Hi everyone and welcome to the October ALERT Newsletter.

Fall has arrived and with it we can look forward to the changing of the fall leaves, the occasional nip in the air, and the Hobgoblins that will visit us at the end of the month.

October is a fun time of the year, usually being not too hot and not too cold – the “Goldilocks” of seasons.

It is a time to enjoy fall football, the baseball playoffs and the last outdoor adventures of the year.

Here is hoping that you enjoy the days that this season brings, and the pretty weather October brings. letting you rest before the storms of Fall.

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Birmingham NWS Fall 2019 Spotter Courses

The Birmingham NWS office will present several online Basic Spotter Courses and a single Advanced Spotter Course this fall. These online classes allow individuals to complete the course(s) in the comfort of their own home or office with the use of https://www.join.me/ meeting site.

By attending any course, which runs about 2 hours, individuals or a group of individuals will become SKYWARN Spotters.

Unless you are in need of or just want to attend a refresher Course, you do not need to attend more than one Basic SKYWARN Course, as the material covered is the same; however it is required you to attend at least one Basic SKYWARN Course before taking the Advanced SKYWARN Course.

These courses are two-way, meaning you will be able to interact with the meteorologist leading the training. You will be muted while training is in-progress, and unmuted when applicable (e.g., for questions); or, you can use the built-in chat feature.

The current schedule is as follows:

Basic Class Tuesday, October 1 at 1:00 PM Online Use Session Code 311-943-999
Basic Class Thursday, October 3 at 6:30 PM Online Use Session Code 450-865-396
Basic Class Tuesday, October 8 at 6:30 PM Online Use Session Code 207-142-069
Basic Class Thursday, October 17 at 6:30 PM Online Use Session Code 487-062-501
Basic Class Thursday, October 24 at 1:00 PM Online Use Session Code 319-671-009
Basic Class Monday, October 28 at 6:30 PM Online Use Session Code 327-797-522
Advanced Class Tuesday, November 7 at 6:30 PM Online Use Session Code 763-403-007

Enter the session code at https://www.join.me/

There will be three live Basic Classes this fall:

Basic Class Monday, September 30 at 6:00 PM Elmore County Courthouse
100 E Commerce Street
Wetumpka, AL
Basic Class Tuesday, October 15 at 6:00 PM Southern /union State Community
College, Building 8
1701 Lafayette Parkway
Opelika, AL
Basic Class Tuesday, October 22 at 6:00 PM Russell County EMA
7:00 PM Eastern Operations Center
311 Pretiss Drive
Phenix City, AL

These classes will help you provide the NWS the vital “ground truth” information they need to verify radar indications, target their attention and help you relay reports in a clear manner to the NWS, either directly via the1-800-856-0758 number, online at https://www.weather.gov/bmx/submit_storm_report
or via chat or amateur radio. This knowledge helps Skywarn Net Control stations filter reports, by giving them knowledge of what reporting stations are trying to describe. This way they can tell if the report is a valid report, an invalid report by an overly excited operator or a valid, but, poorly described report, which without this knowledge would be mistakenly dismissed.

For further information on these classes visit: http://www.weather.gov/bmx/skywarnschedule

A PDF of the September 20, 2018 Basic presentation may be found at:
https://www.weather.gov/media/bmx/skywarn/BasicSpotterGSAT.pdf

A PDF of the April 4, 2019 Advanced presentation may be found at:
https://www.weather.gov/media/bmx/skywarn/Gerald_Satterwhite_Advanced_WEBPAGE.pdf

For information on classes being held by the Huntsville NWS office visit: https://www.weather.gov/hun/skywarn

For information on classes being held by the Mobile NWS office visit:
https://www.weather.gov/mob/spotter_training

For information on classes being held by the Tallahassee NWS office visit:
https://www.weather.gov/tae/taeskywarn

There are no reasons other than distance to why you can’t attend these classes if you wish. I attended an aviation weather seminar strictly out of curiosity and to gain knowledge, which even though hopefully I will never pilot a plane, the knowledge gain has proven very useful.

