SKYWARN Newsletter #235

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Hello to all...

Hopes that All Had a Happy Thanksgiving Weekend....

Boxboro Hamfest Emergency Communications Presentations Well Received...

SKYWARN Recognition Day WX1BOX and VoIP Plans for Saturday December 2nd 0000-2400 UTC....

Southern New England Weather Conference Features Amateur Radio's Role in NWS Taunton SKYWARN Program....

Preliminary Report on Severe Weather Statistics from the 2006 Season...

Follow-Up Report from May Floods of 2006 as Presented to State Officials....

SKYWARN Presentation Given to the Nashua Amateur Radio Club....

SKYWARN Presentation Given to the Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club....

NWS Taunton Requests Yearly Precipitation Totals Greater than 60"....

NWS Taunton Requests Pictures of Coastal Flooding from the October 28th-29th Nor'easter....

***Newsletter Issued: 11/25/2006.

Hopes that All Had a Happy Thanksgiving Weekend....

The Thanksgiving weekend is a time where we give thanks for all that

we have and also reflect and admire the sacrifices made by our police,

fire, and EMS first responders along with our troops which protect us

from threats here and overseas. In addition, the NWS Taunton office

remains extremely grateful for all of the spotter reports received

in times of severe weather. During the active spring and summer of

floods and severe weather and through the major nor'easters that

we've experienced, the timely severe weather reporting to protect

life and property has been fantastic. Even on Thanksgiving, as a

nor'easter affected our region with wind gusts in the 50 MPH range

along with 2-5" of rainfall, reports were received of criteria as

required. The NWS Taunton forecasters would like to thank all of you

for your support during this year and look forward to your continued

support as move into December and 2007.

Boxboro Hamfest Emergency Communications Presentations Well Received...

The Boxboro Hamfest which serves as the ARRL New England Division

Convention was very well received and Emergency Communications was

one of many themes at the various forums held during Boxboro. On

Friday August 25th, an ICS-100 class was well attended by Amateur

Operators across New England and in parallel was a presentation

on Hurricanes given by Rob Macedo-KD1CY. The hurricane presentation

was attended by 20 people including the ARRL Section Manager from

Connecticut.

On Saturday August 26th, a one hour SKYWARN presentation was given

by Rob Macedo-KD1CY and an ARES Section Emergency Coordinator (SEC)

Forum was given and was well received by a full room of folks that

attended for both presentations. The SKYWARN presentation included

videos from past severe weather events and the May Floods of 2006.

Tom Kinahan-N1CPE along with Don Carlton-W3DEC gave a talk on RACES

and the use of the digital mode called WinLink. WinLink is a method

where messaging can be handled via both Amateur Radio and/or the

Internet. Those talks were also on Saturday preceding the ARES

SEC Forum and SKYWARN talks and was given to a full room of attendees.

A booth was setup for RACES/ARES/SKYWARN and other booths from

Amateur Radio Clubs, the Military Affiliated Radio System or MARS

and SATERN, the Salvation Army Team Emergency Response Network

were also setup throughout the weekend. Various groups held meetings

during the Hamfest/Convention and the ARRL President gave a dinner

speech on the Saturday Evening.

The Hamfest was well received and definitely represented a flavor

on SKYWARN, Weather and Emergency Communications. A press release

on the ARRL President's talk can be seen at the following link:

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/08/29/4/?nc=1

Special thanks who all who attended and the organizers of the Boxboro

Hamfest for putting on a great program.

SKYWARN Recognition Day WX1BOX and VoIP Plans for Saturday December 2nd 0000-2400 UTC....

SKYWARN Recognition Day 2006 will occur next Saturday December 2nd

from 0000-2400 UTC. This timeframe translates to Friday December 1st

at 7 PM through 7 PM Saturday December 2nd. Operations at NWS Taunton

will include VHF/UHF/HF and VoIP operations.

The following is a tentative schedule of repeaters that will be

utilized along with simplex being utilized during certain timeframes

on Saturday. We hope Amateurs will utilize this schedule and try and

work WX1BOX during these various timeframes. If you don't hear NWS,

feel free to call for WX1BOX and if the office is monitoring, a

response will be given. When you make contact, give your current

sky condition and temperature as required. Below is the tentative

schedule of operations:

Friday December 1st, 2006:

7:00-7:30 PM:      145.470-Danvers Repeater

7:30-8:00 PM:    145.490-Fairhaven Repeater

8:00-8:30 PM:    146.655-Falmouth 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

10:00-10:30 PM:  146.760-Scituate, RI Repeater

10:30-11:00 PM:  146.955-Westford Repeater

11:00-11:30 PM:  146.970-Paxton 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.

**Will be on the Litchfield County SKYWARN system in parallel to the

listed frequencies from 900-930 PM.

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

during time slots if we run out of contacts.

Saturday December 2nd, 2006:

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

2:00-2:30 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-Fairhaven 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.

