saying the NODE "POCAEC" is fully
operational at his home until he can get it moved to the 145.11 Mhz repeater
site later in October. If there are any other NODEs that you know of that are
going to be coming on the air let me know so that we can get the word out.
With Winter coming it's going to be hard to put some new stations in operation
on some mountain tops.
In the past few weeks I've seen messages on several PBBSs that aren't getting
delivered. If you see a message to some one and you know they aren't on
Packet or just not active on Amateur Radio at all, you should try to deliver
the message by what ever means you can. The handling of Routine messages on a
daily basis is just practice for when you need to handle important and
Emergency messages.
There were 80 check-ins again this week to the State Wide DAREN Net. Joe
N8UXE needs only one more check-in to make 250. With the colder weather
coming on I'm sure the check-ins will start picking back up.
73 Ken WA8LLM
==============================================================================
D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. October 18, 1998 (.327)
I still need to get the DAREN information together for Mike KC8FWD with the
Stonewall Jackson Amateur Radio Association, (S.J.A.R.A). so that he can put
the U.H.C. Hospital NODE/PBBS in Clarksburg in service. With me going to
school out of town, vacations, and all the other activities such as runs,
races, and walks, trying to stay caught up is hard to do. I still have some
DAREN Net certificates that need to be mailed out.
I forgot last week that George K8QEW sent me a message October 6th about
Hancock County holding another exercise involving the Nuclear Power Plant at
Beaver Valley. The New Manchester Elementery School was evacuated due to the
exercise and the students were taken to the Weirton High School for shelter.
Any time that you know of an exercise or drill, let me know about it and it
will be put in the DAREN News. Also any time that your group is involved with
activities that Amateur Radio is being used for communications, let George
know about it. The FCC and ARRL have got to know that Amateur Radio is still
necessary for backup and overload communications in emergencies. If we can't
justify the use of Amateur Radio, we may lose some more of our frequencies and
not have any to be used as a hobby. Be sure to compile all of your group or
club's activities (runs, walks, races, nets, drills, and etc.) together and
send them to George so he can report them to the ARRL.
It's hard to believe, but this is the third week in a row there were 80 check-
ins to the State Wide DAREN Net. Joe N8UXE, who has been checking into the
net since November 7, 1992, has now completed 250 check-ins and will be
receiving his certificate. Jim N8COG needs only one more check-in to make 100
check ins. There are several operators that still need only one or two more
check-ins to qualify for certificates. KA3SKW needs two for 250, K8SOR needs
one for 100, KC8GJA needs one for 50, KD4GJQ needs one for 50, and WD8PQG
needs only two for 50.
73 Ken WA8LLM
==============================================================================
D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. October 25, 1998 (.328)
George K8QEW who is the ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator corrected me on
special activities reports. The special activities reports need to go
directly to the ARRL and are handled by Rick Palm K1CE who's head of the Field
Public Service Department. There are special forms for reporting these
activities and they can be obtained be sending an E-Mail to: jarel@arrl.org.
Use the form as a guideline for reporting the activity. The report can also
be sent to jarel (JoAnn) who's the secretary of Rick. George still needs his
reports by the end of each month. By the way George is still looking for ECs
(Emergency Coordinators) for a few counties. Being a county EC doesn't take a
lot of time, but is a very important position since it's about the only
contact the SEC has with some counties.
Well, it's that time of the year again when we need to go around and reset our
clocks again. When setting your clocks and watch, don't forget to change the
time in your computers and if you're the SYSOP for a NODE or PBBS on the TNC
of your systems.
I want to say congratulations to Juddie KC8CON on his recent license upgrade.
Juddie is the Net Control Station for the PARC (Plateau Amateur Radio Club)
Packet net held every Thursday evening from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM on 145.09 Mhz.
Help support the PARC Net by checking in every Thursday night.
There were 85 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Jim N8COG, who
has been checking into the net since January 13, 1996, has now completed 100
check-ins and will be receiving his certificate. Ken KA3SKW needs only one
more check-in to make 250. There was one new check-in to the net and that was
Barry (BK) who is the SYSOP for the Calhoun County NODE/PBBS, CALHWV/GRSVWV.
