[Skywarn] Skywarn Recognition Day

[Lloyd Colston]

Apologies for those that have received this email multiple times. Its
hard to believe but another SKYWARN Recognition Day is upon us. The
following is the second in the series of updates on SKYWARN
Recognition Day (SRD) 2011 and Echolink/IRLP operations. The following
NWS offices have confirmed their time slots:

NWS Raliegh NC
NWS Gray ME
NWS Minneapolis MN
NWS Goodland KS
NWS Springfield MO
NWS Melborune FL
NWS Fairbanks AK
NWS Taunton MA
-Updates have been made for these NWS offices stating 'Confirmed to
Keep this Time slot' in the schedule below.

Still waiting to hear from:
NHC Miami FL
NWS Aberdeen SD
NWS Billings MT
NWS Green Bay WI
NWS Monterey CA
NWS Phoenix AZ (Contact made but they are unclear on whether their
time slot will work or not)
-These remain listed as 'time slot from last year' on the schedule below.

EchoLink and IRLP are just a couple of modes people can utilize to
contact NWS offices during SKYWARN Recognition Day. Many NWS offices
will be on 2 Meters, 440 MHz, HF and other VHF/UHF bands. Additional
details on SKYWARN Recognition Day can be found via the following
link:

http://hamradio.noaa.gov

As in past years, the EchoLink *WX_TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP reflector
9219 system will be scheduling time for NWS offices in 1-2 hour time
slots to act as a net control to make contacts with spotters that are
on the system. If a NWS office runs out of contacts and there are
other NWS offices on the system, the NWS office acting as net control
can turn it over to a different NWS office to act as a net control on
the system at their discretion.

We'd like to ask NWS offices to do their best to adhere to the
schedule. Sometimes this is difficult due to the number of contacts
received by NWS offices. We ask for everyone's patience and working
cooperatively to respect the time slot schedule.

Below is the SRD schedule from last year. We would like to know if NWS
offices would like to keep their time slot or change time slots. A
couple of NWS offices have already asked to keep their time slot. See
the list of NWS offices below:

Time in UTC NWS Office Call-Sign
0000-0100: WX0GLD (Confirmed to keep the time slot)
0100-0200: WX1GYX (Confirmed to keep the time slot)
0200-0300: WX4MLB (Confirmed to keep the time slot)
0300-0400: W0ABR  (Time slot from last year)
0400-0500: WX1BOX (Confirmed to keep the time slot but can swap if needed)
0500-0600: WX9GRB (Time slot from last year)
0600-0700: WX4HUN (Time slot from last year)
0700-0800: N0NWS  (Confirmed to keep the time slot)
0800-0900: KL7FWX (Confirmed to keep time slot. Will Show Up on
Echolink as KL2GS - NWS Fairbanks AK)
0900-1000: KL7FWX (Confirmed to keep time slot. Will Show Up on
Echolink as KL2GS - NWS Fairbanks AK)
1000-1100: KL7FWX (Confirmed to keep time slot. Will Show Up on
Echolink as KL2GS - NWS Fairbanks AK)
1100-1200: WX7PHX (Time slot from last year)
1200-1300: W7NWS  (Time slot from last year)
1300-1400: KL7FWX (Confirmed to keep time slot. Will Show Up on
Echolink as KL2GS - NWS Fairbanks AK)
1400-1500: WX4HUN (Time slot from last year)
1500-1600: WX1BOX (Confirmed to keep the time slot but can swap if needed)
1600-1800: WX4NC  (Confirmed to keep the time slot, 2 hour time slot
and time slot is from last year)
1800-1900: WX6MTR (Time slot from last year)
1900-2000: K0MPX  (Confirmed to keep the time slot)
2000-2100: WX4MLB (Confirmed to keep the time slot)
2100-2300: WX4NHC (Time slot from last year)
2300-2400: WX6NWS (Confirmed the NWS Sacramento California Office for
this time slot)

There will be other conference systems utilized for SKYWARN
Recognition Day. They are as follows:

The New England Reflector Gateway System will be utilized by the NWS
Taunton, Mass. and NWS Gray, Maine offices from 0000-0500 UTC and
1200-2400 UTC. The New England Gateway system is on EchoLink
Conference server *NEW-ENG* Node: 9123, IRLP reflector 9123. If other
NWS offices would like to join the system, they are welcome to do so
and participants in SKYWARN Recognition Day can also use that system
to make contact with various NWS offices. This is a great place to
move off the *WX_TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP 9219 system after your
scheduled time if other Amateurs or NWS offices whish to make contact
with you.

Also, the Western Reflector will be having NWS offices calling CQ as
in past years on reflector 9250 and have its gateway system on IRLP
9258/EchoLink Conference *NV-GATE* Node: 125266 open for NWS offices.
Please contact Kent-W7AOR for additional information on the Western
Reflector.

A few technical reminders for folks interested in making contacts with
the NWS Forecast Offices on the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP 9219 and New
England Reflector Gateway IRLP 9123/*NEW-ENG* Echolink Node: 9123
systems:

-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.

We are looking forward to another fun SKYWARN Recognition Day on the
*WX-TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP reflector 9219 system, New England Reflector
Gateway system and Western Reflector system. Thanks to all for their
support!

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator for NWS Taunton Massachusetts
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator