Daren News Guide
This D.A.R.E.N. NEWS Guide is written for those who are new to the Digital Amateur Radio "Emergency" Network, and for those who may have questions they don't know to ask. It should answer several questions, and may bring up a few more. The DAREN System has been approved by the West Virginia State Office of Emergency Services, and helps support it with Federal Funding. D.A.R.E.N. News is written weekly, and are short articles about the Digital Amateur Radio "Emergency" Network of WV, which operates on 145.69 Mhz. D.A.R.E.N. NEWS of WV is posted on the normal BBS system @ ALLWV, and on all of the High Memory DAREN PBBSs. It's used to help keep operators informed about the workings of the Network. A State Wide Packet Radio Net is held every Saturday from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm on 145.69 Mhz, all Packet Radio Operators are welcome to check in. The net uses a "connect/disconnect" system. When you connect to the Net Control Station, you should get a message back, letting you know you have checked in, and then you will be disconnected automatically. DAREN Net Announcements, with the previous week's check-ins, are posted by Thursday on most MAIN county PBBSs. The DAREN Net Announcements let you know who the Primary and Alternate Net Control Stations will be, that week, and the best NODEs to connect from. If after a reasonable amount of time, the Primary NCS doesn't answer, try connecting to the Alternate NCS by his/her NODEs. NOTE! The State Wide DAREN Net WILL NOT be held if the State Office of Emergency Services and/or the Governor has placed the State of West Virginia under a "State of Emergency". The DAREN System is a traffic handling network, that should be used to pass Emergency, Priority, and "NTS Type Traffic". "NTS Type Traffic" is any formal type traffic, such as NTS, MARS, CAP, etc, that has a serial number, date, time, text, and signature. The network should be used on a daily basis for passing "NTS Type Traffic" for practice and staying familiar with the system. All messages posted on the DAREN PBBSs, should be left as traffic (ST) so they can be seen by all, and be deleted by those picking up the message. This includes ARES and RACES BULLETINS, D.A.R.E.N. NEWS, and Net announcements. If a message is posted with only an "S" or posted "SP" (send personal), only the person it is sent to, the person sending it, and the SYSOP, can see it. If a message needs to be posted as a personal message, make sure the call sign is right, otherwise the person it is intended for, WILL NOT see it. Try not to use "S" or "SP" when posting messages. BEACONs from all stations in the DAREN system are discouraged. BEACONs only add additional interference on the frequency. BEACONs, however, can be used on a limited basis. BEACONs that are used to announce a net that is in progress, or announcing a National Weather Service Weather Advisory, are a couple of exceptions. Please DO NOT BEACON just so others know you are on the air. A list of the most commonly used NODE/DIGI/PBBSs are posted, or otherwise available. Keyboard to Keyboard communications is not discouraged, since it does not tie up the channel as much as some other systems, but please do it wisely. The TNCs on the main NODEs in the DAREN are KANTRONICS KPC-2s and KPC- 3s, with 5.0 version firmware or higher. These are used because they can be a NODE, DIGI, or PBBS, all with different ALIASs. KANTRONICS' name for mailbox, or mail drop, is PBBS. The main county NODEs and DIGIs have an ALIAS using the first four letters of the county they are in, followed by the state abbreviation. The main county PBBSs have an ALIAS using a four letter abbreviation of the city they are in or near, followed by the state abbreviation. Most of these PBBSs only have 7K of memory, which is enough memory for several NTS Type messages. Most low profile NODEs, DIGIs, and PBBSs are made up the same way, except the last two letters are that of the agency they are serving. Example: ES (Emergency Services), SH (Sheriff), RC (Red Cross), etc. The DAREN system is not a buy, sale, trade system. It doesn't have access to the nationwide BBS system. There are no buy, sale, trade BBSs in West Virginia on 145.69 Mhz. The DAREN system is not limited to West Virginia. We would like for it to have access to other systems, that have the same purpose in mind, (Emergency, Priority, NTS Type Traffic). We are