I'm glad to see that BK finally was able to check-in. Welcome to the net
Barry.
73 Ken WA8LLM
==============================================================================
D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. November 1, 1998 (.329)
With the changing of the weather and the two meter band being opened, there
may be stations that you are not a part of the DAREN system. Remember that to
keep our frequency as clear as possible for emergency use, we need to use our
NODEs to connect to other DAREN NODEs and PBBSs and not tie up the frequency
connecting to stations outside the DAREN system. I know there are other non-
emergency stations on the frequency and they may be easier to connect to but
we should refrain from doing so. If we start congesting the frequency with
DAREN stations the frequency will be harder to use when we need to handle
emergency traffic.
John W8DRO says the DAREN station METRO, in Charleston, has been taken out of
service and won't be put back on the air. He also says the National Weather
Service group in Charleston has a new call. The callsign is WX8NWS. He says
they also have a web site which is: www.crwnet.com/skywarn/. They still have
a few bugs in the web site, but they are working on them. The last track I
had of the number of Amateurs at the Weather Service there were 12 of them.
There were 81 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Ken KA3SKW, who
has been checking into the net since November 21, 1992, has now completed 250
check-ins and will be receiving his certificate. Skip K8SOR who has been
checking into the net since March 27, 1993 has now completed 100 check-ins and
will be receiving his certificate. George K8QEW needs only one more check-in
to make 250, and Tina KB8ZQM needs only one more check-in to make 50. There
was one new station that checked into the net this week, and I would like to
welcome them and that was K8RAN. This call might be a vanity call of one of
the stations that normally checks into the net, if so, let me know so I can
update my records.
73 Ken WA8LLM
==============================================================================
D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. November 8, 1998 (.330)
It seems the Tyler County NODE/PBBS TYLEWV/MIDBWV is off the air. I haven't
been able to post the Net Announcement on it for the last couple of weeks. I
talked to Bobbie KB8TBF, who takes care of the Tyler station, a few weeks ago
and he was having trouble with his home station. He said his radio just quit
working. I haven't heard back from him, and now the Tyler County NODE/PBBS
has quit. Bobbie was posting the net announcement on the Northern Panhandle
PBBSs until his radio died. I need to get a hold of him and see what's
happening in Tyler County and see if he will find out what might have happened
to the Tyler NODE/PBBS.
I ran a NODE list from several different NODEs just to see what NODEs were
still on the air and under what call sign. I need to update a few calls that
have changed since the last update.
I got a message from Mark KQ4Q a couple of days ago. Mark's old call was
KJ4QQ. He says he's still around the Bluefield, VA/WV area and still helps
keep the Mercer County NODE/PBBS MERCWV/BLFDWV operational. He hasn't checked
into the net since August 17, 1996, since he's being kept busy with his job.
There were 82 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. George K8QEW who
has been checking into the net since it first started October 31, 1992, has
now completed 250 check-ins and will be receiving his certificate. I had
George's check-in number wrong on the DAREN Net Announcement this week. I had
it posted as 250 instead of 249. Tina KB8ZQM who has been checking into the
net since May 18, 1996 has now completed 50 check-ins and will be receiving
her certificate. Joe N8DSN needs only one more check-in to make 200. Bill
KB8RPI and Juddie KC8CON, (who is the NCS for the Thursday evening PARK Packet
Net on 145.09 Mhz), needs only one more check-in each to make 100. There was
one new station that checked into the net this week and that was John W3JTW.
I want to welcome him to the DAREN system. Last week I thought we had a new
check-in, K8RAN, but that is the new call for Randall KC8HFK who has been
checking into the net from time to time.
73 Ken WA8LLM
==============================================================================
D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. November 15, 1998 (.331)
Last week I mentioned about the Tyler County NODE/PBBS, TYLEWV/MIDBWV being
down. I got a call from the Tyler County Emergency Services Director, Chuck
Shepard, who's call has slipped my mind. I found out the station is owned by
the Office of Emergency Services in Tyler County and "ALL" radio equipment at
the tower site is under a maintenance contract with a Two-Way Radio service in
Parkersburg. The tower which was used by the NODE/PBBS was destroyed during
the storms that went through the area back in June. Since then a new tower
has been erected and all radio equipment has been installed on the new tower.
