ALERT NEWSLETTER – February 2015

Hi Everyone, I hope this finds you well this Groundhog Day. So far this winter we have been able to miss the winter weather that our friends up north are dealing with. Remember that Alabama winter weather can creep upon us unexpectedly, even into March. Regardless, spring is drawing closer every day. But, until it arrives, bundle up, grab some hot chocolate and think warm thoughts this cold shivery night. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ALERT Sunday Night Net Beginning this month I will include the monthly net statistics for the ALERT Sunday Night Net. Our net meets each Sunday at 7 PM local time on 146.88 MHz and all are invited to participate. If you haven’t checked in before or if has been a while, I invite you to join us! January ALERT Sunday Night Net Report Date Net Control QNI QTC Jan 4 N4HEY 67 * 0 Jan 11 KK4NGD 51 0 Jan 18 WD4NYL 50 0 Jan 25 KK4NGD 52 0 ————————————————- MONTHLY TOTAL 220 0 ————————————————- YEARLY TOTAL 220 0 * Ties WD4NYL for most check-ins. Note: QNI = Check-ins & QTC = National Traffic System formal radiogram traffic. Let’s talk about nets, for a moment. There are many types of Nets. There are emergency nets for emergency preparedness and response, DX nets, which alert stations to rare DX finds on HF, rag chew nets, where everyone gives updates on what is happening in their world, and NTS traffic nets, passing radiograms all over North America. The ASNN was designed to be a “discussion Net”. Where any topic related to Amateur Radio could be discussed. It is also a “training net”, and training topics are occasionally presented during the “discussion” time after the announcements and swap shop items have been passed. While the ASNN is not a formal traffic net, we can and do accept NTS traffic. Normally, if someone indicates they have formal NTS traffic, the Net Control will ask if anyone if is going to the state Section Nets who can carry the traffic to them. For instance, if I am available, I can take it and pass it on HF. If no one is available and the NCS cannot relay the traffic himself, by necessity the traffic would have to be deferred to another net. How does the NTS system work anyway? Let’s explore this for a few moments. As an example of how NTS traffic is relayed, let’s assume I have traffic for Atlanta. Normally I won’t put this on a two meter net, as I have HF capability. But, on our example we will assume I didn’t. I check into the local net and list my traffic. “I have one piece of format traffic for Georgia”. The NCS calls for a volunteer to take the traffic to one of the section nets. The Alabama NTS Section Nets are: Alabama Day Net 3965 MHz LSB 10:00 AM CST Alabama Traffic Net Mike 3965 MHz LSB 6:30 PM CST Daily & 8:00 AM Sunday Alabama Section Net 3575 MHz CW 7:00 PM Daily There are also NTS Nets using digital modes, for those with that station capability. I send the message to the volunteer, which should be in a format similar to this example, which I obtained courtesy of the North Carolina ARRL NCARR. http://www.ncarrl.org/index.html ARRL RADIOGRAM FORMAT GENERAL Follows is a description of the different parts of the Amateur Radio Message format. Some sections are OPTIONAL, and I recommend they not be used, unless needed. The use of this pre-printed message form from ARRL is NOT necessary for handling traffic. Use any paper you seem appropriate. MESSAGE NUMBER (Mandatory) This can be any number the originating station chooses. Most start with 1 the first of each year. Once a message is numbered, that same number remains with the message until it is delivered. Example: NR 1 PRECEDENCE (Mandatory) The Precedence of the Message determines what order the messages will be handled. The following four precedence’s are used in ascending order of priority: ROUTINE (R on CW) 99.99% of all messages have this precedence. These messages will be handled last. WELFARE (W on CW) This message is either an inquiry to the health and welfare of an individual in a disaster area or a report of the health and welfare of an individual. These messages will be handled before ROUTINE traffic. PRIORITY (P on CW) These are messages have specific time limits. They are also for Official messages, not covered in the EMERGENCY category. This traffic will be handled before WELFARE or ROUTINE. EMERGENCY (EMERGENCY on CW) This is any message having life and death urgency to any person or group of persons, which is transmitted by Amateur Radio in the absence of regular communication facilities. When in doubt, do NOT use this precedence. This traffic will be handled first and immediately. Example: NR 1 R (for Routine) HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS (Optional) Handling Instructions are sometimes used to tell the various stations along the way, what the desires of the originating station are. If not needed, it is best not to use. On phone: the sending station would say, “HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS n”, n explained below. On CW: Send HXn. HXA (Followed by a number) Collect landline delivery authorized by the