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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

Buckle up! An active start to spring is ahead. No, we’re not talking about weather, but it could be. I’m talking about events! What a list!
March-May in Alabama is our prime time for severe weather, and that means it’s a great time to BE READY. Here’s a few events that will help with being ready, and responsive!

We had another successful Skywarn Recognition day and with our new digital assets we pulled in even more contacts via DMR, EchoLink, and IRLP.

Thank you to our volunteers who made this another great event!

On site we had Ron Arant N4PHP, Stephen Moss KB4KKN and Bill Rodgers K4FSO. Offsite we had Russell Thomas KV4S and Rodger Parsons KK4UDU.

Ron setup the R9 6m thru 80m antenna. The 3 onsite members operated HF and D-Star.

Due to hotspot issues on site, Russell handled the DMR/Echolink contacts off site.

Rodger handled Winlink for us.

Hope you all had fun and we look forward to next year!

Here are a few pictures:

This Friday, November 30 @ 6PM Central Time (Dec 1 0:00z), Skywarn Recognition Day kicks off, and continues for the next 24 hours.


The National Weather Service – Birmingham Office (BMX) is also celebrating their 25th Anniversary of being at the Shelby County Airport location.
To commemorate this milestone we have a special event callsign! NWS Birmingham and ALERT, The Alabama Emergency Response Team, will be W4A (Weather 4 Alabama).


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


There will be a Special Event QSL Card for making contact with W4A, National Weather Service – Birmingham / Alabama Emergency Response Team.

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 XRF334C
AllStar: 48168
EchoLink: K4NWS-L (155003)
IRLP Reflector: 9666
WinLink: KK4UDU@winlink.org

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