The moving of all equipment was done about the same time the NODE/PBBS went
off the air. There's a possibility that in the moving of the antenna and
station, the radio or TNC may have been turned off. The Two-Way Radio service
will be contacted to get the station back in operation.
Juddie KC8CON needed some information, in Black and ent to the
Nicholas County Commissioners about their county's involvement with the DAREN
system, so they can keep funding their NODE/PBBS. The paper work was sent to
Juddie, to present to the commissioners. In some counties the DAREN equipment
is owned by the County or the County Emergency Services. If the station in
your county is one of those, and you need a hand convincing your Commissioners
or Emergency Services Director that your county DAREN NODE/PBBS needs to stay
in operation, let me know and I'll help you with the required information.
Just for a little information. As I was going over the State Wide DAREN Net
records I looked to see how many stations have checked into the net since it
first started October 31, 1992. There have been 608 different stations that
have checked into the net at least once. There are still 279 stations on the
active list. The active list are those who have checked into the net at least
once in the last year, and those who have checked into the net at least twice
in the last two years. On an average there are about 80 check-ins each week.
There have been 51 stations that have checked into the net between 50 and 99
times, 35 who have checked in between 100 and 149 times, 25 who have checked
in between 150 and 199 times, 12 who have checked in between 200 and 249
times, 4 who have checked in between 250 and 299 times and 2 who have checked
in over 300 times. With this little tidbit of information and fifty cents you
can get a cup of coffee. But if you want a free cup of coffee, our
communications group, Wood County Emergency Communications Inc, will be having
Free Coffee Safety Breaks at the South Bound Rest Area on I-77 just below
Mineral Wells in Wood County. We'll be there for the Thanksgiving, Christmas,
and New Years weekends. Stop in and say hi if your headed that way.
There were 81 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Joe N8DSN who
has been checking into the net since March 26, 1994, has now completed 200
check-ins and will be receiving his certificate. Juddie KC8CON, who is the
primary Net Control Station on the PARC Packet Net every Thursday evening on
145.090 Mhz, and has been checking into the net since June 6, 1996 has now
completed 100 check-ins and will be receiving his certificate. He says that I
have completed checking into the PARC Net 100 times and will soon be receiving
my certificate. Richard K8VE needs only one more check-in to make 150, and
Dean N8OLT needs only one more check-in each to make 100.
==============================================================================
D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. November 22, 1998 (.332)
George K8QEW who is the ARRL ARES SEC (Section Emergency Coordinator) for West
Virginia will be leaving that position December 31, 1998. The new SEC will be
Mac W8XF. George feels that 20 years in the position is long enough and would
like to take a break. George has done wonders for the ARES (Amateur Radio
Emergency Services) in West Virginia. He has put a lot of time in trying to
keep the DECs (District Emergency Coordinators) and County ECs (Emergency
Coordinators) informed about the happenings of the ARRL and ARES. With the
rumors of the FCC doing away with the RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency
Service) in the near future it will be more important to keep the activity in
the ARES program alive. From being an Amateur Radio for 35 years, and being
employed by the telephone company for 32 years, I can tell you it's very
important to keep Amateur Radio alive and active. If you don't know who your
County EC or District EC is, contact George K8QEW @ WEIRWV and get active in
the ARES program. After the first of the year be sure to give as much support
to Mac W8XF as you can, I know he will have his hands full.
Chuck Blake N8HEN who is the Emergency Services and 911 Director for Mason
County is looking for Amateur Radio operators who would like to help provide
back-up/overload communications for Emergency Services. Chuck said he would
like to have both HF Voice and VHF Packet at the county Emergency Operations
Center and is willing to help. I stopped by the 911 Center on Thursday and
gave him a package of information about the DAREN system. Chuck said he has
been on Packet before, but his station is being rebuilt at the present time.
Chuck would like to get the ARES/RACES program active in Mason County.
I made a trip to the State Office of Emergency Services on Friday and talked
to several of the employees at the Emergency Operations Center. The one
employee that we should know about is Clay Carney (who callsign I've forgot),
and is the Communications Officer for the State OES. Clay told me that
Amateur Radio is a vital communications and is very much needed in the state.
