DAREN of WV News July 8, 2012(.A44)
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.
Well, the storm is over and I hope everyone learned something out of it. There was a lot of people who learned they weren't as ready as they thought they were. I got my commercial power back on Saturday, July 7th, at about 7:40 pm, only eight days after the storm. I got my voice telephone line back on Sunday afternoon, but it wasn't until Monday afternoon, when I went to the telephone cable that had broken in two, and spliced my internet telephone cable pairs back together, that I got my internet service back. I live so far out in the sticks that I can only get internet by dial-up telephone, or by satellite, and I just haven't went that route yet.
I found out some information about the Ritchie County DAREN NODE/PBBS of RITCWV/HRVLWV. I knew the commercial power was off, but I had no idea of the extent of the damage. It seems that at least six power poles feeding the tower site were broke off, as well the tower site service pole, with the meter on it. The owner of the site is taking a generator to the tower site during the day so his radio customers can have radio service during their business hours. When the generator is running the Wood County Emergency Communications voice repeater, on 147.255 MHz is in operation, but the Ritchie County DAREN NODE/PBBS, at the same site, is not operational. As soon as the commercial power is back on at the site, I will have to make a trip to the site and see why the NODE/PBBS isn't coming on. In the mean time try to use the Wood County NODE/PBBS, WOODWV/PKBGWV. It doesn't have the same coverage as the Ritchie County NODE, but it may let you work yourself around the system with a couple extra hops, as well as check into the State Wide DAREN Net. If you know of any other NODEs or PBBS' that are out of service due to the weather, drop me a line and let know.
There were only 42 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net this week. It's starting to come back up after the storm went through the state on June 29th, and caused a lot of power outages. Tom White, W3JTW, who's been participating in the net since November 7, 1998, has completed 600 check-ins and will be receiving his certificate. Daniel Ritchie, KC8ZLK, who's been checking into the net since June 26, 2006, has completed 300 check-ins and will be receiving his certificate. Allen Poland Jr., K8AXW, needs only one more check-in to make 150.