Skywarn Amateur Radio Network and How to Get Involved

Posted by Kim Klimas on March 10, 2020 at 12:45 pm 

Keeping the public aware of severe weather hazards isn’t just for meteorologists anymore. Amateur Radio operators, known as storm spotters, partner with the National Weather Service (NWS) to recognize and notify the NWS of critical weather situations through a volunteer program called SKYWARN®.

The organization is comprised of between 350,000-400,000 severe weather spotters trained to stay abreast of severe weather situations and communicate potential threats to the NWS using Amateur Radio. With over 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods, and over 1,000 tornadoes reported annually, SKYWARN is more than just a hobby—it saves lives.

The critically important organization got its start in the 1970s. Today, it’s combined with Doppler radar technology and satellite data to create a strong first line of defense against the dangers of inclement weather. Seemingly harmless to some, thunderstorms, lightning, and problematic weather situations are responsible for hundreds of injuries, deaths, and billions of dollars spent on property and crop damage each year.

The NWS encourages those with an interest in public service to volunteer their time and Amateur Radio abilities with the SKYWARN program. Volunteers regularly include police, fire personnel, dispatchers, EMS workers, public utility workers, and of course, private citizens interested in keeping their communities safe and informed.

Training for SKYWARN is generally free of charge and is condensed into a two-hour module. During the course, participants learn the fundamentals of thunderstorm development, basic storm structures, how to identify potential severe weather features, how and what to report, and basic severe weather safety.

Want to learn more? Head to the NWS website to find training programs in your state or check out SKYWARN spotter training to begin the training process online. Most states require in-person class participation in addition to the online course load. Or pick up ARRL’s Storm Spotting and Amateur Radio 2nd Edition from DX Engineering for additional reading material.

You can contact your local Warning Coordination Meteorologist for information on how to find or replace your spotter number and ways to participate in upcoming training seminars—or head to the NWS website to learn how to participate in annual SKYWARN Recognition Day activities. 

For real-time updates, check SKYWARN out on Twitter at #skywarn19.

You can find more information regarding SKYWARN in Utah by going to the UTASAG website, and click on Training & Classes.

In Person Meet

This month’s In-Person Meet will be this Saturday February 8th at 9:00  at Station 74.

This month we will be learning about the Pi-Gate Emergency Email Server, how to build one how to program it and how to use it in an emergency. This also includes how to program our 96kTNC to work with the Raspberry Pi.

Also we will be talking about how to connect your radio to the TNC, So if you are not sure how to setup these cables please bring your rig and and your Laptop, etc, and we will help you get it running.

Net training 6/13/2019

Resources on our Training Topic: Lightning

http://www.arrl.org/lightning-protection

Document we read from;

http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Technology/tis/info/pdf/109481.pdf

Net Training - Principles of Disaster Communication

Taken from
Amateur Radio Emergency Service
Field Resources Manual

1.Keep transmissions to a minimum – In a disaster, crucial stations may be weak.  All other stations should remain silent unless they are called upon.  If you’re not sure you should transmit, don’t.

2. Monitor established disaster frequencies. Many A.R.E.S. localities and some geographical areas have established disaster frequencies where someone is always (or nearly always) monitoring for possible calls.

3. Avoid spreading rumors. During and after a disaster situation, especially on phone bands, you may hear almost anything.  Unfortunately, much misinformation is transmitted.  Rumors are started by expansion, deletion, amplification or modification of words, and by exaggeration or interpretation.  All addressed transmissions should be officially authenticated as to their source.  These transmissions should be repeated word for word, if at all, and only when specifically authorized.

4. Authenticate all messages.  Every message which purports to be of an official nature should be written and signed.  Whenever possible, amateurs should avoid initiating disaster or emergency traffic themselves.  We do the communicating; the agency officials we serve supply the content of the communications.

5. Strive for efficiency. Whatever happens in an emergency, you will find hysteria and some amateurs who are activated by the thought that they must be sleepless heroes.  Instead of operating your own station full time at the expense of your health and efficiency, it is much better to serve a shift at one of the best-located and best-equipped stations, suitable for the work at hand, manned by relief shifts of the best-qualified operators.  This reduces interference and secures well-operated stations.

6. Select the mode and band to suit the need. It is a characteristic of all amateurs to believe that their favorite mode and band is superior to all others.  However, the merits of a particular band or mode in a communications emergency should be evaluated impartially with a view to the appropriate use of bands and modes.  There is, of course, no alternative to using what happens to be available, but there are ways to optimize available communications.

7. Use all communications channels intelligently.  While the prime object of emergency communications is to save lives and property (anything else is incidental), Amateur Radio is a secondary communications means; normal channels are primary and should be used if available.  Emergency channels other than amateur which are available in the absence of amateur channels should be utilized without fear of favoritism in the interest of getting the message through.