If you're interested in Emergency Communications, contact your county ARRL EC
or your county Emergency Services Director to see what you can do to help.
There were 86 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Richard K8VE who
has been checking into the net since November 21, 1992, has now completed 150
check-ins and will be receiving his certificate. Dean N8OLT who has been
checking into the net since April 2, 1994 has now completed 100 check-ins and
will be receiving his certificate. Charles KB8WQM needs only one more check-
in make 50. There was one new station that checked into the net I would like
to welcome to the DAREN system and that is Ricky W8DDX.
73 Ken WA8LLM
==============================================================================
D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. November 29, 1998 (.333)
Ted W8KVK says the packet crosslink between the S.E Ohio/WV/KY 145.09 mHz
network, and the large 145.53 mHz Central Ohio/Columbus area network has been
restored to service after extensive storm damage this past summer. The .53
network has a number of interesting services and links including several HF
ports, a large worldwide conference bridge, (QSO/CHAT node), the State of Ohio
Emergency Operations Center (EOC) etc. The crosslink node is 'ATH53', and
there are direct links to ATH53 from both JCO and ATHENS here on .09. When
exploring these systems, remember to use the 'ROUTES' and 'INFO' commands,
*NOT* the 'nodes' command. Simple 'stick' maps of both the .09 and .53
networks are available at W8KVK, which is reachable from both JCO and ATHENS,
which operate on 145.09 mHz.
I got a message the other day stating that one of the DAREN operators was told
that DAREN should not be used to pass daily NTS type traffic, the system
should only be used to pass EMERGENCY traffic. This IS NOT the case. The
DAREN system needs to be used on a daily basis to keep the operators familiar
with the NODEs and PBBSs that are in operation and how to get to them. The
only thing I can see that may be a problem is the picking up of messages after
they have be posted on a PBBS or Mailbox. For any system to work in the
handling of messages, is the picking up and delivering of them. If you see a
message on any PBBS or Mailbox, you should try to get it delivered by what
ever means it takes. The thing to remember, is use the DAREN system for
delivering messages. Then when an emergency happens and you need to use
Packet to handle traffic, you will know where the PBBSs and Mailboxes are
located, and how to get to them.
While Joe N8DSN was traveling through Parkersburg over the weekend I talked to
him about a DAREN NODE in Cabell County. He's going to make inquiries around
the Huntington area in search for a tower site to install a station. The last
two DAREN NODEs were destroyed by lightening and none has been put back on the
air. With any luck we may get another NODE in operation in Cabell County.
While visiting the State Office of Emergency Services last week I was also
told by the officials to get in contact with the Wayne County Director. She
is very interested in making her county active in Emergency Services. I'll be
trying to get in contact with her this week and see what she has to say about
helping provide a DAREN NODE/PBBS in Wayne County. If there are any Amateur
in Wayne County that are interested in having a NODE/PBBS, they to should try
to contact the Emergency Services Director.
There were 78 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Bill KB8RPI who
has been checking into the net since September 9, 1995 has now completed 100
check-ins and will be receiving his certificate. Charles KB8WQM who has been
checking into the net since August 3, 1996 has now completed 50 check-ins and
will be receiving his certificate. Bub WA8FFG needs only one more check-in to
make 150, and Paul K8GLA needs only one more check-in to make 50. For those
who want to know where they stand on check-ins, I will post a complete list
this week on the same places that I post the DAREN News.
==============================================================================
D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. December 6, 1998 (.334)
I called the Emergency Services Director, Beth Richmond, in Wayne County this
week to find out if there were any Amateur Radio Operators that works with the
Emergency Services there. She told me there are a few Amateurs in the county
that are active, but none of them works with Emergency Services. She said the
Amateurs from Ashland, Kentucky comes over to assist when she needs help. I
sent her a package of DAREN information so she can look it over. She said she
will look around for a tower site to install a DAREN NODE/PBBS. I may hear
back from her in a few days.
David KB4LCI told me the Greenbrier County NODE/PBBS GREEWV/LSBGWV is back in
operation. I made a few tests to see what kind of paths were available. The
paths I had best luck with were to KANAWV and RALEWV. The band conditions
seemed to be a little strange this week since I had to use a different path
this week for posting the DAREN Net Announcements. It's still great to see
the Greenbrier County back in operation.