Other useful resources:

ABC33/40 Basic Storm Spotter Training
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_MzKUTfUKA
ABC 33/40 Storm Spotter Extreme Part 1 – April 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOE69nsaKWE
ABC 33/40 Storm Spotter Extreme Part 2 – April 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8hT7gCCQB0

For information on online training visit:
https://www.meted.ucar.edu/training_course.php?id=23

Note this online course IS NOT intended to replace the courses offered by the NWS offices. The local meteorologists will know factors and variations in the area microclimate that may need to be considered in assessing the observed phenomena. Consider this online course as supplemental information.

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Predicting VHF & UHF Band Openings

One cool October evening I was soldering some equipment listening to what I assumed was a new FM radio station at the far end of the FM band, where the public broadcasting, university and religious stations seem to be relegated.

“and you too can receive this commemorative 10 CD set of Slim Whitman’s Best of Bluegrass Hip-hop for your generous donation of $100 supporting you Oklahoma Public Radio Stations.”

Well, maybe I don’t remember the actual offer, but, I do remember it was about as tempting, and, I do remember being tempted to call and say “your signal has made it into Alabama”, but, being occupied with destroying an innocent radio I resisted that urge.

The FM band or at least the lower portion of the 20 MHz wide band was open, which was unknown to most people, because most people don’t check the “empty” frequencies between the local stations for unusual activity.

If you want to be an “expert” on a particular band, whether its’s two meters, 440, an HF band or a broadcast band, the way to do this is to listen for a week or so to the entire band or the band segment you are “specializing” in and identify and log every station and signal that you consistently hear, whether it’s a broadcast station or repeater. This way, when a strange signal appears you know that something is afoot.

VHF and UHF band openings, with the exception of meteor scatter, with signals being reflected off of meteor ion trails left as they (hopefully) streak to their doom and the fluttery signals being bounced off of the aurora (which sound like someone talking while rapidly shaking their heads back and forth) the majority of band openings are cause by “tropospheric ducting”, caused by cold or cool air being overlaid by warmer air.

There are four main situations that will lead to this scenario.

The first is caused by the cold outflow of thunderstorms or clusters of thunderstorms striking the ground and undercutting the surrounding warm air. On radar this will appear as a line or wave expanding from the storms, like a shock wave, and will travel far from the storm, often continuing after the storm which caused this “gust front” has long disappeared.

This line, which acts like a miniature cold front, can ram into other storms causing them to flare, initiate new storms, pass unnoticeably or cause sudden gusty weather. If it is caused by an entire line of storms venting simultaneously, the wind can intensify, like wind trapped between buildings forming a “gravity wave” and cause 80 MPH winds to wreak havoc hundreds of miles away, even though the skies there are perfectly clear.

From a radio point of view these can cause localized band openings on VHF and UHF and are highly unpredictable, but, are created by conditions detectable by NOAA weather radar.

A much more frequent scenario is when a strong cold front passes through. Cold fronts do not approach like a wall of cold air, but, rather undercuts the warm air mass it is invading, like a wave pushing in. Along the axis of the cold front this cold air pushing the warm air above it can cause a band opening along the length of the cold front.

This posed a problem in the Birmingham and Huntsville areas in the 1970’s and 1980’s as both cities had repeaters on 146.940 MHz and both were the respective areas emergency ARES or Skywarn frequencies and would unintentionally interfere with each other during severe weather situations if the band opened up.

Few repeaters in the 1970’s and 80’s had PL tones and fewer radios had the capability to encode the transmission if the repeater did have this capability. In fact “toning” a repeater was often misunderstood as an act of “snobbery” indicating to some that it was a “closed repeater” where “me, my friends Roscoe, Bubba and our kinfolk are the only ones welcome”. To be honest, there were repeaters back then where this “left hand of fellowship” attitude would have been a fair assessment.

The “34 94 problem” was cured when the 88 repeater, then called the “28 88 repeater” was donated the Birmingham Amateur Radio Club and became Birmingham’s emergency repeater and the old 34 94 repeaters frequency was changed to 145.410 MHz, which is now the K4DSO D-Star repeater.

