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National Weather Service

Friday, December 3rd @ 6PM Central Time (Dec 4 0000z to 2400z), Skywarn Recognition Day kicks off, and continues for the next 24 hours.

The National Weather Service office in Birmingham is represented in Skywarn Recognition Day by ALERT (The Alabama Emergency Response Team) as the callsign K4NWS.

Skywarn Recognition Day is an event celebrates the contribution of SKYWARN volunteers to the NWS’s mission. More information about the event, including Operating Procedures for the contest, Participating Offices, Echolink Info/IRLP info, all can be found at the event link: https://www.weather.gov/crh/skywarnrecognition

There is also a registration form for the event, this is used so NWS can associate your operation with a specific NWS office and you will be given an SRD number used in the contact exchange between participants, the form can also be found at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfgnt7GpNxaLdtlsPxuVgyrnUIgpGfLnKHycXstQk996w6-HQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

To contact us via Amateur Radio:
HF: 10,17,15,20 Meters
2M FM 146.880 (BARC), 147.320 and 146.980 (SCARC)
220 FM 224.500
70cm FM 444.700
DMR Talk Group 31013 which is available on all DMR repeaters in the Birmingham area but is also available on various repeaters in the BMX county warning area.
D-Star: REF058B or REF090C/XRF334C
AllStar: 48168
EchoLink: K4NWS-L (155003)
IRLP Experimental Reflector: 0091
WinLink: K4NWS (at) winlink (dot) org

In 2020 and in response to COVID, SRD was expanded outside of Amateur Radio to include all Skywarn Storm spotters.
Here are some ways to contact our station that are not Amateur Radio:

Zello: https://zello.com/channels/k/duTMd
Telegram: http://t.me/K4NWS
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/K4NWS/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/K4NWS
MeWe: https://mewe.com/join/alert

Our participation in SRD in previous years can be found here:
http://alert-alabama.org/SRD/index.htm

This Friday, December 6th @ 6PM Central Time (Dec 7 0000z to 2400z), Skywarn Recognition Day kicks off, and continues for the next 24 hours.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the event as well!

Skywarn Recognition Day is an event celebrates the contribution of SKYWARN volunteers to the NWS’s mission. More information about the event, including Operating Procedures for the contest, Participating Offices, Echolink Info/IRLP info, all can be found at the link below:
https://www.weather.gov/crh/skywarnrecognition

To make contact with us:
HF: 10,17,15,20 Meters
2M FM 146.880 (BARC), 147.320 and 146.980 (SCARC)
220 FM 224.500
DMR Talk Group 31013 which is available on all DMR repeaters in the Birmingham area but is also available on various repeaters in the BMX cwa.
D-Star: REF058B and REF090C
AllStar: 48168
EchoLink: K4NWS-L (155003)
IRLP Reflector: 9666
WinLink: K4NWS (at) winlink (dot) org

Requirement for the community:

NWS Birmingham requests that all Storm Spotters, weather enthusiasts, and amateur radio operators refrain from calling themselves “Certified NWS Storm Chasers.”

The NWS does train storm spotters but will never train, certify, encourage, or endorse storm chasing. No such training exists for storm chasing, and doing so is a risk to your own life and property, especially with Alabama’s geography.

If you choose to chase, you do so at your own risk. Please do not associate the NWS brands with your personal actions, or results of those actions.

Let’s ensure that we are appropriately representing the brand, as well as ourselves and our community. Continue reading

In ALERT/K4NWS’s last callout activation 4/14/2019, K4NWS was joined on the D-Star reflector 058B by the NWS Mobile, AL Skywarn group – Rural Radio Preparedness Organization (web | facebook). We’re happy to hear another Skywarn group coming back up to speed.

There were a few questions after the event from Birmingham operators/spotters. After discussing with RRPA, we feel we have a good plan for directing spotter report traffic to the appropriate NWS station, ahead of the upcoming severe weather event Thursday 4/18/2019 Afternoon.

If you’re a Skywarn spotter or NWS Station Operator, check out the article here on how K4NWS would operate when sharing digital:
Operating Digital with Multiple Served Agencies
(Note: Document is subject to change, based on feedback from our partner NWS offices, Skywarn groups, storm spotters, reflector users, and K4NWS members. Feel free to direct comments to the email provided in the article!)

We appreciate the work that our other regional and county Skywarn groups, such as RRPA and NALSW (North Alabama Skywarn). Thank you all for your continued partnership as we all work toward the mission of the National Weather Service: Protect life and property.

ALERT / National Weather Service Birmingham Coverage Area

  • ALERT covers the BMX county warning area. Presently, this includes: Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Blount, Bullock, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Chilton, Clay, Cleburne, Coosa, Dallas, Elmore, Etowah, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Jefferson, Lamar, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Marion, Montgomery, Perry, Pickens, Pike, Randolph, Russell, Shelby, St Clair, Sumter, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, Walker, Winston