[CVRC] SKYWARN Recognition Day - Update #4

[Matthew Parker]

A reminder that station WX7RNO at the Reno National Weather Service Office 
will be active in this event from 4 p.m. local on Friday, December 6 
through 4 p.m. local on Saturday, December 7. In addition to the 2m/70cm 
voice and packet equipment at the office, we will be setting up three HF 
transceivers providing voice, CW, and PSK-31 operation. EVERYONE is welcome 
to come join in the fun, regardless of club/unit affiliation (or 
non-affiliation), license class, or any other consideration. Bring your 
interested, non-ham friends - we'll put 'em on the air and get 'em hooked!

73,
Matt Parker, N7TOD
ARES Emergency Coordinator - Washoe County

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: SKYWARN Recognition Day - Update #4
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 11:37:09 +0000
From: "Scott Mentzer" <Scott.Mentzer@noaa.gov>

SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) takes place December 7, 2002, beginning at 
0000 UTC. This is less than one month from now. There are currently 92 
stations officially registered to participate. One site, Memphis, has not 
been posted to the web site yet, but it should be there today. Three other 
sites (Denver, Buffalo, and San Juan) have expressed their commitment to 
participate. They will be added to the web site when I receive their 
application. Including those four stations, the number of participating 
offices will be 96. Wow! That's great. The official SRD web site is: 
http://hamradio.noaa.gov/

Before letting you know the latest SRD news, let me express the 
appreciation of the NWS to all SKYWARN or ARES groups who supported NWS 
operations during this weekend's tornado outbreak in the eastern third of 
the country. If your interested in seeing some publicity about SKYWARN 
operations during the event visit...

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2002/11/11/100/?nc=1
or
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_1540045,00.htm

Now, on to the SRD news:

     - A special welcome to the SKYWARN group from San Juan, Puerto Rico. 
I'm sure you'll make plenty of QSOs since PR (like HI and AK) is considered 
a separate country for DXCC certification. Get ready to make plenty of 
contacts...and welcome aboard!

     - This is a reminder to inform your airport manager or airport 
communications manager about SRD if you will work from an office located on 
airport grounds. This needs to be done by December 1, 2002.

     - Patrick Murphy has submitted a request to the ARRL to run a web 
survey on their homepage. The survey will attempt to determine how much 
interest there is in SRD from the amateur radio community. I'll let you 
know if the survey gets posted.

     - As you all know, SRD will be held on Pearl Harbor Day this year. To 
honor the service men and women from WWII, I'd like each NWS office to 
transmit a special message from 1800 to 1900 UTC (roughly the time of the 
Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941). The message will contain the wx 
report that occurred that day in Pearl Harbor - I'll provide that to you a 
few days before SRD. Any operator who works the NWS office in Honolulu at 
any time during the SRD plus any one NWS office from 1800-1900z will earn a 
special endorsement on their certificate: the Pearl Harbor Endorsement. Let 
me know if you have any questions about this.

     - A group of NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologists will be in Kansas 
City during SRD. They will have the opportunity to use the SRD station 
located there. Any operator who works the Kansas City station can count 
both the Kansas City station and the WCM's home office toward endorsement 
credit. I'll provide further information on this to the Kansas City group 
in a few weeks.

     - After some deliberation, the digital mode endorsement will be 
removed. There simply haven't been too many people who have qualified for 
this in past SRDs. Last year, it was suggested to have a WX endorsement. A 
ham would qualify for that if he/she worked a certain number of stations 
with a WX prefix. So, if there are no serious objections, the digital 
endorsement will be replaced by the WX endorsement.

     - The ever popular endorsement checklist will be released on the web 
around December 1. In fact, you will be seeing the web site evolve from now 
through SRD to focus on external hams rather than those associated directly 
with SRD. Most internal information will be relayed through mailing list 
messages (like this).

     - And, finally, thanks to the efforts of a number of hams, the 
Internet Radio Linking Project in support of SRD is really taking off. The 
IRLP allows operators to contact the world using only a 2 meter rig.

The catch - you need to be located near a repeater that has an IRLP node. 
However, a number of NWS offices will utilize this relatively new mode... 
and there is interest worldwide about linking these sites. The following 
sites might be able to use IRLP since they have nodes near them

     K5BS      HOUSTON TX
     KB1G      RALEIGH NC
     KC0SKY    PLEASANT HILL, MO
     KF6NHD    SALT LAKE CITY, UT
     KH6SW     HONOLULU,HI
     N5CCW     CORPUS CHRISTI, TX
     N0G       DES MOINES, IA
     W4EHW     NHC  MIAMI FL
     W4W       GREENVILLE/SPARANBURG
     W5W       AUSTIN, TX
     W6S       SACRAMENTO,CA
     W7S       CHEYENNE, WY
     W9NWS     INDIANAPOLIS, IN
     W0NWS     OMAHA, NE
     WX2PHI    PHILADELPHIA, PA
     WX4LWX    BALTIMORE
     WX7PDX    PORTLAND, OR
     WX5FWD    FORT WORTH, TX
     WX7PHX    PHOENIX, AZ
     WX7RNO    RENO, NV
     WX9MKX    MILWAUKEE, WI

If you're interest in exploring this, please talk to your local radio club. 
Or, contact Robert Hobbs who graciously is coordinating this aspect of SRD 
(n5ula@cox.net). Let me know if you are going to use IRLP so I can get the 
web site updated.

Whew! That was lengthy. I plan to issue two more weekly updates. Like last 
year, I'll give daily updates beginning December 1 to discuss operating 
procedures. Again, if you have any questions, let me know.

Scott Mentzer (N0QE)
Meteorologist-in-Charge
NWS Goodland, Kansas