DAREN of WV News December 2, 2018(D78)
(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 can't think of much to write about today. I'm just getting things ready for the Wood County Emergency Communications business meeting and Christmas Dinner. The meeting/dinner will be this coming Tuesday. For show-n-tell I think I'll take some of the parts for the racing clocks that I'm rebuilding. I have a lot of work to do to get them ready for next spring and summer racing season. I have most of the printed circuit boards printed, etched, and drilled, just need to put the parts on them. I still need to drill the plexiglass that I'm using for the 7-inch LED Display panels. A soon as I get them drilled, they need to be painted black and the LED segments put in them. I've learned a lot about the clocks since I first built them. I think they will be a lot more reliable and easier to work on, if they do develop a problem. The main reason for building the clocks in the first place was to make the races we use them on look a lot better. There have been several runners that have said they like to see their running time as they pass the clocks. Most of them say they have never run in a race that has a clock at every Mile Marker. That makes the race officials look better, and they appreciate what the Amateurs Radio operators do for the races. Amateur Radio operators can do a lot for public service activities, and it make Amateur Radio look good.
I've noticed the last few weeks while I was posting the DAREN News and State-Wide DAREN Net Announcements that I've not been able to connect to the Preston County NODE/PBBS of PRESWV/KINGWV. I think it may also be down. I still need to work on the DAREN stations that I'm responsible for. Even though it's not part of the DAREN system, I still want to upgrade the APRS (Automated Packet Reporting System) station that I have here at my location. The more APRS stations there are, the better the coverage of that system.
There were only 30 check-ins to the State-Wide DAREN Net this week. John Western, KC8ODI, needs only one more check-in to make 650. And, Mark Sweitzer, KD8MIV, needs only one more check-in to make 300.