by addressee within … miles. (If no number, authorization is unlimited). HXB (Followed by a number) Cancel message if not delivered within … hours of filing time; service originating station. HXC Report the time and date of delivery to originating station. HXD Report to the originating station the identity of the station from which you received, plus time and date. Report the identity of the station to which it was relayed, plus time and date, or if delivered report time and date of delivery. HXE Delivering station get a reply from the addressee, and originate a message back. HXF (Followed by number) Hold delivery until … (date). HXG Delivery by mail or landline toll call not required. If toll or other expense involved, cancel message and service originating station. Example: NR 1 R HXG STATION OF ORIGIN (Mandatory) This is the call sign of the Amateur Radio Station generating (originating) this message. This call sign, along with the message number, serve as the “serial number” of this message. Any future reference to this message would be: “Number nn of CALL nn4nnn”. Example: NR 1 R K4IWW CHECK (Mandatory) This is a count of the number of words used in the TEXT (only) of the message. Words in the address or signature are NOT counted. Groups of figures, letters, combinations of figures and letters, and “X” are counted as words. This is the method that Amateurs use to make sure that the TEXT was received without error. Both the sender and receiver should end up with the same word count (CHECK). Example: NR 1 R K4IWW 12 (If the check has a prefix ARL, the letters ARL indicates that the message includes ARRL Numbered Radiogram text. The letters ARL are also inserted in the text before the ARRL message number that represents the text from the list. Note that ARRL message numbers must be spelled out (e.g., FORTY SIX) and are counted as words for the check. For example, ARL FORTY SIX is counted as 3 words. For example, the following message includes ARRL Numbered Radiogram text: ARL Sixty One, by the way, means “Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.” ARRL Numbered Radiograms are as follows: Group 1 for Possible Emergency Use ARL ONE – Everyone is safe here. Please don’t worry. ARL TWO – Coming home as soon as possible. ARL THREE – Am in ________ hospital. Receiving excellent care and recovering fine. ARL FOUR – Only slight property damage. Do not be concerned about disaster reports. ARL FIVE – Am moving to a new location. Send no further mail. Will inform you of new address when relocated. ARL SIX – Will contact you ASAP. ARL SEVEN – Please reply by Amateur Radio through the Amateur delivering this message. This is a free public service. ARL EIGHT – Need additional ________ mobile or portable equipment for immediate emergency use. ARL NINE – Additional ________ radio operators needed to assist with emergency at this location. ARL TEN – Please contact ________. Advise to stand by and provide further information, instructions, or assistance. ARL ELEVEN – Establish Amateur Radio emergency communications with ________ on ________ MHz. ARL TWELVE – Anxious to hear from you. No word in some time. Please contact me as soon as possible. ARL THIRTEEN – Medical emergency situation exists here. ARL FOURTEEN – Situation here is becoming critical. Losses and damage from ________ increasing. ARL FIFTEEN – Please advise your condition and what help is needed. ARL SIXTEEN – Property damage very severe in this area. ARL SEVENTEEN – REACT communications services is also available. Establish REACT communication with ________ on channel ________. ARL EIGHTEEN – Please contact me as soon as possible at ________. ARL NINETEEN – Request Health and welfare report on ________ (Name, Address, Phone). ARL TWENTY – Temporarily stranded. Will need some assistance. Please contact me at ________. ARL TWENTY ONE – Search and rescue assistance is needed by local authorities here. Advise availability. ARL TWENTY TWO – Need accurate information on the extent and type of conditions now existing at your location. Please furnish this information and reply without delay. ARL TWENTY THREE – Report at once the accessibility and best way to reach your location. ARL TWENTY FOUR – Evacuation of residents from this area urgently needed. Advise plans for help. ARL TWENTY FIVE – Furnish as soon as possible the weather conditions at your location. ARL TWENTY SIX- Help and care for evacuation of sick and injured from this location needed at once. Group 2 for Routine Messages ARL FORTY SIX – Greetings on your birthday and best wishes for many more to come. ARL FIFTY – Greetings by Amateur Radio. ARL FIFTY ONE – Greetings by Amateur Radio. This message is sent as a free public service by ham radio operators at ______. Am having a wonderful time. ARL FIFTY TWO – Really enjoyed being with you. Looking forward to getting together again. ARL FIFTY THREE – Received your _____. It’s appreciated, many thanks. ARL FIFTY FOUR – Many thanks for your good wishes. ARL FIFTY FIVE – Good news is always welcome. Very delighted to hear about yours. ARL FIFTY SIX – Congratulations