SKYWARN Newsletter #228

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Hello to all...

Southern New England Floods Article Featured in the ARES E-Newsletter....

Whittenton Pond Dam Prompts Taunton EMA and ARES/RACES Activation....

SKYWARN Nor'easter Activation Report of October 28th, 2005...,

VoIP Hurricane Net Activates for Hurricane Wilma....

WX1BOX Plans for SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) 2005 December 2nd 7 PM-December 3rd 7PM...

Boston Amateur Radio Club to Participate in SRD from the Blue Hill Observatory (W1BOS/MQE)....

ARRL Letter Article: Indiana Tornado Like A Thief In the Night" Ham Radio Volunteer Says...

ARRL Letter Article: Amateur Radio Responds As storms Spawn Rash of Tornadoes...

ARRL Letter "In Brief" Article: Hurricane Wilma ARES/RACES Southern Florida Activation Praised...

ARRL Letter Article: SKYWARN Recognition Day December 3rd, 2005 from 0000-2400 UTC....

***Newsletter Issued: 11/25/05.

Southern New England Floods Article Featured in the ARES E-Newsletter....

The national ARES E-Newsletter featured an article on the flooding of October

14th and 15th across Southern New England. Below is the complete article on

the SKYWARN Activation for the floods of October 14th-15th as the ARES

E-Letter cut some parts out due to space considerations:

SKYWARN networks in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire

were active Friday Evening October 14th and Saturday October 15th as heavy

rainfall led to widespread flooding across much of the New England states.

This same area was hit by heavy rainfall on the previous weekend and rain

continued intermittently throughout a 9-day period that began on October

7th and ended on October 15th.

Operations started at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Taunton,

Massachusetts under call sign, WX1BOX, at approximately 6 PM Friday Evening.

Dan Clark-W1NAC, Cheshire County New Hampshire SKYWARN Coordinator, first

received reports of flooding from Southwest New Hampshire as the Ashuelot

River flooded low lying areas of Keene, New Hampshire. Flooded basements were

also reported in Winchester, New Hampshire. As the night wore on, the heaviest

rainfall and flooding would push into Southeast New Hampshire, Massachusetts,

Rhode Island and Connecticut. 6 Meters was utilized to communicate with Dan

along with a wide coverage 2 Meter repeater in the region.

By late Friday Evening into Saturday Morning, radar showed heavy rainfall

organizing and building over much of the New England states. Connecticut

SKYWARN Coordinators, Roger Jeanfaivre, K1PAI, and Harvey Broverman-K1PZS

reported over 4” of rain in their area with numerous reports of flooded basements

with several feet of water in the basements. Western Massachusetts SKYWARN

reported major routes being closed due to flooding and road washouts including

Route 5 in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, Route 20 in Palmer, Massachusetts and

Route 9 in West Brookfield, Massachusetts. Several homes, apartment complexes

and businesses were evacuated due to floodwaters in this region. Numerous small

rivers, streams and brooks flowed out of their banks causing various road washouts,

closures and flooded homes and basements. NWS Taunton SKYWARN Operations stayed

active throughout the nighttime hours. Several SKYWARN Coordinators stayed up

through the night to provide critical reports to the National Weather Service,

which was relayed to state and local Emergency Management officials. These

coordinators included Ray Weber-KA1JJM, and Eric Tuller-N1QKO from Western

Massachusetts SKYWARN. AA1VU-Marian Juskuv, a Rhode Island SKYWARN Spotter,

also forwarded reports from his region and surrounding areas. Phil Mazzarella,

KB1JQA, from Windham County Connecticut SKYWARN relayed rain gauge information

and gave reports on the Natchaug River in Eastford, CT through a portion of

the morning hours. VHF and UHF repeaters including 6 Meters were utilized to

pass this information as well as an EchoLink/IRLP VoIP cross-link system known

as the New England Network. This network was used to relay reports from Western

Massachusetts and Southwest New Hampshire. This VoIP network is similar to the

system used by the VoIP Hurricane Net for their operations.

