[Skywarn] Rules Regulations

Mon Jun 24 22:48:59 EDT 2013

Very well put Kevin.

Wm DelliPaoli-kd0pvp
Bates County,Mo ARES EC

On Sun, Jun 23, 2013 at 9:45 PM, Kevin Heyboer <k.heyboer at verizon.net>wrote:

>
>
> Joe, I have been a ham for twenty years and held a similar position to
> yours
> for the Tampa Bay Weather Service Forecast Office twice, from 1994 until
> 1999 and again from 2008 to 2011.  I now live in Murphy, NC which is
> actually in the CWA for the WSFO Morristown, TN.  When I arrived here a
> little over a year ago, there was no formal SKYWARN program for far
> southwest North Carolina but there was an EF-3 tornado, so I set about to
> create one.  I am a member of North Carolina ARES and AUXCOMM, holding the
> position of AEC for Cherokee County, NC....but I also hold the position of
> SKYWARN District Emergency Coordinator for WSFO MRX District 2, which is
> comprised of Cherokee and Clay Counties of North Carolina.  But, I am only
> allowed to call myself the SKYWARN Net Manager by the NC ARES chain of
> command.
>
> I am 5 miles from Georgia, which is covered by WSFO Peachtree City (FFC)
> and
> 30 miles from Graham County, NC which is covered by WSFO Greer, South
> Carolina (GSP).  I ended up having to get the blessing of the NC ARES chain
> of command, the Tennessee ACS chain of command, the WCM at Morristown, and
> the 8 trustees of the WX4MRX amateur radio station at WSFO MRX before all
> of
> this could happen.
>
> Coincidentally, I am also a retired police sergeant.  So, I certainly
> understand your problem.  What I am about to express is my opinion based
> upon the fact the ARRL and NWS operate under a memorandum of understanding
> and Part 97 rules permit the transmission of "broadcasts" only if they are
> of direct and immediate interest to radio amateurs and amateur radio.  It
> is
> permissible to re-transmit NOAA weather radio audio from an amateur
> repeater
> when a watch or warning is issued.  Many repeater owners do this, along
> with
> other "announcements" like net meeting times, PL tones, the current time,
> etc.
>
> The SOLE purpose of SKYWARN is to receive reports meeting severe or near
> severe criteria and relaying that information to the weather service
> office,
> by radio, telephone, or e-spotter report.  In the process of receiving
> those
> reports, anyone listening gains the advantage of hearing real time data,
> whether they are a ham or just listening on a scanner.  But, it is not the
> purpose of a SKYWARN net to report existing weather conditions to those
> listening like the weatherman on the TV news.
>
> When I or one of my designated net control operators runs a net, we only
> transmit weather information that has been dissimated publicly by the NWS.
> I repeat the exact wording of watches, warnings, severe weather statements,
> and special weather statements as I receive them over my computer, or
> directly by radio from WX4MRX at WSFO Morristown.
>
> That having been said, we are in the Great Smoky Mountains and we use a
> wide
> area repeater that is located well over 4000 feet MSL and has an effective
> radius of 100 miles in all directions.  Therefore, I will accept any report
> of severe weather and relay it to the correct WSFO...I have all three
> spotter line numbers.  I also transmit TOR, SVR, SWS, SPS, FFA, FFW and FLW
> information for all the counties that can receive my transmission, which
> are
> Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Swain, Jackson, and Macon of North Carolina;
> Fannin,
> Union, Towns, and Rabun Counties of Georgia; Polk, Bradley, and Monroe
> Counties of Tennessee.
>
> However, despite the fact that I have internet access to high resolution
> RADAR, I am not trained to interpret that info and dissiminate any
> information not provided by a meteorologist.  I only use that information
> to
> help guide me in knowing where the most severe storms are and estimate when
> I will need to be prepared to go from watch to warning mode.
>
> I do have a problem with ham operators wanting to repeat what they heard on
> local commercial television and radio stations....information that may not
> have come from the NWS, and may or may not be accurate.  I do not accept
> these reports, nor do I relay them to the NWS.  TV and Radio stations are
> part of the EAS system and must relay those reports on their own.
> Unfortunately, some hams, especially those that are not trained spotters,
> want to treat a SKYWARN net as their own personal weather service and think
> the weather nets exist solely to warn other hams of impending bad weather.
> This is certainly not the true purpose of SKYWARN.
>
> So, my suggestion to you is to only repeat what has been publicly
> disseminated over the weather wire or provided directly from the WSFO to
> you
> by phone or radio, if you are asked about weather conditions during a
> SKYWARN net.  One thing we must always stay away from is prognostications