**Will be on the Litchfield County SKYWARN system in parallel to the

listed frequencies from 930-1000 AM.

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

during time slots if we run out of contacts.

SKYWARN Recognition Day 2006, which will be on Saturday December 2nd,

2006 from 0000-2400 UTC, will feature VoIP operations on *WX-TALK*

EchoLink Node: 7203/IRLP reflector 9219 as in past years along with

NWS offices making contacts via HF/VHF/UHF, PSK-31 and other digital

modes. We currently have 9 NWS Forecast Offices confirmed for various

1 or 2 hour time slots including WX4NHC, the National Hurricane

Center in Miami Florida and 4 NWS offices that are interested but

unconfirmed as far as participation. A schedule of what NWS offices

will act as net controls on the system will be posted later this

week or early next week as we get more NWS offices confirmed for

time slots on the system. Its also possible that other NWS offices

will be monitoring and participating on the system much like last

year where various NWS offices got on to the system during open time

slots or when NWS offices had exhausted making contacts on the system.

A few technical reminders for folks interested in making contacts

with the NWS Forecast Offices:

-The system allows both EchoLink and IRLP connections. For EchoLink

users, you connect to the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203 conference system. For

IRLP users, you would connect to IRLP reflector 9219.

-If you are using EchoLink, the RF node or PC that you’re using must

have EchoLink conferencing disabled. If it is not disabled, the

system will automatically kick the node or PC off of the system.

The reason this occurs is to prevent unintentional interference from

a conferencing station that may not know the node is connected

somewhere else. This will keep traffic moving on the net and reduce

interference considerably.

For more information on VoIP Technical Configuration Tips, please go

to our web site at http://www.voipwx.net where we have a link to that

information on the main menu of the web site. This announcement will

also be on the web site.

For those that want to do listen-only, New England IRLP reflector

channel 9129 and the *VKEMCOMM* Node: 270177/IRLP reflector 9508 will

be utilized for those that just want to listen to the event.

The New England Reflector system, IRLP reflector 9123, EchoLink

Conference *NEW-ENG*, Node #:9123 will also be available for usage as

required. NWS Taunton Amateur station, WX1BOX, will be on the system

looking for contacts and stations and can designate the use of that

system to other NWS offices on an informal basis. From NWS Taunton,

we will be able to monitor both VoIP systems during our timeframe for

operations during SRD.

Event information on SKYWARN Recognition Day can be found at

http://hamradio.noaa.gov and can also be found in the December issue

of QST on page 66.

Below is the ARRL Letter Announcement of SKYWARN Recognition Day:

==> SKYWARN RECOGNITION DAY IS DECEMBER 2

The 8th annual SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) special event will take

place Saturday, December 2, 2006. SKYWARN Recognition Day is an event

co-sponsored by the National Weather Service and the American Radio

Relay League, and it is the National Weather Service's way of saying

"thank you" to Amateur Radio operators for their commitment to

helping keep their communities safe.

During the 24-hour special event, amateur radio operators will visit

their local National Weather Service (NWS) office, set up Amateur

Radio stations, and work as a team to contact other hams across 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 Scott Mentzer (N0QE), organizer of the event and

Meteorologist-In-Charge at the NWS office in Goodland, Kansas.

In typical warning operations, it is the direct communication between

mobile spotters and the local NWS office which provides vital ground

truth information. Spotter reports of hail size, wind damage and

surface-based rotation in real time greatly assists the radar warning

operator since that information can be correlated with Doppler radar

displays. The result can range anywhere from a more strongly-worded

statement to convey a greater sense of urgency, or the issuance of a

tornado warning a few minutes earlier than would otherwise have been

possible.

While National Weather Service offices utilize the real-time

reporting of severe weather events to assist in warning operations,

hurricanes and tropical storms have shown us that ham radio operators

are equally important during the recovery phase of natural disasters.

There are countless stories where ham radio worked in tandem with

more conventional technology to relay emergency traffic.

SKYWARN Recognition Day will be held on December 2, 2006, from

0000 UTC to 2400 UTC.

The object is for all radio amateur stations to exchange QSO

information with as many National Weather Service Stations as

possible on 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, and 2 meter bands plus the 70

centimeter band. Contacts via repeaters are permitted.

The exchange should include call sign, signal report, location, and a

one or two word description of the weather occurring at your site

("sunny", "partly cloudy", "windy", etc.). NWS stations will work

various modes including SSB, FM, AM, RTTY, CW, and PSK31. While

working digital modes, special event stations will append "NWS" to

their call sign (e.g., N***A/NWS).

We hope to hear many Amateurs on VoIP and all other modes that will

be utilized during SKYWARN Recognition Day 2006. Further updates

on SKYWARN Recognition Day will be posted separate from SKYWARN

Newsletters over the course of the next week.

Southern New England Weather Conference Features Amateur Radio's Role in NWS Taunton SKYWARN Program....

The Southern New England Weather Conference featured a presentation

on Amateur Radio's Role in the NWS Taunton SKYWARN program. The

presentation was well received by over 60 people that attended the

presentation that was run concurrently with other presentations that

were given in parallel during the conference. It is hoped to get

the Power Point presentation and the video uploaded to the Southern

New England Weather Conference web site in the coming weeks.

The Southern New England Weather Conference had close to 250-300

people in attendance. The conference occurred during the same time

as a major nor'easter affected the region. Live updates from Amateur

Radio SKYWARN Spotters were given during the conference utilizing

Amateur Radio equipment that was at the school and by giving updates

between conference talks. The information was well received at the

conference.

The link below shows what talks were held at the conference and again

we hope to add the video and Power Point from the Amateur Radio

talk to the conference web site in the coming weeks.

http://www.sneweatherconf.org/2006presentations.shtml

Preliminary Report on Severe Weather Statistics from the 2006 Season...

The Severe Weather Statistics from 2006 season preliminarily show

a huge increase in the number of severe reports defined as severe

and hail over the period. Roughly 90-91% of the reports received

came from Amateur Radio Operators working with public safety and

other partners from across the region. The following are some raw

numbers from the analysis to date:

373 total hail and wind damage reports. (338 via Amateur Radio for

90.6% of the reporting received.)

19 lightning reports

20 Flood Reports (outside of the May Floods of 2006 report)

Further details on these numbers will follow in later SKYWARN

Newsletters.

Follow-Up Report from May Floods of 2006 as Presented to State Officials....

At the Massachusetts Emergency Management Team meeting in September,

half of the meeting was dedicated to an after action report on the

May Floods of 2006. While a complete report was already sent to the

email list, some high-level statistical numbers were not passed along.

Below are some of the numbers from the May Floods of 2006:

21 Amateurs participated in the Red Cross Recovery Phase operation for

Mass. Bay/Northeast Red Cross

12 Amateurs participated at the Massachusetts Region 1 Headquarters

6 Amateurs participated at the NWS Taunton Forecast Office

5 Amateurs participated at the Massachusetts State EOC

44 Total Amateurs participated and deployed from official agencies.

60 Amateurs participated in North Shore ARES-SKYWARN Operations

104 Total Amateurs participated in the operation.

263 Flood Reports were received from Amateur Radio Operators in Massachusetts

58 Rainfall reports were received from Amateur Radio Operators in Massachusetts

321 Total Flood and Rainfall Reports in Massachusetts

36 Flood reports were received from Amateur Radio Operators in New Hampshire

6 Rainfall reports were received from Amateur Radio Operators in New Hampshire

42 Total Flood and Rainfall Reports in New Hampshire

363 Total Flood and rainfall reports in Massachusetts and New Hampshire

National Weather Service Hydrologist, Nicole Belk, praised the Amateur

Radio Community and SKYWARN Spotters for all their help and reports

as the reporting gave them a much better assessment of what was

happening and that could be included in forecasts and statements. This

was especially important with first responders and Emergency Management

Officials busy attempting to handle the situation. This was stated

in front a large group of other departments from state and federal

government.

This serves as an additional reminder at how important the reporting

is and how it serves the Emergency Management community as a means

of obtaining disaster intelligence for large scale incidents.

SKYWARN Presentation Given to the Nashua Amateur Radio Club....

A SKYWARN presentation was given to the Nashua, NH Amateur Radio

Club on November 6th, 2006 to 25-30 Amateurs. Former NWS Senior

Forecaster and current forecaster in charge of CWSU, Scott Reynolds,

KC2JCB, was in attendance. The presentation was well received and

included recent videos from the Boxboro Hamfest on severe weather

as well as the Weather Conference video on Amateur Radio's role in

the SKYWARN program. It is hoped that the presentation will help

gain further interest in SKYWARN in Hillsborough County NH.

SKYWARN Presentation Given to the Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club....

A SKYWARN presentation was given to the Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio

Club on November 16th, 2006 to 20 Amateurs including the Emergency

Management Director of the town of Groton, Massachusetts. The

presentation included the video from the Southern New England Weather

Conference on Amateur Radio's role in the SKYWARN program along with

the Boxboro Hamfest severe weather and May floods videos. The talk

also went into the Amateur Radio Emergency Services or ARES program.

The presentation was well received by all that attended.

NWS Taunton Requests Yearly Precipitation Totals Greater than 60"....

NWS Taunton is requesting yearly precipitation totals greater than

60". Those that have yearly totals of 60" or more are asked to

forward the information to me via email and it will be sent into

NWS Taunton.

NWS Taunton Requests Pictures of Coastal Flooding from the October 28th-29th Nor'easter....

Frank Nocera, Marine Program Leader, is requesting pictures of the

coastal flooding from Saturday October 28th along south and east

coastal areas especially around Narragansett and Buzzards Bays. Please

send the pictures to me via email and it will be sent into NWS

Taunton.

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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