As we moved into the daylight hours, the severity of the flooding became clearer

and rain continued fall, heavy at times through the early afternoon hours

particularly in Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Additional significant

reports of flooding came in and shifted into Rhode Island as SKYWARN Spotters

reported the flooding and the Smithfield, RI Fire Communication Center came on

through the efforts of Ralph Nahigian-KE1GL. The Woonsquatucket River in Rhode Island

set a record flood stage and the Pawtuxet and Blackstone Rivers all went into flood.

These rivers flooded homes and businesses and resulted in rescues by boat by public

safety officials. At one point, Ralph-KE1GL at the Smithfield RI Fire Communications

Center was requested by officials to obtain river crest levels, the time of those

crests on the rivers and when they would recede. Ralph, who works for the Fire

Department, called WX1BOX, National Weather Taunton, via radio and reached KB1CYO,

Phil McLaughlin, who came in Saturday Morning and covered the Saturday Morning

through Afternoon timeframe. Ralph relayed his request to Phil and told Science

Officer and Senior Forecaster, David Vallee at NWS Taunton. Dave talked directly

to Ralph-KE1GL third party to deliver this critical information to his town

and surrounding areas. This underscored Amateur Radio’s capability to allow

interoperability between public safety and the National Weather Service and

this can be done between various other agencies when required.

Over the course of Saturday Morning and Afternoon reports of road closures due to

significant flooding, river and stream flooding roads, homes and businesses in

flood prone areas across much of Eastern and Central Massachusetts, Northern

Connecticut and Rhode Island as reported by Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters.

Harder hit communities included Taunton, Brockton, Framingham, Northbridge,

Southbridge, Worcester and Framingham, Massachusetts and in Rhode Island the

communities included Providence, Johnston, Smithfield, Cranston and Burrillville.

After the event was completed, the SKYWARN Activation spanned 21.5 hours and 4

states with over 100 flooding reports and a similar number of rain gauge reports

through voice traffic and APRS were received into the NWS office and the

majority of the information came from Amateur Radio. “This exemplifies Amateur

Radio’s importance to operations for the NWS Forecast Office in Taunton,

Massachusetts and is the biggest reason why I obtained my Amateur Radio

license almost 5 years ago” said Glenn Field, KB1GHX, Warning Coordination

Meteorologist of NWS Taunton. “We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the entire

Amateur Community in the Connecticut, Western Massachusetts, Eastern Massachusetts,

Rhode Island and New Hampshire ARRL sections for their timely severe weather

reporting to NWS Taunton for the protection of life and property” Field said.

Whittenton Pond Dam Prompts Taunton EMA and ARES/RACES Activation....

As reported during a SKYWARN Activation for Strong Winds the day after flooding

occurred across Southern New England on Friday October 14th and Saturday October

15th, 2005, Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters reported that the Whittenton Pond Dam

on the Mill River was damaged and in danger of collapse. A day later, this

prompted a 5-day activation of Taunton EMA and RACES which was backed up by

support from Eastern Massachusetts ARES. A link to the article and the Situation

Reports (Sitreps) on the situation can be found at the following link:

http://ema.arrl.org/article.php?sid=788

Special thanks to all Amateur Radio Operators and SKYWARN Spotters who

assisted in reporting this event and the activation of ARES and RACES

that followed afterwards.

VoIP Hurricane Net Activates for Hurricane Wilma....

The VoIP Hurricane Net activated Sunday night, October 23, as

Hurricane Wilma threatened the Florida peninsula, coinciding with

WX4NHC (National Hurricane Center station) activation. The net was

active while Wilma remained a threat to Florida. The purpose of the

net is to link SKYWARN coordinators and their programs at the local

level, EOCs and other served agencies with WX4NHC, local National

Weather Service offices and other EOCs that may be on the system.

Over the course of the night, several reports were received including

from John Van Pelt, K4JVP, and Danny Musten, KD4RAA, of sustained

winds of 70 MPH with gusts of 96 MPH measured in Naples. (Van Pelt

runs a program called "StormStudy" where he teaches storm safety and

assists with research for significant weather events such as

hurricanes. His web site can be seen at <http://www.stormstudy.com/>).

