Hi everyone, I hope this finds everyone doing well. An important event will be coming up Saturday and Sunday. What is it? Birminghamfest 2012!!! The Zamora Shrine Temple will host the 2012 Birminghamfest. Dealers, vendors, flea market, testing, and forums they will have it all. ALERT & The NWS will have a table & there will be an ALERT/ Skywarn Forum at 10:00 AM. Come by the ALERT/NWS table & say “hi” & don’t be shy about sitting the table for a little while, as we need some brave souls who will donate an hour or two of their time and help man the table. If you can help, please do so. This month’s ALERT meeting March 13, will feature the selection of the two person Nominating Committee for the upcoming elections in May. Please plan on attending this meeting & don’t be shy about volunteering to serve on the Committee or to make yourself available for a leadership role. We need some of our newer members to step up and become active members of ALERT’s leadership. All it takes is a willing heart and once elected, a commitment to faithfully fulfill your duties of office to the best of your abilities. Do understand that these are not “shadow positions”, “paper positions” or “honorary titles”. These are “working positions”, with work to be done. Which, with exceptions for sickness, family and work obligations, doesn’t allow for the old “get elected and then disappear into the night” scenario, as has occasionally occurred in the past We need you to be actively involved in ALERT’s leadership and to help us build a strong ALERT organization for the future. Your time has arrived. Your ALERT needs you. Spotterchat Coverage Clarification Recently there were some negative comments made on the BMXSpotterchat concerning K4NWS not being present on the chatroom and although this issue has been covered several times before, I feel we need to cover it once again. The Spotterchat system is designed to be monitored offsite. “Offsite” meaning somewhere other than at K4NWS. There are several reasons for this: 1. It frees up the operators at K4NWS so that they can concentrate on RF operations. K4NWS’sprimary function is RF operations, gathering storm reports for the National Weather Service via amateur radio. If they can monitor the chats or if they have time to monitor the chats, that’s great. But, sometimes due to either technical reasons or operator overload they will not be able to this. But, that’s OK, for again the primary function and focus of K4NWS is RF operations & the chat is being monitored elsewhere. 2. Remote operations ensures that if the commlines were to go down at BMX, reports can still berelayed to the NWS either through NWS Peachtree City or NWS Huntsville. It provides backup communications capability. 3. Remote operations helps in coverage should severe weather arise and there hasn’t been a formal ALERT callout. ALERT doesn’t get a callout for every storm or storm system. But, usually one or more of us are monitoring the chats when active weather is present. So if you don’t see K4NWS on the Chatroom buddy list and there is an Operational ALERT member on the chat, (and again there usually is) the chat IS being monitored and our job IS being done. The ALERT member will act as a liaison to the BMXEMAChat and directly pass your information there. They will filter the information when needed, just as any regular NCS should do, to insure that only necessary information is passed. Perhaps when we are on the chats we need to more clearly indicate who we are and that we are standing ready to take storm reports. But, regardless, we are standing by, and we are doing our job. Just give us some reports, and watch us run! ALERT Sunday Night Net The ALERT Sunday Night Net meets every Sunday at 7PM on 146.880. It is an unusual net, in that it is a “discussion net”, not an emergency net and not really a training net, though we do try to slip in training into the mix. Several have asked me if they could have a copy of the preamble and so here it is: ALERT Sunday Night Net Preamble Calling all radio amateursThis is (callsign) with the ALERT Sunday Night Net.This net meets each Sunday night at 7 pm local time on 146.88 MHz. We meet for discussion of any topic of general interest to radio amateurs.This net is sponsored by ALERT – the Alabama Emergency Response Team.You don’t have to be a member of ALERT to participate and I invite allproperly licensed amateurs to check in. This is a controlled net and will be called by prefix.I am (callsign), my name is (……….) located in (………..) and I will be your netcontrol station for this evening. Do we have any emergency of priority traffic?Do we have any business or announcements for the net tonight? We will start our checkins.When checking in please give the callsigns slowly and