on your _______, a most worthy and deserving achievement. ARL FIFTY SEVEN – Wish we could be together. ARL FIFTY EIGHT – Have a wonderful time. let us know when you return. ARL FIFTY NINE – Congratulations on the new arrival. Hope mother and child are well. ARL SIXTY – Wishing you the best of everything on ______. ARL SIXTY ONE – Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. ARL SIXTY TWO – Greetings and best wishes to you for a pleasant holiday season. ARL SIXTY THREE – Victory or defeat, our best wishes are with you. Hope you win. ARL SIXTY FOUR – Arrived safely at ______. ARL SIXTY FIVE – Arriving ______ on ______. Please arrange to meet me there. ARL SIXTY SIX – DX QSLs are on hand for you at the ______ QSL Bureau. Send ______ self addressed envelopes. ARL SIXTY SEVEN – Your message number ______ undeliverable because of ______. Please advise. ARL SIXTY EIGHT – Sorry to hear you are ill. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. ARL SIXTY NINE – Welcome to the ______. We are glad to have you with us and hope you will enjoy the fun and fellowship of the organization.) PLACE OF ORIGIN (Mandatory) This field is the City and State of either the Station of Origin or the person in the Signature. In most cases, this will be the same place. Example: NR 1 R K4IWW 12 CARY NC TIME FILED (Optional) The time the message was originated. You may either use UTC or Local time. Examples: 1615Z or 1115 EST. Most messages do NOT use this field. It is only useful if the message has a short time value. Example: NR 1 R K4IWW 12 CARY NC 1615Z DATE (Mandatory) This is the date the message was originated. In Amateur Radio, we use month and day. The year is NOT used. If the message is over a year old, it should be sent to the circular file. Example: NR 1 R K4IWW 12 CARY NC 1615Z DEC 20 ADDRESSEE (Mandatory) The name(s) and address of the person to which this message is going. It looks like the address on an envelope used in snail mail. Include a phone number, if you have it. The more information here, the easier the delivery will be. Example: JOHN Q PUBLIC 1234 MAPLE AVE ANYTOWN NC 27000 919 555 1234 DELIVERING STATION INFO (Optional) This section is rarely used. If the message is to be mailed or hand delivered, it is nice to put your (the delivering station) info here so the addressee can reach you if there is any question, or they want to send a return message. Most messages are delivered by phone. TEXT (Mandatory) Finally! This is the message you are sending for the signature person to the addressee. It should be short (usually less than 25 words) and in telegram style. No punctuation is used. The letter “X” is used (similar to STOP in telegrams) to end one idea and start another. Many messages do not even have an “X” in them. Example: ARRIVE 7PM DEC 24 X LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU X LOVE The above TEXT has a count of 12. So the CHECK is 12. As Amateur Radio is non-commercial, the TEXT should have no commercial value. Each Radio Amateur is the judge of what is commercial and what is not. SIGNATURE (Mandatory) This is the name if the person sending the message. It may be the name or call of the originating station. However, it is usually the name of a “third party”, for whom the originating station is generating the message. Example: BETTY M PUBLIC RECEIVED (Optional) This is for the handling station to write down whom they received the message from. This field is only for the book keeping of the handling station. SENT (Optional) This is for the handling station to write down whom they sent the message to. This field is only for the book keeping of the handling station. (Many thanks to the NCARRL Organization for their permission to use the preceding article, which was written by Will Harper K4IWW) Back to our example of traffic handling on our local nets, the volunteer who received my traffic carries the traffic to one of the section nets. From whichever Section Net he goes to, the out of state traffic is then carried onward from the Section net to the Fifth Region Nets either DRN5 or RN5. These nets which operate on 75 and 40 Meters, using are both LSB and high speed CW. Why exactly Alabama is in the NTS Fifth Region with New Mexico and Texas, instead of the Fourth Region with Tennessee and Georgia I’ve never figured out. From the Region Net the traffic is carried to the Central Area Net or CAN, covering the Central Time Zone of the US and Canada, on 75, 40 and 20 Meters. The traffic is then carried to the Transcontinental Corps, which sends it to the EAN or Eastern Area Net, covering the Eastern Time Zone and then onward to the Fourth Region Net and then to one of the Georgia Section Nets, such as the Georgia Single Sideband Net and finally to a ham in Atlanta who phones the addressee and cheerfully gives him the message and usually asks if they wish to send a reply. If they do, the entire process is repeated in reverse order. This may sound like a laborious, complicated, time consuming process, but, actually it is a very efficient, time tested, well-oiled system, which has been in operation