[MTham] SKYWARN Recognition Day - Update #4

[N7CZ]

The latest information regarding Skywarn Recognition Day follows.
All hams are invited to drop by and participate. (I can only speak for the =
Great Falls Operation).

73
Bob N7CZ
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=



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=3D1
or

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_1540045,00.ht=
m

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