Reports of storm surge flooding, power outages and tree damage were

received from Key West, Boynton Beach and Deerfield Beach, Florida as

reported by Lu Vencl, KA4EPS, in Deerfield Beach, and Ronald Keister,

KG4DWP, who was located at the Boynton Beach EOC. Contact was made

to a person in Key West, Florida who has provided valuable reports

in previous hurricanes from the Florida Keys and he provided information

on the flooding and damage that occurred in that area.

Mike Leger-N1YLQ and Delilah Maldonado-KB1IQC, NWS Taunton SKYWARN

trained spotters who live in Daytona Beach Florida went out and took

wind measurements from one of the bridge's near the coast line. They

measured winds to tropical storm force and damage indicative of

tropical storm force conditions. They utilized a Kestral 1000 portable

anemometer to obtain the measurements.

The VoIP Hurricane Net asks stations in the affected area to connect

to the system and report damage and weather information to the net to

fulfill WX4NHC's mission of gathering surface reports and damage

information for Hurricane Center forecasters.

WX1BOX Plans for SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) 2005 December 2nd 7 PM-December 3rd 7PM...

SKYWARN Recognition Day 2005 begins Friday December 2nd at 7 PM and ends on

Saturday December 3rd at 7 PM. NWS Taunton, WX1BOX, will be on the air from

7 PM-12 AM on Friday Night and from 7 AM-7 PM Saturday. At the time of this

newsletter writing, 96 National Weather Service Offices are participating

across the country for this year's event. It is a nationwide event where

certificates can be achieved for working a variety of endorsements that

are available by working certain NWS Offices. It is a tremendous

opportunity to contact NWS Offices as the National Weather Service

recognizes all the Amateur Radio Operators who support the SKYWARN program

with timely severe weather reporting into NWS for the protection of life

and property. The endorsement checklist will be posted to the web-site

on SKYWARN Recognition Day Web Site on Friday. Below is the link to the

SKYWARN Recognition Day Web Site:

http://hamradio.noaa.gov/

The *WX_TALK*, EchoLink Conference Server Node# 7203/IRLP Reflector 9219 will

be utilized between 11 AM-Noon EST (1600-1700 UTC) by WX4NC-NWS Raleigh,

North Carolina and WX4NHC, the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida

will utilize the system from 4-6 PM EST (2100-2300 UTC). NWS Taunton will

most likely be on this system during at least a couple of timeframes. We

will also utilize the New England Network (*NEW-ENG* EchoLink Node#: 9123/

IRLP Reflector 9058) for most if not all of this timeframe so that people

can have access to us on that system or via WX-TALK/IRLP Reflector 9219.

Further details will follow in a subsequent update or two as SKYWARN

Recognition Day draws closer.

In addition, Amateur Radio will be active for SKYWARN Recognition Day from the

Blue Hill Observatory under call-sign W1BOS/MQE. This station is being

sponsored by the Boston Amateur Radio Club (BARC) and will be on the air on 2

Meters and 20 Meters. Further details will be posted as received and a web

site link is posted with further information as its own topic later in

this newsletter.

The following is a tentative schedule that will be followed over

the course of the SKYWARN Recognition Day event. It is hoped to make contact

with many of the hardworking SKYWARN Spotters from across the NWS Taunton

County Warning Area and around the country to thank them for their support

of the SKYWARN program. Some forecasters from NWS Taunton have volunteered

to go on the air and either give announcements or speak to certain spotters

directly.

Below is a schedule that we will be on for 2 Meter/440 Repeaters that we

will attempt access during the course of SKYWARN Recognition Day. We will

also be on at random on 6 Meters, 20 Meters, 40 Meters and 80 Meters. If

time and band conditions allow, 10 and 15 Meters will be utilized. We will

also be on VoIP full time utilizing the New England Network and the *WX-TALK*/

9219 Reflector system as we work HF and VHF/UHF modes. If we are not on one

system, please try the other system though we should have capability to monitor

both systems simultaneously. The goal is to hit as many repeaters and networks

within range of NWS Taunton at least once possibly twice where possible. Some

SKYWARN repeaters such as repeaters in Southern New Hampshire and Northern

Massachusetts are not reliably reachable from NWS or have other repeaters on

those frequencies so they cannot be reached. We will also try Simplex 2 Meters

at several points within the schedule as it will be a good test of our

capabilities and a fun experiment to try during this event. The tentative

schedule of where we will monitor is listed below.