Cold fronts can often be detected weather radar as a line of showers or thunderstorms along the actual front, and this may tip you off that a band opening may occur.

The most reliable band opening occurs, unless the atmosphere is turbulent and being churning up, is every morning at dawn. As dawn approaches the Sun’s rays will begin reaching and warming the upper layers of the atmosphere. This warming will reach lower and lower until finally reaching ground level. During this time when warm air is overlaying colder air a natural band opening will occur. Sometimes this opening will be weak, short-lived and barely noticeable; sometimes it will be very strong and may last until midday.

This is why you may hear distant repeaters in the morning. One frequent visitor is the W4BIT repeater on 146.880 MHz (PL 100.0 Hz) in Kennehoochee Georgia.

These early morning band openings, if occurring when a frigid air mass is in place, can extend upward reaching optical wavelengths letting one see objects beyond the horizon.

In the case of optics this is referred to as a “superior mirage”.

There are two basic types of mirages, an “inferior mirage” and a “superior mirage”.

These terms have nothing to with the quality of the mirage, but, rather which direction a light ray is bent.

An inferior mirage occurs due to the sharp temperature difference between warm or hot air at a low level and cool or cold air at a higher level, such as hot desert sand or road pavement beneath cooler air. This arrangement will bend light rays slightly upward making objects at higher altitudes appear beneath a lower object, for instance the blue of the sky appearing in the middle of a road. The image is distorted due to turbulence and usually inverted, so that it appears like a pool of water.

A superior mirage occurs when cold air is overlaid or trapped by warm air, which is a temperature inversion. In this case the light rays are bent downward, and the mirage appears above the true object. In some cases if the boundary between cold and warm air is sharp enough the light can be reflected off the boundary, back toward the ground, and reflected by the ground towards the boundary, or become trapped between layers of air, and follow the curvature of the earth making far distant objects appear on the horizon. Some believe this is how the Norsemen knew that Greenland existed and how once reaching Greenland they knew another larger landmass lay farther to the west, now known as North America.

I’ve seen this once myself, when the temperature in Birmingham was in the low teens. The mountains toward Blount County had an exact reflection, albeit upside down hovering above them.

At midday VHF/UHF radio range decreases. This was explained to me through the years that as temperature increased; the air molecules absorbed the signal. Maybe this is true. But, I also wondered since warm air is less dense than cool air, why a warmer thinner atmosphere would absorb more signals than a cooler denser, higher humidity atmosphere?

Another possibility is that the signal is being bent skyward by the inferior mirage effect, just as visible light is. In this case, if you are transmitting a 50 watt signal, and 30 watts of it are being bent skyward, then only 20 watts is hitting your target area.

Then factor in the same distortion you see when you see objects shimmering in the heat. If the radio signal is subject to the same effect, then your remaining 20 watts is a signal being distorted and “blurred” or scattered by the heat, causing even less usable signal at the repeater site.

Another atmospheric effect is that the atmosphere near the horizon acts like a lens and bends light and radio signals over the horizon. This sometimes will cause the silhouette of distant mountains to be seen in front of the setting sun. With radio signals the effect is that the “radio horizon” is 15 % farther than the geographic horizon.

Another though weaker band opening may occur after sunset as the hot / warm air lifts from the surface and rises as a warm layer overlying the now cooler surface air it leaves behind. On radar
this may a appear as a “radar bloom” where the it appears that precipitation forms around the radar site and expands in all directions like a time lapse of a rose blooming, as bugs, birds, bats and humidity at ground level are detected with increasing range.

These radar returns are most likely during the spring and fall seasons. While they don’t definitively betray a band openings presence, they do provide the hint that conditions are favorable for them.
Remember that NOAA weather radar is sensitive enough to pick up tiny flying bags of water also known as bugs. In some locations it is sensitive enough to pick up what an alien in a movie described as “ugly bags of water”, namely us.

I prefer the more optimistic outlook of “If you like water, you like 60% of me already.”

As you can see, band openings on VHF, UHF and beyond may be more frequent that one imagines.
Sometimes a band may seem “dead” when in fact it is wide open, just no one is transmitting.