8.  Don’t “broadcast.”  Some stations in an emergency situation have a tendency to emulate “broadcast” techniques.  While it is true that the general public may be listening, our transmissions are not and should not be made for that purpose.

9. NTS and ARES leadership coordination.  Within the disaster area itself, the ARES is primarily responsible for emergency communications support.  The first priority of those NTS operators who live in or near the disaster area is to make their expertise available to their Emergency Coordinator (EC) where and when needed.  For timely and effective response, this means that NTS operators should talk to their ECs before the time of need so that they will know how to best respond.

NET Training: Winlink

Tonight we talked about Winlink.  You can view the slides I was working off of here.  You can download the Winlink software at https://winlink.org/WinlinkExpress.  We will be discussing this more among other thing during our in-person training January 13th.

Fire Drill!

For Thursday's Net (11/17/2016) we are asking that you go to the fire station you selected in the Operator Portal.  Unless you are invited in, you will just meet in front of the building or parking lot, whichever is most convenient and out of the way.  I know this goes without saying, but please be respectful of the property and of the people who work there.  The fire stations are aware that you are coming.

If you have not assigned yourself a station please go to http://portal.wvcarc.com, register and select a station.  This is a great opportunity to make sure your go kit is ready for possible deployment and that you are able to communicate effectively.  This will also give us an idea of what communications challenges we may need to address in the future.  This Net will be conducted over our simplex frequency which is 147.580 Mhz.  We will also be monitoring our normal Net frequency of 146.700 Mhz, negative offset 100 hz tone.  Hope to hear from each of you!

Training topic for 9/15/2016

We're taking the curtain aside. You'll get a behind-the-

scenes look at what it means to be net control. What

special powers do these people have, and what do they know

that you don't?


Please have a Pencil and Paper at the ready as this will help with the training.

see you then,

--Jason
KG7RZX

What happens when the repeater goes down?

August 1st training was on what to when the repeater goes down.  Below were some notes related to that discussion.

Why do we have repeaters?

• Increase Range
• Save power by lowering TX output
• Get over the mountain

What do we do when a repeater is down?

• Use the transmit frequency of the repeater.
• 147.600 Mhz
• Range is limited
• Relay’s will be necessary

How can you be better prepared?

• Have a external antenna
• Roll Up J-Pole
• Mag Mount
• Roof Antenna
• Have a radio with higher output
• Handhelds are about 5 watts
• Mobiles average about 50 watts
• Be prepared to relay a message
• Know how to relay
• Paper
• Pencil
• Headphones
• Map
• Now how to operate your radio
• Be able to take off the offset
• Have a secondary frequency

The Call to action has been given!

Members of the WVCARC have been formally been asked for assistance.

BARC or the Bridgerland Amateur Radio Club is asking for any and all Voluenteers to help with the Little Red Riding Hood Bike Ride.

The Little Red Riding Hood 

Little Red Riding Hood is an annual women’s-only ride featuring 3,500 cyclists. Little Red Riding Hood is a fully supported, non-competitive, women only cycling event. With 27, 36, 50, 70 and 100 mile distances, there is a ride for everyone.

The Bonneville Cycling Club (BCC) is proud to present the 29th Little Red Riding Hood Bicycle Ride dedicated to raising money in the fight against cancer in women. BCC is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing education and riding opportunities for everyone from novice recreational riders to riders training for LOTOJA.

Read more about it here: http://www.bccutah.org/lrrh

The Call to action has been given!

They are asking for Ham and non Hams, or combinations thereof to come and help with S.A.G. duties in the Lewiston Utah in Cache Valley area.

This is a great opportunity to practice your radio communications skills in a event situation.
These conditions are very similar to the type of communications that would be used in an emergency situation.

Typically there is Swag usually a Shirt and other items that they offer to Volunteers Also there is a Dinner and party the night before.

There are also places to either tent camp or trailer camp near the Lewiston fairgrounds so you can really make a weekend of it.

The Little Red Riding Hood will be held this year on the Evening of June 3rd, and all day June 4th.

If you are Interested in helping our neighboring Ham Radio Club to the north please feel free to contact KG7RZX@gmail.com or click on the link here or on the Public Events page for Little Red Riding hood.

Thanks for your help

Jason Bailey
KG7RZX

In-person Meeting

This Quarters in-person meeting will be at West Valley City Hall on February 25th. We will take a tour of the EOC there and then do a training on public service events and a communications exercise. if you have an HT please bring that with you for the exercise.

We will meet in the Foyer of the City Hall and then go on the tour. If you are late or get lost please contact me KG7RZX on the 146.700 - 100 hz repeater and I will talk you in.

We expect to start at 19:00 sharp and end about 20:30

Our regular Net that night will be cancelled.

We look forward to seeing all of you at this meeting.

Jason KG7RZX