Friday December 2nd, 2005:

7:00-7:30 PM: 146.595 Simplex

7:30-8:00 PM: 147.000-Darmouth Repeater

8:00-8:30 PM: 145.490-Fairhaven Repeater

8:30-9:00 PM: 147.180-Bridgewater Repeater

9:00-9:30 PM: 146.79-Vernon, CT Repeater (linked via IRLP.)

9:30-10:00 PM: 147.225-Killingly, CT Repeater

10-10:30 PM: 146.760-Scituate, RI Repeater

10:30-11:00 PM: 146.970-Paxton Repeater

11:00-11:30 PM: 145.470-Danvers Repeater

11:30 PM-12:00 AM: 146.640-Waltham Repeater

**Will Attempt to monitor both the New England Network and the *WX-TALK*/IRLP

Reflector 9219 systems during this entire timeframe.

**It is possible we may switch off to different repeaters or simplex during

time slots if we run out of contacts.

Saturday December 3rd 2005:

7:00-9:00 AM: 146.595 Simplex

9:00-9:30 AM: 145.230-Boston Repeater

9:30-10:00 AM: 146.640-Waltham Repeater

10:00-10:30 AM: 146.79-Vernon, CT Repeater (linked via IRLP.)

10:30-11:00 AM: 147.225-Killingly, CT Repeater

11:00-11:30 AM: 145.470-Danvers Repeater

11:30 AM-Noon: 146.895-Walpole Repeater

Noon-2:00 PM: 146.595 Simplex

2-2:30 PM: 146.955-Barnstable Repeater

2:30-3:00 PM: 146.955-Westford Repeater

3:00-3:30 PM: 146.970-Paxton Repeater

3:30-4:00 PM: 147.165-Exeter, RI Repeater

4:00-4:30 PM: 146.760-Scituate, RI Repeater

4:30-5:00 PM: 145.490-Dartmouth Repeater

5:00-5:30 PM: 147.180-Bridgewater Repeater

6:00-6:30 PM: 146.895-Walpole Repeater

6:30-7:00 PM: 147.000-Dartmouth Repeater

**Will Attempt to monitor both the New England Network and the *WX-TALK*/IRLP

Reflector 9219 systems during this entire timeframe.

**It is possible we may switch off to different repeaters or simplex during

time slots if we run out of contacts.

We look forward to this fun event and will hope that Mother Nature will

not bring forth another large snowstorm like in 2003 which

featured the biggest snowstorm of the 2003-2004 Winter. Thanks and we look

forward to a fun event, another update will be posted either Thursday Night

December 1st or Friday Morning December 2nd.

Boston Amateur Radio Club to Participate in SRD from the Blue Hill Observatory (W1BOS/MQE)....

As has been done in year's past, the Boston Amateur Radio Club (BARC) will be

sponsoring a station for SKYWARN Recognition Day at the Blue Hill

Observatory. The crew from BARC has activated the station at Blue

Hill for several years including in 2003 when a Blizzard affected

the region during SKYWARN Recognition Day. Last year, the crew from

BARC made the first ever radio contacts on Blue Hill using a "kite"

antenna. Below is an article on the efforts of BARC in activating

the station on Blue Hill:

http://ema.arrl.org/article.php?sid=803

BARC will be using the call sign, W1BOS/MQE, during their operations.

This will be another station to contact during SKYWARN Recognition Day

activities.

ARRL Letter Article: Indiana Tornado Like A Thief In the Night" Ham Radio Volunteer Says...

The following article is from the ARRL Letter concerning tornadic activity

and the Amateur Radio response in Indiana.