asking operators not to use the DAREN NODEs to go outside of the state, and within the state, looking for BBSs, DX Clusters, and other non-formal systems, which will clutter up the network. When connecting to the NODEs, if the letter "S" is added after the CALL or ALIAS, the route will stay connected back to that NODE after a disconnect (by the use of "Bye") has been issued. This is handy if there are several NODEs, and you are going to re-connect to another station in the same path. Also when connecting from NODE to NODE, waiting for a "LINK MADE" message is NOT necessary. If you are connecting through several NODEs, that you know are in operation and have good paths to each other, you can type them in, one right after another, without waiting for a "LINK MADE" message to come back from each one. After you have connected to the first NODE, leaving your station, you can type the next NODEs in a row. Example: C (node 2)C (node 3) C (node 4) etc. etc, then just sit back and wait for the last NODE or PBBS to answer. The same thing holds true when sending a message. After you have connected to a PBBS, you can send all of your information, without having to wait for the PBBS to tell you what to send next. Example: ST (call) (the subject information) , (the message) , and then finish it all off by sending a /EX or a Ctrl Z, (on a line by itself) . After you have hit the last , just sit back, relax, and wait for a "MESSAGE SAVED" message to come back. A lot of the DAREN NODEs only have 3 or 4 channels, so during busy times, you may get a "link busy at (node)" message. If this happens, digipeat thru it, but only USE DIGIPEATING AS A LAST RESORT. Digipeating, as opposed to connecting from NODE to NODE, takes longer in a long run, if the frequency is busy. You can use a combination of "connecting and digipeating" through the NODEs to get to your destination, that's why the NODEs and DIGIs have the same ALIAS. Several NODEs are being upgraded to increase the amount of NODE Channels, and to reduce the amount of digipeating. If you have to digipeat, only digipeat through one digipeater at a time. When disconnecting, please DO NOT "Force a Disconnect" by using the "CTRL C and Disconnect" procedure. It ties up a NODE channel until it retries out. If you make a mistake when making a connection, and catch it after you have pressed , you can type "ABORT", then re-type the last command. If you are connected to a NODE, you "CAN NOT" connect to the PBBS of that same station. You need to connect to a PBBS from somewhere other than the associated NODE. When listing messages on any of the PBBSs, you don't have to list all messages. You can use the "LL" (List Last) command. For example, if you only want to see the last 3 messages, you type LL 3 . You don't have to go through every NODE in the direction of your destination. Some paths are good enough to skip one or more NODEs. Try different paths to find out which ones are good. On the other hand, there are some paths that may be marginal, and should be avoided when the frequency is busy. The DAREN System has AUTO-FORWARDING to pass traffic. Not all PBBS's are able to AUTO-FORWARD, but there are several. One way to know if a PBBS can AUTO-FORWARD your message, is when you connect to it. If the PBBS has something to the affect: ***CONNECTED to (pbbs) [date time] [KPC3-5.1-HM$], (note! KPC3-5.1 or higher) there's a chance it will AUTO-FORWARD your message, if you are using the proper format. An example of the proper format is: ST (call) @ (pbbs). At the present time (@ zip code) is not in operation, however, any message that has an @ sign after the call, or zip code, will be forwarded to the Central Message Center, "DAREN", and may be taken care of from there. Another way to tell if your message is being Auto-Forwarded is when you disconnect from the PBBS. A properly set up PBBS will immediately try to connect to the Central Message System, "DAREN", or next PBBS in it's path. If successful, you will see your message being forwarded. When leaving a message for all to see, use "ST" please DO NOT use "SB". Be sure to leave instructions as to when it should be deleted. Most messages should not be left for more than 3 days. If a message is a "traffic type" message, PLEASE try your best to get it delivered. A 3 1/2 inch disk of all D.A.R.E.N. News from July 19, 1992 to the present, including this News Guide is available upon request.