for many decades and has proven vital during disasters. The usual transit time from point of origin to point of delivery is 24 hours or less. Traffic nets are fun, by the way. I “cut my teeth” net wise on the Alabama Section Nets and was Net Manager of the old Alabama Emergency Net Delta slow speed CW Section Net, and liaison to the ASN, ATNM and RN5 Nets. So, if you have HF capability, I would urge you to give it a try! For more information on the NTS see http://www.arrl.org/nts …………………………………………………………………………. Mark’s Almanac February, or Februarius, as the Romans called it is named after the Latin term februum, which means “purification”. Ancient Rome celebrated the Februa purification ritual on February 15, which was Full Moon on the old lunar based Latin calendar. February was not originally included in the Roman calendar, which began in March, but was added, along with January by Numa Pompilius around 713 BC, and until 450 BC was considered the last month of the year. February was originally 29 days long, but one day was taken and added to August, so the that Emperor Augustus’s month would be equal to Julius Caesar’s month of July. Now only Leap Year has 29 days, the next of which will occur in 2016. In the Southern Hemisphere February is the equivalent of August. But, for us, February is a cold month with more snow falling in February than in any other month. Statistically speaking, there is a 70% chance of snow flurries, and a 57% chance of snow up to one inch. There is a 13% chance of over one inch, and a 3% chance of 4 inches or more. There is hope on the horizon though, as the worst of winter weather is usually over by February 15. Ground Hog Day is on February 2 & believers will watch Punxsutawney Phil and Birmingham Bill, to see if they saw their shadows. Looking skyward, Mercury has disappeared into the glow of sunset. Venus shines in the west-southwest in evening twilight and is gradually getting higher each week and will be a brilliant “Evening Star” by spring. Mars in Aquarius glows in the Southwest at dusk, to the upper right of Venus and sets around 8PM. Venus and Mars will be visible within only half a degree of each other, or half a little finger diameter at arm length, in the evening sky on February 22. Look for this impressive sight in the west just after sunset. Giant Jupiter rises in the east-northeast at twilight in western Leo and by 9 PM is brightly in the east. The giant planet will be at its closest approach to Earth on February 6. If you have a telescope, this will be a great time to bundle up and look at the Jovian system, as his moons change position nightly and you see the cloud bands on another world, so close, yet so very far away. Saturn at the head of Scorpius the Scorpion is well up in the southeastern before and during dawn. Uranus in Pisces is in the southwest right after dark. Neptune in Aquarius is sinking into the evening twilight. Full Moon will occur on February 3 at 5:09 PM CST. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Full Snow Moon because the heaviest snows usually fell during this time of the year. Since hunting is difficult, this moon has also been known by some tribes as the Full Hunger Moon or Cold Moon New Moon will occur February 18 at 5:47 PM CST. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere. The February sky is alit with bright stars. With Orion the Hunter overhead, along with his faithful hunting dogs, Canis Major & Canis Minor, the Large & Lesser Dogs. In Canis Major is the blue star Sirius, The Dog Star, which 8.6 light years away, is the brightest star in the night sky. February and March are the best times of the year for seeing the Zodiacal Light. In the evening away from city lights and after twilight has faded you might see a faint, roughly triangular, whitish glow near the sunset point. This is Zodiacal Light, which is formed by the sunlight reflecting off millions of minute particles of cosmic dust aligned with the Earth’s orbital plane. Another sight, much more common is the Earth Shadow. At sunset, on very clear days, as the sun goes farther below the horizon, you will see what appears to be a layer of gray cloud rising along the eastern horizon. This is actually the silhouette of the earth’s shadow being cast against darkening sky, sometimes with a pinkish glow along the edge. It fades as twilight fades into darkness. 1810 planets have been confirmed beyond our star system as of January 29, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/ ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… This month’s meeting will be on February 10 at 7PM at the National Weather Service Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport. If for some reason you cannot attend the meeting in person, you can still participate via telephone. The teleconference number is 1-877-951-0997 & and the participant code is 741083. Birmingham Hamfest is only five weeks away, March 7 & 8! Hope to see you there! Mark / WD4NYL Editor ALERT Newsletter www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/ Mark’s Weatherlynx Weather Resource Database