==>INDIANA TORNADO "LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT," HAM RADIO VOLUNTEER SAYS

Amateur Radio volunteers continue to assist relief and recovery efforts in

the wake of a November 6 tornado that left 22 people dead and hundreds

injured. The twister, with winds of up to 200 MPH, originated within a line

of thunderstorms that struck during the early morning hours. It cut a more

than 40-mile swath through part of Kentucky and extreme southwestern

Indiana, wiping out a section of a trailer park in Vanderburgh County where

18 of the fatalities occurred.

"It was like a thief in the night, striking and having no mercy for anyone

or anything in its path," said Amateur Radio volunteer and police officer

Bob Pointer, N9XAW. For the first couple of days after the tornado, Amateur

Radio assisted Red Cross emergency response vehicles (ERVs) in the field to

communicate with their headquarters, a new facility in Evansville where the

communication system was not yet up and running.

At week's end, Pointer was expecting ham radio support for Red Cross

recovery and feeding operations to pick up again. "We'll have to set up

units at a warehouse and a couple of outlying cities," he told ARRL.

During most of the week, Amateur Radio volunteers have been supporting

relief activities of The Salvation Army. The need was to set up

communication between mobile field and canteen units and The Salvation Army

headquarters in Evansville.

"The Salvation Army is very, very pleased with the ham radio service,"

Pointer said. "We have units in areas where the cell phones cannot function

or they're so busy, it's hard to get a line." Amateur Radio has been able to

get messages through when they otherwise wouldn't, Pointer added, "and it's

helping make things go much more smoothly."

Calls came from prospective volunteers as far away as New York. "It was

truly a rewarding feeling," Pointer said. "Thanks to the ARRL for putting

out the call so quickly." Local hams calling in on the repeater to offer

assistance soon found themselves assigned to field stations. "This was a

good exercise in trying out the grab-it-and-go kits," Pointer said.

Pointer says that within hours of setting up, ARRL Section Manager Jim

Sellers, K9ZBM, called to offer assistance and got the ball rolling. ARRL

Indiana Section Emergency Coordinator David Pifer, N9YNF, contacted ARRL

Headquarters to spread the word.

"ARRL Headquarters even called to check on us," Pointer said. "You see, your

membership is more than a magazine a month. It is hams from all over the

world ready to support you."

Three Salvation Army mobile kitchens and three field units have been

deployed in Vanderburgh and Warrick counties. The daily routine involves

moving food from a warehouse to mobile kitchens to feed tornado victims as

well as the hundreds of volunteers deployed in several locations across a

wide area. Ham radio volunteers have been handling requests for supplies,

messages to workers and notices to staff volunteers.

Pointer said he expected the Amateur Radio tornado relief support operation

to continue into early next week. "I am privileged to work with a great

bunch of people down here," Pointer concluded.

Kentucky SEC Ron Dodson, KA4MAP, says SKYWARN was active as the storms moved

in. "I had our Amateur Radio net going with National Weather Service (NWS)

Louisville and monitored those in the counties west of me as it approached,"

he told ARRL. SKYWARN nets were active in Daviess and Hancock counties.

Breckinridge, Grayson and Meade counties west of Louisville were active with

the linked Wide Area Repeaters Net (WARN), Dodson said. NWS Louisville's

amateur station WX4NWS was on the air for three hours as the storms moved

across counties on both sides of the Ohio River.

ARRL Letter Article: Amateur Radio Responds As storms Spawn Rash of Tornadoes...

The following article is from the ARRL Letter after tornadoes caused major

damage and casualties in a 4 state area.

==>AMATEUR RADIO RESPONDS AS STORMS SPAWN RASH OF TORNADOES

Just weeks after assisting in hurricane relief efforts along the Gulf Coast

and in Florida, Amateur Radio volunteers responded in the wake of yet

another weather emergency. Strong thunderstorms resulting from a clash of

cold and warm fronts in the nation's midsection spawned tornadoes in several

states. The nearly three dozen twisters reported November 15 in Kentucky,

Indiana, Tennessee, Illinois and Missouri came a little more than a week

after tornadoes killed more than 20 people in Indiana and days after another

string hit Iowa, resulting in one death. Some 8000 customers were left

without electricity in the affected states, but Kentucky appears to have

been the hardest hit.

