DAREN of WV News January 17, 2010 (.914)
Kenneth Harris WA8LLM (304) 679-3470 wa8llm@yahoo.com
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
P.O. BOX 3328, PARKERSBURG, WV 26103
http://www.wc8ec.org
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.org website.
Since there's very little activity going on due to the cold weather, there's been nothing reported this week. I still need to get to the Wood County tower site to replace the TNC on the NODE/PBBS of WOODWV/PKBGWV. Maybe within a couple of weeks I can get that done.
Since most of the activities around here have slowed down, and won't start again until April or May, I'm planning to hold some classes on different subjects. The members of our communications group have been trying to complete some of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) courses. The courses that most of the fire, police, rescue, and ambulance personnel are taking is the NIMS IS-100, IS-200, IS-700, and IS-800, or their latest issue. To stay familiar with what the Public Safety people are doing, our communications group wants to take the same courses. By taking the same courses the group will be able to work with those agencies easier, and will be able to understand what they are doing. If Amateur Radio operators are going to work with Public Safety personnel, it's better if all agencies are doing everything the same way. I'm also getting ready to teach another Packet Radio Class. I need to talk to the Fire Chief of the Eastwood Volunteer Fire Department about using their Fire Station for the classes. The Fire Chief is Mike Daley, who is also an Amateur Radio operator, with the call of KC8JHK. We've used the Fire Station before when we held an ARRL RADIOGRAM training class using a Power Point Presentation, put together by Bill Davidson, N8JXO. Another class that I would like to teach is how the telephone system works and how to set up temporary telephone systems to be used at a disaster site or for training exercises. Our communications group isn't just Amateur Radio operators, they become familiar with all kinds of communication systems including Public Safety radio, and telephone systems. I'll let everyone know when the classes will be held. If you are interested, and want to participate, you are welcome to attend. I'll also have the classes posted on the Wood County Emergency Communications web site: www.wc8ec.org Most of the classes will be held on Saturdays and/or Sundays.
There were 67 check-ins to this week's State Wide DAREN Net. Ray Gorrell, WV8RG, needs only one more check-in to make 800. And, Lester Shields, K8LES, needs only one more check-in to make 50. I didn't get to print up the certificates like I had planned to last week, but they will be done today. I have a list of those who have been waiting for their certificates right beside me, and I'm printing them up right now. I will try to mail them out Tuesday, since Monday is a holiday. If you have been waiting for a certificate and don't have it by the time the next DAREN News goes out, let me know.