DAREN of WV News October 16, 2016 (.C67)
WA8LLM (304) 679-3470 wa8llm@yahoo.com
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS, 319 COMMUNICATIONS DR, WAVERLY, WV 26184
www.wc8ec.com or 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 www.wc8ec.com and www.wc8ec.org websites.
I got an E-Mail from Michael Tyler, WA8YWO, with information about the Nicholas County NODE/PBBS of NICHWV/RWODWV. Mike said that since he is now retired, he will be able to get more involved with the DAREN system. Mike said that he went into the backdoor of the Nicholas County station and did some cleaning up. After he told me about the work done on the station I started checking out paths to get to it. I found there are two Raleigh County stations on the air. One of the stations has the NODE ALIAS of RALMER with the Callsign of KC8AFH-8, and an associated PBBS of FLTWV. The other one looks like it is only a NODE with the Callsign of KC8AFH-5, and an ALIAS of RALEWV. There is a very good path between RALMER and the Roane County NODE/PBBS of ROANWV/SPNCWV. There is a fair path between RALEWV and ROANWV/SPNCWV. There is a fair path between RALMER and the Nicholas County NODE/PBBS of NICHWV/RWODWV, but no path between RALEWV and the Nicholas County station. With any luck maybe we can start getting some Packet operators in that part of the state to start checking into the State Wide DAREN Net, and working their way around the system. If you know of any operators in that area of the state, please let them know they may have a path into the DAREN system again.
I got also received an E-Mail from Tim Clapper, K3XI, in Stephens, VA, asking if the DAREN system is still in operation. Tim said he used to connect though the DAREN system several years ago, but has lost a path to the system. He used to connect into the system using the eastern panhandle Jefferson County NODE of JEFFWV. I let him know that since the Pendleton County NODE/PBBS, that was on Spruce Knob, had to be moved from the highest point in the state, and the path to Jefferson County has been lost. We are not for sure if JEFFWV is still on the air.
There were 33 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net again this week. There was one new check-in to the net this week and that was Okey Eye, N8EYE, from Hendricks, WV, I want to welcome Okey to the DAREN system and hope he can check into the net as often as possible.