"Nets for SKYWARN were activated all across the affected areas," Kentucky

Section Emergency Coordinator Ron Dodson, KA4MAP, reported November 16. "We

also had the state EOC [emergency operations center] on the air on 3.993 MHz

last night as we were trying to get emergency information into and out of

the affected areas." Dodson told ARRL Headquarters that WX4NWS at the

Louisville National Weather Service (NWS) office was active during the

afternoon and evening of November 15 as forecasters tried to keep up with

the rapidly developing weather.

One person died in the Marshall County town of Benton, where a tornado

severely damaged a mobile home park. Upward of two dozen other people were

hurt, Dodson added.

Kentucky Area 2 District Emergency Coordinator Nick Bailey, KG4URI, said a

tornado ripped through the southern end of Madisonville. He estimated that

up to 30 ARES and RACES volunteers deployed throughout Hopkins County. Baily

reported "a lot of damage" but no deaths.

On November 16, three ARES teams equipped with APRS and GPS accompanied

search-and-rescue (SAR) teams going door-to-door. "Amateur radio provided

mostly SAR communications as the police repeaters were still up," Bailey

added.

According to Bailey, preliminary estimates had 35 to 40 homes severely

damaged or destroyed in the Madisonville area and possibly 10 in Earlington.

At least two dozen people were reported injured in Hopkins County, and the

count was expected to rise. A confirmed touchdown also occurred in Sharps.

Steve Morgan, W4NHO, an ARRL Great Lakes Division assistant director,

reported a tornado was tracked from Dawson Spring through Owensboro and into

southeastern Indiana. "I spoke with the deputy EMA director in Hopkins

County, Frank Wright, KA4IGR," he said at mid-week. "Amateur Radio is the

only reliable communications they have at the moment due to power outages."

Telephone service also was reported out in parts of Kentucky.

Indiana's latest encounter with tornadoes was not nearly as severe as that

of November 6. In the November 15 outbreak, one person was reported killed

in Hancock County when a car went out of control after running into water on

the pavement. Indiana SEC Dave Pifer, N9YNF, said property damage this time

was largely "hit and miss" across the state.

"I know the SKYWARN programs were hopping yesterday as we tracked the storms

through the area," he said. "At one point they would only take

tornado/funnel reports and significant damage reports because there was so

much going on."

Illinois SM Shari Harlan, N9SH, says her section seems to have largely

escaped the tornado outbreak. "It appears that while some straight line

winds toppled some structures in the Wabash, Edwards and Lawrence county

area, they escaped the afternoon round of storms," she said. She did note

one report of definite rotational echoes, however.

Iowa SEC Jim Snapp, NA0R, said Amateur Radio volunteers responded after a

series of eight tornadoes within a few hours hit central Iowa November 12.

The twisters hit parts of eight counties, he said, and one person was

killed.

"Homes, business and farmsteads were damaged or destroyed as the tornadoes

rampaged through the Iowa countryside and in some small communities," he

said. According to Snapp, K0DMX at the NWS Des Moines office started getting

reports of hail and tornado activity around 3:45 PM CDT. "Amateur reports as

well as other sources of storm information enabled the NWS staff to send out

updates to the storms activity and its path to the public," he said, adding

that a dozen hams contributed reports to the SKYWARN net.

ARRL Letter "In Brief" Article: Hurricane Wilma ARES/RACES Southern Florida Activation Praised...

The following article is from the In Brief section of the ARRL Letter where

the efforts of Southern Florida ARES/RACES are praised.

* Hurricane Wilma ARES/RACES Southern Florida activation praised: ARRL

Southern Florida Section Emergency Coordinator Jeff Beals, WA4AW, reports

that all Amateur Radio support in the Southern Florida Section in response

to Hurricane Wilma secured Monday, October 31. All out-of-area operator

assistance was released the next day. "Some shelters and feeding stations

were still in operation through the week, and many affected areas are still

without power and telephone service," he told ARRL November 4. Beals said

officials at the Broward and Palm Beach county emergency operating centers

(EOCs) reported that Amateur Radio assistance was invaluable in conducting

their tactical operations. In addition to volunteering to supplement

communication at the EOCs, ham radio volunteers also assisted at American

Red Cross shelters for hurricane evacuees and at staging areas.

