Public Service

SKYWARN Recognition Day 2020 – Making Adjustments for COVID-19

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image of tornado on doppler radarFrom The ARES Letter, November 18, 2020:

Each year, SKYWARN Recognition Day is the day where radio amateurs celebrate the long relationship between the amateur radio community and the National Weather Service SKYWARN™ program. The purpose of the event is to recognize amateur radio operators for the vital public service they perform during times of severe weather and to strengthen the bond between radio amateurs and their local National Weather Service office. The event is co-sponsored by ARRL and the National Weather Service.

Normally radio amateurs participate from home stations and from stations at National Weather Service (NWS) forecast offices, and the goal is to make contact with as many NWS forecast offices as possible during the event. However, this year, due to COVID-19 restrictions, participation from NWS forecast offices will be minimal at best. So, the focus will shift to contacting as many SKYWARN™ trained spotters as possible during the event. New for this year, SKYWARN™ Recognition Day will be open to all SKYWARN Spotters.

Additionally, a SKYWARN™ Recognition Day Facebook page has been created and will host a variety of live and recorded segments throughout the day. All SKYWARN™ Spotters who wish to participate may sign up for a SKYWARN™ Recognition Day number by completing the form found on the SKYWARN™ Recognition Day 2020 website. During the event, amateur radio operators are encouraged to exchange their name, location, SRD number, and current weather conditions with other participating stations.

See the event website for the full operating guidelines. Additionally, all SKYWARN™ Spotters will be encouraged to participate by sending weather reports, images and attending various live stream events via social media. SKYWARN™ Recognition Day 2020 will be held from 0000 UTC to 2400 UTC December 5. To learn more, visit the SRD website.

Newport Co. RC Members Perform Antenna Work at Portsmouth, RI EMA Hq.

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photo featuring k1npt and kc1ipc doing antenna work at portsmouth ri EMA
K1NPT and KC1IPC taking down the weather-worn, chimney-mounted antenna at Portsmouth, RI EMA Hq.

Portsmouth (RI) Emergency Management Agency is now ready for winter with a complement of three new antennas, replacing three weather-worn units. 

 
Newport County Radio Club members Ray, KC1IPC; Brian, N1TBT; Kelly, N2YFY and Mike, K1NPT spent seven hours on the fire station roof Saturday. They took down the old antennas, reinforced the mounting points, cleaned/replaced coax connections, re-mounted, and tested the new antennas.  Courtesy NCRC Facebook page.

W8ZY, K4WK: Red Cross Presentation, October 22, 2020

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Please plan to attend this October 22 Zoom session.
9:00 PM AST / 9:00 PM EDT / 8:00 PM CT / 7:00 PM MDT / 6:00 PM PDT / 5:00 PM AKDT / 3:00 PM HST
 
Topic: American Red Cross presentation
Speakers:  Mike Walter, W8ZY and Wayne Robertson, K4WK
 
Tonight’s  meeting will be OPEN for all to attend. Please feel free to invite others.

  • This meeting will be recorded. By participating you consent to being recorded.
  • Please change your display name to Your First Name, Call Sign and Location, e.g. Dan K7REX Idaho.
  • Please stay muted until ready to speak. Your space bar works like a PTT for unmuting
  • To be fair to everyone, there will be a three minute limit for each person during Q & A
  • You may ask questions in chat; please stay on topic while using chat.
Join Zoom Meeting
[Email arrl.idaho@gmail.com for meeting URL and password]

“Intro to Radio Relay International” Webinar, October 13, 2020

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James Wades writes on Facebook’s My ARRL Voice:
 
Due to extremely high interest, we have scheduled a second session of our webinar entitled “Introduction to Radio Relay International and the Inter-national traffic system” to take place on Tuesday, October 13 from 1:00-PM to 3:30-PM EDT (1700Z to 1930Z). The class covers the structure of the traffic system, its international affiliates, and the structure and topology of the manual mode net system, the Digital Traffic Network (DTN), and the Winlink-RRI Radiogram transfer process. Also included is an introduction to the radiogram and radiogram-ICS213 message formats including an explanation of the various components incorporated in their associated network management data. A general overview of RRI management philosophy and RRI emergency response functions are also included. Training certificates will be issued for RRI Training Class TR-002.
The class is limited to 100 people. Register soon, as the first class filled up in just a few hours.
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3738890799943554318

Ham Radio Saves a Life

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Western MA iconFrom wma.arrl.org:

On Tuesday, June 15, Alden Sumner Jones IV, KC1JWR, was hiking on the southern part of the Appalachian trail in Vermont (it’s also been reported as being on the Long Trail) with his cousins at around 12:30 PM. Alden started feeling light headed, his pulse was racing and the next thing he remembers is waking up with an EMT named Dave, from AMR out of Springfield, MA, who was hiking and saw Alden go down. Alden had suffered seizures. It was later determined that this was caused by low blood sugar. Dave attempted to call 911 on his cell phone. He could connect, but the 911 operator couldn’t understand him. At this point, Alden pulled out his HT ham radio, a BaoFeng.

He made contact through the K1FFK repeater. This repeater is located on Mt. Greylock on 146.91. The repeater is owned and maintained by the Northern Berkshire Amateur Radio Club. The initial call went out just before the Cycle 1 of the Western Massachusetts Traffic Net. Ron Wonderlick, AG1W, took the call. Alden initially asked if the 911 call went through. Ron began an eight hour process of acting as a relay between Alden, the emergency crews and various others.  [Full story]