I talked to one of the service technicians from the two-way radio shop that is
responsible of taking care of all the radio systems that are located on the
Tyler County tower site. He's not for sure if the Tyler County NODE/PBBS of
TYLEWV/MIDBWV got moved to the new tower. During the storms that went through
this area on June 27th and 28th, the old 190 foot tower was destroyed. A new
190 foot tower was installed right beside the 60 foot remains of the old
tower, and the antennas were moved over to it. He's going to inquire about
the DAREN station to see if it is part of the county's maintenance contract.
If it is, then TYLEWV/MIDBWV may be back on the air soon. The NODE TYLEWV is
a very important link to the Northern Panhandle since quality of Wetzel County
NODE WETZWV has been down for some time now.
Phil K8MHR gave me some more information about the sending of NTS traffic over
Packet Radio. Since not every one on Packet is a traffic handler of NTS
traffic, NTS messages should be sent to a "known" NTS traffic handler. Also
DO NOT send your messages addressed to the "ZIP CODE". A lot of BBSs and
PBBSs won't automaticly forward messages using the Zip Code to reach it's
destination. Not all Amateur Radio Operators are traffic handlers, so some
messages may not get relayed or delivered to the addressee. The NTS has been
a reliable backbone of Amateur Radio message handling for many years, so we
don't want Packet Radio be the one mode of transmission that makes it
unreliable.
There were 95 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. I see that Mark
KG8JG made it back after two and a half years absences, welcome back Mark.
Bud WA8FFG who has been checking into the net since December 11, 1993 has
reached the 150 check-in mark and will be receiving his certificate. Paul
K8GLA who has been checking in since September 6, 1998 has checked in 50 times
and will be receiving his certificate. Diane KB8VLS, Steve N8SNR, and Charles
KC8WO all need just one more check-in each to make 200. Amber Jr. KC8HHI and
Amber KC8HHJ need just one more check-in each to make their 50th check-in.
73 Ken WA8LLM
==============================================================================
D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. December 13, 1998 (.335)
For those who have been having difficulty getting through the Greenbrier
County NODE/PBBS GREEWV/LSBGWV since it had to be moved to a new location,
Lynn AI8I may have a reason. He thinks the problem is paging interference
from near by transmitters. Intermod and other interferences are not uncommon
when Amateur Radio equipment is co-located with commercial radio equipment.
If you look at the NODE list on the Kanawha County NODE KANAWV, you'll also
see the callsigns of other Amateur Packet stations that operate on other
frequencies. Intermod is very common when several commercial, Public Safety,
and Amateur Radio stations share hilltop or mountaintop locations. Lynn says
that Wayne is trying to get the Pocahontas County NODE/PBBS installed at
Snowshoe, but he doesn't know how it's coming along, maybe some day we'll see
the station back on the air.
Rich K8VE is testing his MSYS BBS at his house and will taking it to the hill
as soon as he's finished testing it out. He sent me a message a few weeks
back, but I can't find it, so I'm can't remember how he was going to use the
station. He will be using the Radio and TNC from the Upshur County NODE/PBBS
UPSHWV/BUCKWV. The temporary ID in the station is UPSHBB.
I'm just curious, how do you use Packet Radio in your area. Besides using
Packet for PBBS or BBS messages and Buy, Sale & Trade, what else do you use it
for? In the Parkersburg area we use it to connect to the ARES/Data system
(FINDER) to store and retrieve the names of victims and Public Safety workers
during disaster exercises, drills, and actual emergencies. We also use it
during the Homecoming and Christmas Parades to send the parade lineup to the
judges at the finish line to let them know the parade lineup order. During
holiday weekend Safety Breaks when we are providing free coffee to travelers
on the Interstate we keep updated weather reports (provided by Al N8UBG and
Ted W8KVK) on the PBBS in the concession trailer. If you use Packet Radio in
other ways send me the information, others may want to try the same thing.
