[PHX-Skywarn] Sky Warn Day

[Allen Sklar]

Hello All
This is from the ARRL Letter......
The local contact is Steve Sipple.....
He is still looking for operators......
By the way, Non Hams are welcome to join in....
Contact Steve.....
Happy Holidays All.....

Allen Sklar, W7AS
MAA 224
Tempe AZ
 Trustee for WX7PHX
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
 
==>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
(ie, 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.