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AE5ME > ARES 22.01.16 17:32l 30 Lines 7617 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: //WL2K ARES Newsletter January 20th Part 3 of 4
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West Central Florida ARES/ACS Group Learns in SKYWARN Course
Largo, Florida - Private citizens, amateur operators and CERT team members gathered last month at the new Pinellas County EOC for a SKYWARN training class. Pinellas County is west of Tampa, Florida, with a population of almost a million, exposed to severe tropical weather on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Its county seat is Clearwater, and its largest city is St. Petersburg. The class was hosted by the Pinellas County ACS/ARES unit, along with their sponsoring agency, the Pinellas County Emergency Management agency. The Pinellas County ARES and ACS (Auxiliary Communications Service) are comprised of Amateur Radio operators who provide support to government and other agencies as needed.
The class boasted 100 attendees, and was taught by Dan Noah, NOAA Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the Ruskin, Florida National Weather Service office. The class was welcomed to the new Pinellas County EOC by Emergency Manager Sally Bishop, who said in part, "This effort on the part of our ACS group netted the largest Spotter training class that Ruskin National Weather Service has ever had. We are grateful for the community service provided by the Spotters as it is a vital piece of the process that takes place between the Weather Service and Emergency Management to ensure the community is warned and as ready as possible for weather events."
Noah said "SKYWARN is a program sponsored by your National Weather Service (NWS) consisting of trained weather spotters who provide reports of hazardous weather to help in the warning process. SKYWARN spotter reports provide vital 'ground truth' to the NWS. These reports serve the NWS mission of protecting life and property from the adverse impacts of severe weather. Each year our Spotters donate their time and/or equipment to help the NWS in the severe weather warning process."
Clayton Parrott, KJ4RUS, Pinellas County ARES/ACS Radio Officer and Emergency Coordinator said "We are helping our citizens become more aware of weather related events such as tornados, lightning, and now the threat of El Nino by providing them with preparedness tools such as this SKYWARN training. In doing this, we help them to be better prepared for severe weather related events in their communities."
There are no prerequisites to become a SKYWARN spotter, but spotters must be 18 years of age or older to receive a SKYWARN certification and a spotter ID number.
Training included what to look for when reporting weather, what to report, how to estimate hail size, wind speed and the format to use, i.e., "TEL," which means Time, Event, Location. Since El Nino will be a major weather factor weather for the next few months, Noah detailed some of the added risks for Florida.
When asked about the effect of El Nino on weather in Florida, Noah replied "El Nino, the warming of the waters in the tropical Pacific, naturally occurs every 2 to 7 years. During an El Nino, Florida has an increased risk of severe weather and flooding from January through April as the upper level jet stream changes its path from north of Florida to crossing central Florida. This allows environmental conditions to become more favorable for severe weather more often. There will be about seven or so nights this winter and spring where people will want to pay extra attention to the weather as it moves through their area." Noah suggested having multiple ways to receive tornado warnings, including NOAA Weather Radio and smart phone Apps. -- Kevin Poorman, KC4VT, Public Information Officer, Pinellas County, Florida, ARES/ACS Public Service Communications
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Winter Field Day at End of Month
Winter Field Day is held annually on the last full weekend of January. This month, it will be held January 30-31, 1700Z-1700Z. The Winter Field Day Association (WFDA) is a group of amateurs who sponsor this event. From their website, they believe that emergency communications skills, practice and training in a winter environment is as important as the preparations and exercising performed in the more benign seasons. Winter conditions pose special environmental challenges to operators in the field. WFDA's stated goal is to "help enhance your skills and ready you for all environmental conditions found in the US and Canada during the spring, summer, fall, and winter." For rules, click here. Contact WFDA here. -- Winter Field Day Association
Northern Indiana Hams Activate NWS Office for SKYWARNâ?˘ Recognition Day
Fourteen operators from various northern Indiana Amateur Radio clubs collaborated to activate the National Weather Service office in North Webster for the 17th annual SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) on December 5, 2015. When Michael Lewis, Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the Northern Indiana NWS office, asked for a radio club to organize the event, the Fort Wayne Radio Club accepted the task. Jim Moehring, KB9WWM, District 3 ARES DEC, served as the point of contact for volunteers to register. For security purposes at the NWS office, all volunteer operators were required to pre-register for operating time slots to gain access to the facility.
Setup began at 2030 UTC on December 4. The set up team installed a custom made bracket to one of the parking lot light poles, which served as the common mounting point for three end-fed antenna matching boxes. The end-fed antennas have demonstrated their effectiveness and ease of installation in several other field operations. 20-meter and 40-meter tuned end-fed wires were stretched to conveniently located 30 foot tall light poles. Ropes were lifted over the light poles using an extended painter's pole. This avoided the hassles that are associated with air cannons and slingshot projectiles for such placements. A multiband Chameleon EMCOMM II end-fed antenna was placed over a third light pole using the same technique. A dual-band aluminum J-pole was placed 20 feet in the air on a telescoping aluminum mast mounted in a heavy-duty tripod base. Coax was run from the four antennas to a 4" diameter pipe pass-through in the wall of the NWS office directly into the operations conference room.
The entire four antenna setup was completed before dusk at 2215 UTC. Three HF stations and one VHF station were quickly connected to the coax with time to spare before the 0000 UTC December 5 SKYWARN Recognition Day start time. The Northern Indiana NWS was activated for the full 24 hour period of the event. HF propagation ebbed and flowed during the event, but didn't dampen the spirit of the operators. Many contacts were made using IRLP via the K9DEW repeater outside Warsaw. The repeater owner/trustee, Dewey Thrasher, K9DEW, graciously permitted extended operation on his 145.13 MHz repeater IRLP node. Many NWS offices were connected to the IRLP Eastern Reflector during the event.
The final QSO count of 181 total contacts included 46 other NWS offices. Some offices were contacted on multiple bands. Approximately 2/3 of the QSOs were with individual hams not affiliated with NWS offices.
The Northern Indiana NWS SKYWARN Recognition Day operation succeeded with both goals: (1) Demonstrate communications continuity between NWS offices when usual means are overloaded or non-functioning in a disaster; and (2) Promote goodwill and positive public relations between amateur operators and the National Weather Service. Following the event, Michael Lewis sent congratulations to all the operators who supported the Northern Indiana operation along with a certificate of appreciation from the NWS. - ARRL Indiana Section Newsletter, December 2015
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