There were exactly 100 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Steve
N8SNR who has been checking into the net since April 2, 1994, Charles KC8WO
who has been checking into the net since January 23, 1993, and Diane KB8VLS
who has been checking into the net since January 7, 1995 have all completed
200 check-ins and will be receiving their certificates. Amber Jr KC8HHI and
Amber KC8JHH who have both been checking into the net since December 27, 1997
have completed 50 check-ins and will be receiving their certificates. Bob
W3RUA needs only one more check-in to make 200.
73 Ken WA8LLM
==============================================================================
D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. December 20, 1998 (.336)
After I had posted the DAREN News last week I saw Bobbie KB8TBF testing the
Tyler County NODE/PBBS TYLEWV/MIDBWV. I connected to his station, but before
we got to converse on Packet with him, he was calling me on voice. It seems
that some how the volume got turned off on the Tyler County station. All he
had to do is readjust the volume and everything was just fine. He said the
speaker was disabled in the radio so there shouldn't have been any noise
coming from the it that would cause someone to turn it down. If you are the
SYSOP of a Packet station which is sharing space with other users, be sure to
disable the speaker so the other users don't have to hear the Packet noises
coming from the radio when they are in the building working on their radios or
systems, I learned that the hard way when I had to make a two hour trip, one
way to turn the volume up on one of my stations.
Not much else to report this week, but the members of Wood County Emergency
Communications Inc. and I want to wish you a Very Merry and Safe Christmas.
There were 89 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Last week I
forgot to welcome a couple of newcomers to the DAREN system and they were
Julia N8ZLY and Jason KB8PLS. Bob W3RUA who has been checking into the DAREN
Net since December 18, 1993 has completed 200 check-ins and will be receiving
his certificate. There was one new check-in to this week's net. I want to
welcome Windle KB8WSK to the DAREN system. And Dana N8SLS after a two and a
half year absence checked into the net last night.
73 Ken WA8LLM
==============================================================================
D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV. December 27, 1998 (.337)
Well, I hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas and didn't eat too
much. This is the last DAREN News of 1998 and I get to start over again next
year. To recap a few articles from this year we had listings of volunteer
testing exams, hamfests, balloon launches, disaster drills, contests, Fieldday
activities, voice and packet nets, and APRS. If you have any of these type
articles that you would put in the DAREN News send them to me, WA8LLM @ PKBGWV
and we'll try to get them in here. DAREN News was started to let everyone
know how the system was coming along, but since it is posted on several PBBSs,
any article pertaining to Amateur Radio is now put in it. One of the biggest
problems that I have seen in the past year is Amateurs trying to find a place
to take License Exams. If your group, or you know a group that is having an
exam session let me know so that I can pass it on. I know a lot of Amateurs
will drive several miles to be able to take their exams, so just let me know
where they are at.
On Thursday December 17th the PARC Net which operates on 145.09 Mhz was cut
short. Juddie KC8CON who is the Net Control Station for the net told me what
had happened. The preamp for his station had went bad, possibly do to wind
static, and wasn't able to hear anything. He also told me a way to get to the
Fayette County NODE/PBBS FAYEES/FAVLES since there's not much of a path
between it and GREEWV. He said there is a path from NICHWV to it, but I
forgot to tell my daughter Cathy KC8DJJ who posted the Net Announcement this
week to try it. Juddie says he also has a personal station, that is set up as
a NODE at his house since there are no other "Main County NODEs" in Fayette
County. He uses the ALIAS of FAYEWV until another one comes along.
A reminder for those DEC (District Emergency Coordinators) and County ECs
(Emergency Coordinators). Send your ARRL reports to Mac WX8F who is the new
SEC (Section Emergency Coordinator) starting January 1, 1999. I also want to
thank George K8QEW for his many years (20) as the ARRL SEC.
There were 99 check-ins, which included SANTA who checked in, to this week's
State Wide DAREN Net. Four stations need only one more check-in and they will
be receiving certificates. Lynn AI8I needs only one more to make 250, Georgia
N3TGL needs one to make 150, Cal N8RNY needs one to make 100, and Larry W8UB
needs only one to make 50. I want to thank everyone who has checked into the
DAREN Net this year and welcome you back in 1999. Have a very safe and happy
new year.
73 Ken WA8LLM
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