> and forecasting when we are not forecasters and there is a seven minute
> delay between what you see on any RADAR over the internet and what the
> actual meteorologist can see on the WSR-88D display.
>
> Depending upon what you are told by your chain-of-command, I could also see
> you reporting road closures and flooding that have been validated through
> police dispatch, but only if validated, since you access to that info.
>
> Although I do not know the WCM, I suspect he or she either has or has had a
> problem with others communicating to hams non-validated severe weather
> which
> can cause rumor, inuendo, innaccuracy, reduncy in reporting, and sometimes
> panic.  This is the most likely reason for trying to institute such
> controls
> on your network.
>
> Now, as far as telling a mobile ham the proper frequency for a county he or
> she is entering, the WCM has no control over that.  That is no different
> than me telling someone leaving the range of the K4AIH repeater on 147.045
> entering Georgia to shift to the W4ACS Jasper, GA repeater on 146.805 so I
> can continue a QSO with him.  I am at 2200 feet MSL, so I can reach
> repeaters in three, and sometimes 4, states.
>
> All of this is just one opinion, and not all will necessarily agree. I
> would
> be curious to see what other answers you may receive.  The most important
> thing I can tell you is do not butt heads with the WCM.  That is a battle
> you will not win and will only result in the detrement of the SKYWARN
> system
> in your area.
>
> By the way, just because the adjacent county does not have an amateur radio
> SKYWARN net, does not mean they don't have spotters (not all spotters are
> hams) or a severe weather radio net by some other means such as GMRS or
> even
> a public service radio frequency.  In some areas, weather spotters are
> county volunteers who, much like volunteer fireman, deploy to specific
> areas
> and operate on one of the county or city public service band frequencies.
>
> Kevin Heyboer KD4UYR
> AEC for Cherokee County NCARES
> Southwest Carolina Area SKYWARN Manager
>
> http://cherokee.ccares.us
> -----Original Message-----
> From: skywarn-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:skywarn-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of J Wozniak
> Sent: Sunday, June 23, 2013 3:12 PM
> To: skywarn at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [Skywarn] Rules Regulations
>
> As the Amateur Emergency Communications Coordinator for the St. Louis
> County
> EOC and the lead operator for St. Louis County SKYWARN severe weather net
> operations, I am looking for any and all "rules and regulations" concerning
> the operations of an established SKYWARN program for our county.  It seems
> that there is a discrepancy between our warning coordination
> meteorologistand St. Louis County Police EOC concerning what information we
> are allowed and not allowed to provide to our citizens during a severe
> weather event in addition to how we operate our SKYWARN severe weather (ham
> radio) nets.
>
> I am sure that you are aware that St. Louis is a major transportation hub
> in
> the Midwest.  Because of this, we regularly have “truckers” and commuters
> that tune in to our severe weather nets requesting weather information for
> an adjoining county during times of severe weather.  We have gladly
> provided
> this information to those travelers as a courtesy, both in the past and
> present since they may not be in range of the next county’s repeater.  In
> addition to this we also provide the frequency of the next county’s SKYWARN
> severe weather net if it is needed.  (e.g., there is a severe thunderstorm
> warning for Jefferson County until 7pm; Jefferson County’s SKYWARN
> frequency
> is 146.XXX).  However we have been told by our warning coordination
> meteorologist that we can no longer provide weather information for other
> counties, and that we can only provide weather information for our county
> and no others.  This is very difficult to understand since
>  we also provide our severe weather net service for the City of St. Louis
> (they are a separate county entity) who does not have a SKYWARN severe
> weather net of their own.  Because of this “new rule” the City of St. Louis
> is now on their own.
>
> Since the “9-11” incident in New York, the federal government has been
> promoting interoperability between various county governments and their
> departments.  Now our warning coordination meteorologist states that we are
> no longer to do this?  I do not understand.  Do any of the other
> coordinators in this group have any similar experiences?
>
> Joe Wozniak, KDØEFW/WBØAAF
> Amateur Emergency Communications Coordinator
> St. Louis County Police Department
> Division of Special Operations
> Office of Emergency Management
> 14847 Ladue Bluffs Crossing Drive
> Chesterfield, MO 63017
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-- 
William DelliPaoli Jr
KD0PVP
Bates Co ARES EC
508 W Pine St
Butler, MO 64730