phoneticallyUsing standard phonetics Do we have any portables or mobiles? Then call K4, KA, KB, KC, KD, KE, KF, KG, KI, KJ & KK calls.Then call W’s, N’s A’s and then any call any prefix. (Pass any announcements, swap shop or comments.) We will standby now for any late stations. Please give your call slowly & phonetically.This will be any call or any prefix. If anyone has comments concerning the net or would like to volunteerTo be a net control station, please contact the Net Manager Mark WD4NYLHe can be contacted on 88, at the ALERT meetings or by email at WD4NYL@bellsouth.net Final call for late stations. Is there anything this net or this station can do for anyone before we close? (Thank everyone for checking in and invited them to join again next week.) – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – In rewriting the preamble, I modified and shortened the original 2001 BARC SNN preamble, which I also wrote, as many requested that we keep the preamble as short as possible. That’s why we don’t ask if a volunteer NCS is present or for a volunteer to check to see if 76 is up and functional, as I figure the NCS can do this before the net. “Keep it short” is what I heard & so I trimmed it down. Now it is to be remembered that no two people will ever call a net the same way & I do take “artistic license” with the preamble at times when I’m calling the net, usually due to having a sorry memory or sometimes being half asleep when I call it. So if you are hesitant to call the net for fear of messing it up, don’t be afraid. That’s just part of the adventure. So, (here comes the sales pitch) if you have ever been tempted to try your hand as NCS, I invite you to try the ALERT Sunday Night Net. Just let me know and I’ll arrange a guest appearance (or a regular slot for that matter) for you. Thanks in advance! While I’m at it, articles are welcome for this newsletter. Sometimes the creative juices run low and a few articles would be nice. Otherwise, you might find some strange recipes appearing soon. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Mark’s Almanac Originally called Martius, March is the third month & first month of the Roman calendar. March is named for Mars, the god of war, and was the start of the military campaign season. The beginning of “Meteorological Spring”, which is based on changes in temperature and precipitation, not the solar angle, is March 1 March is a wet month. Most floods occur in March and rainfall averages around 6 inches. Tornadic activity sharply increases in March with there being an increase of 2.2 times the number of tornadoes over the February amount. The focal point for this tornadic activity is the Gulf States. March is the hail maximum for the Deep South. This is due both to the number of thunderstorms & due to the freezing level still being near the surface. This allows hail to form at lower altitudes and reach the ground intact, as opposed to summer months, when the near surface level temperatures are higher and melts the hail into liquid before impact. Killing frosts are gone and the last average frost is on March 16. March is a snow month for Alabama & there is a 45% chance of snow up to one inch, and an 8% chance of one inch or more. The good news is that there is hope on the horizon as Spring will arrive at Vernal Equinox on March 20 at 05:14 UTC or 12:14 A.M. CDT. Remember to get the eggs out, as it is said that you can stand eggs on their ends at the hour of equinox. Saint Patrick’s Day is March 17, and you better participate by wearing a Touch O’ The Green or you will be plagued by leprechauns and gnomes. Not a pleasant experience, I can assure you. This March we have a nightlong parade of planets. After twilight Mercury shines just above the western horizon. Prominent in the early evening sky is Venus, with Jupiter following closely behind. Mars rises in the east at twilight and being at his closest approach to Earth in 2012; he will dominate the night sky. By midnight Saturn will have risen to join the chorus. Skipping the show are Uranus & Neptune, which are slipping behind the sun. Poor old Pluto was demoted and no longer rates planet status. Corporate downsizing at its worst. March’s Full Moon is “Worm Moon” in Native American folklore. So called because the rains disturb the earthworms & they are seen wiggling around after the rains. They are edible by the way, but I’ll let you have my share. ………………………………………………………………………………………. This month’s meeting will be on March 13 at 7PM at the National Weather ServiceForecast office at the Shelby County Airport. There will be a Board of Directors meeting immediately following the regular session. Hope to see you there! Mark / WD4NYLVice-PresidentALERT www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/