But, can you tune to the “empty frequencies” that may suddenly become “filled”?

At the risk of sounding like an “old goat”, learning how to program your radio manually has some distinct advantages over using programs such as CHIRP or having a buddy do it for you…

The disadvantage of using Chirp and basing the programming on online repeater databases is that no matter how recently the database has been updated, it is already out of date. Repeaters can switch PL tones, temporarily go off the air, switch from analog to digital or from digital to analog, switch from one form of digital to another, or a frequency pair could be listed that hasn’t been used for years, but, the owner won’t relinquish the frequencies so the Repeater Council can reallocate them to someone else, since the frequency availability is very limited and pairs are not easily obtained.

As to having a buddy program your radio for you, he might, due to differences in geography be able to hit repeaters you won’t be able to reach, and vice versa. You might be able to easily hit the Podunk repeater, where he can’t even hear it since Walton’s Mountain is in the way, and as such he doesn’t include it when programming your radio.

So, as painful as it may be to learn and try, try to learn how to program your radios.

It’s exceedingly useful during emergencies and on trips, and will give you RF flexibility that many will never realize and a DX advantage.

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Mark’s Almanac

The tenth Month, October is so named because it is the eighth month on the Roman calendar. To the Slavs of Eastern Europe it is called “yellow month,” from the fading of the leaves, while to the Anglo-Saxons it was known as Winterfylleth, because at this full moon (fylleth) winter was supposed to begin.

By whichever name you call it, October is a mild and dry month, the driest of the year, in fact. And, it is a sunny month with the amount of possible sunshine reaching the ground in the 60% or greater range.

Weather shifts from autumn pattern to revisiting the summer pattern and back again. The Azores-Bermuda High shifts eastward into the Atlantic, but, leaves weakened high pressure centers over the Virginias, which still try to block out approaching fronts.

October is usually a quite month for tornadoes, with a 40% decrease in activity. Nationwide an average of 28 tornadoes occur in October and those tornadoes are usually weak.

Our Hurricane threat continues, with hurricane activity increasing during the first half of the month, concentrating in the Caribbean, both from formation in the Caribbean and from the long track Cape Verde hurricanes, which enter the Caribbean. And, we still have the little “gifts” that the Gulf of Mexico occasionally will provide.

Florida, due to its low latitude, becomes especially vulnerable to hurricanes. Since 1851, Florida has endured 31 October hurricane landfalls, nearly triple the next highest state — Louisiana, which has had eight. Also, about 60 percent of all U.S. hurricanes that made landfall after September 26 have done so in Florida. One factor being the cold fronts of Fall penetrating the Gulf and then deflecting storms towards the West coast of Florida.

Luckily after the second half of the month the activity will begin a steady decrease.

28% of the year’s hurricanes occur in October.

From 1851 – 2018 there have been 340 Tropical Storms and 208 hurricanes, 57 of which made landfall in the United States.

Some notable October hurricanes are:

The Great Hurricane of 1780, also known as Huracán San Calixto, the Great Hurricane of the Antilles, and the 1780 Disaster, the deadliest Atlantic hurricane, which killed between 20,000 to 22, 000 people in the Lesser Antilles as it passed through from October 10 – 16, 1780. It is possible that it had winds in excess of 200 MPH when it reached Barbados.

Hurricane Hazel struck the Carolinas in 1954. Weather satellite did not yet exist and the Hurricane Hunters were unable to observe the core of the storm until it neared land on October 15. Hazel made landfall just west of the North Carolina/South Carolina border slightly northeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with a Category 4 intensity of 130 mph.

Hurricane Wilma still holds the record as the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin. In 24 hours Wilma went from a Category 1 storm on October 18 to a Category 5 storm with 185 MPH Maximum Sustained Winds. She weakened to Category 4 and struck the Yucatan, then restrengthened and struck Cape Romano Florida as a Category 3 storm on October 24, 2005.