For more information on what occurred during Hurricane Wilma, see the

November 16th edition of the ARES E-Letter at the following link:

http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/index.html?issue=2005-11-16

An archive of all ARES E-Letters can be seen at the following link:

http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/

ARRL Letter Article: SKYWARN Recognition Day December 3rd, 2005 from 0000-2400 UTC....

The following article is from the ARRL Letter concerning SKYWARN Recognition Day

giving details on what is being done for this event on a national basis.

==>ARRL-NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SKYWARN RECOGNITION DAY IS DECEMBER 3

The seventh annual SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) <http://hamradio.noaa.gov/>

special event will take place Saturday, December 3, from 0000 until 2400 UTC

(i.e., starting Friday, December 2 in US time zones). Cosponsored by the

National Weather Service (NWS) and ARRL, SKYWARN Recognition Day is the

Weather Service's way of expressing its appreciation to Amateur Radio

operators for their commitment to helping keep communities safe. During this

24-hour special event, teams of radio amateurs set up stations at local NWS

offices to contact other hams across the US and around the world.

"Ham radio operators volunteering as storm spotters are an extremely

valuable asset to National Weather Service operations since they are

cross-trained in both communications and severe storm recognition," says SRD

organizer Scott Mentzer, N0QE, the Meteorologist-In-Charge at the Goodland,

Kansas, NWS office, home of WX0GLD.

Last year, 114 NWS offices participated in SRD, logging more than 15,000

QSOs during the 24-hour event, says David Floyd, N5DBZ, the Warning

Coordination Meteorologist at Goodland. The object is for amateur stations

to exchange QSO information with as many NWS stations as possible on 80, 40,

20, 15, 10, 6 and 2 meters, and 70 cm. Contacts via repeaters and Voice over

Internet Protocol (VoIP) modes, such as EchoLink and IRLP also welcome.

Operators exchange call sign, signal report, QTH, and a one or two word

description of their weather, such as "sunny," "partly cloudy," "windy,"

etc.

According to Floyd, in typical SKYWARN operations during severe weather,

direct communication between mobile spotters and local NWS offices provides

critical "ground truth" information for forecasters. "Spotter reports of

hail size, wind damage and surface-based rotation in real time greatly

assist the radar warning operator, since that information can be correlated

with Doppler radar displays," he says. The result may be a more strongly

worded statement to convey greater urgency or issue a tornado warning a few

minutes earlier than would otherwise have been possible.

"While NWS offices utilize the real-time reporting of severe weather events

to assist in warning operations, hurricanes Katrina and Rita have shown us

that ham radio operators are equally important during the recovery phase of

natural disasters," Floyd points out.

Floyd also cites the example of the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) on 14.325 MHz.

He notes that the HWN, which organized in 1965 during Hurricane Betsy,

started out as an informal group of amateurs but has since developed a more

formal relationship with the National Hurricane Center in Miami via its

Amateur Radio station WX4NHC (formerly W4EHW). HWN ham radio members and

volunteers at WX4NHC work together when hurricanes threaten to provide

real-time weather data and damage reports to NHC forecasters.

So far, some 75 NWS offices in the US are planning to participate along with

the Prairie Storm Prediction Center in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. An

official EchoLink/Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP) reflector is

expected to be available for use during SRD.

An 8.5 x 11-inch certificate is available in exchange for a self-addressed,

stamped envelope with a list of NWS stations worked. Address requests to

SKYWARN Recognition Day, 920 Armory Rd, Goodland, KS 67735. Separate

stations also will issue individual QSL cards. For more information, contact

Matthew Mehle, KC0TER <matthew.mehle@noaa.gov>.

That's all for this edition of the SKYWARN Newsletter!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)

ARES SKYWARN Coordinator

Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator

Pager #: (508) 354-3142

Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)

Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)

Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929 (8 AM-5 PM)

Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com

http://users.rcn.com/rmacedo

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