Hurricane Mitch became a Category 1 hurricane on October 24, 1998 and within 48 hours grew to Category 5 intensity, and though he weakened to Category 1 before making landfall, he became the second deadliest hurricane on record killing over 11,000, with nearly that number missing in Central America due to intense rainfall and mudslides. He would eventually reach the United States making landfall near Naples Florida on November 5.

Hurricane Michael formed near the Yucatan Peninsula on October 7, 2018 and in 72 hours grew from a Tropical Depression to a Category 5 hurricane striking struck Mexico Beach Florida.

Beware of October hurricanes, for as Wilma, Mitch and Michael have demonstrated, they can experience explosive growth.

October Tropical Cyclone Breeding Grounds

This is the month for Alabama’s version of “Indian Summer’s” arrival.

Technically speaking Indian Summer doesn’t occur until “Squaw Winter” or the first frost arrives, but exact date when Indian Summer arrives varies with latitude.

We live in Alabama, and while the earliest frosts have been known to occur by October 17, they usually wait until November. So, we, in our milder climate call the first warm up after the first cool down “Indian Summer”.

The Yellow Giant Sulphur Butterflies are very noticeable as they continue to drift South-Southeast on their migration towards Florida. They prefer red things & if you have red flowers they will zero in on them.

The Monarchs also will be seen gliding by in their migration towards Central America.

Fall colors will become prominent & by late October & early November the leaves will be reaching their peak fall colors.

Days rapidly grow shorter as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon steadily decreases from 53.2 degrees at the beginning of the month to 42.3 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight decreases from 11 hours 50 minutes on October 1 to 10 hours 51 minutes on October 31.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

October 1 Sunrise 5:41 AM Sunset 6:32 PM
October 15 Sunrise 6:51 AM Sunset 6:14 PM
October 31 Sunrise 7:05 AM Sunset 5:56 PM

Looking towards the sky, Mercury is hidden by the Sun at the beginning of the month. But, then moves into the evening sky. On October 20 He will reach his highest elevation above the western horizon or “Greatest Eastern Elongation” of 24.6 degrees from the Sun.

This is the best time to view Mercury since it will be at its highest point above the horizon in the evening sky. Look for the planet low in the western sky just after sunset.

Venus is hidden in the glare of the Sun.

Mars is also hidden in the glare of the Sun.

Jupiter, magnitude –2.0, between the feet of Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer, is a white dot low in the southwest as twilight fades away.
Saturn, magnitude +0.5, low over the Sagittarius Teapot. Below Saturn is the handle of the Sagittarius Teapot. Barely above it is the dimmer, smaller bowl of the Sagittarius Teaspoon.
Uranus, magnitude 5.7, in Aries, is well up in the east by 10 PM CST. It’s highest in the south around 2 AM.

The blue-green planet will be at its closest approach to Earth or “Opposition” on October 27 and his face will be fully illuminated by the Sun. It will be brighter than any other time of the year and will be visible all night long.

This is the best time to view Uranus, but, due to its distance, it will only appear as a tiny blue-green dot in all but the most powerful telescopes.

Neptune, magnitude 7.8, in Aquarius, is in the southeast after dark and highest in the south around 11 PM.

The Draconid Meteor Shower will peak on October 8. This minor shower is produced by dust grains left behind by Comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner, which was discovered in 1900. This shower, which runs from October 6 – 10, is unusual in that it is best observed in the early evening, instead of the early morning hours as with most other showers.

The first quarter moon will set shortly after midnight leaving fairly dark skies for observing. Best viewing will be in the early evening from a dark location far away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Draco, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on October 10, when she will be 252,215 miles from Earth.

October’s Full Moon will occur October 13. The Moon will be directly opposite the Earth from the Sun and will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase occurs at 21:09 UTC or 4:09 AM CDT. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Full Hunters Moon because at this time of year the leaves are falling and the game is fat and ready to hunt. This moon has also been known as the Travel Moon and the Blood Moon.

The Orionid Meteor Shower peaks on October 21 & 22. The Orionids is an average shower producing up to 20 meteors per hour at its peak This shower, which runs from October 2 to November 7, is produced by the broad debris trail of Halley’s Comet. The crescent moon will set early in the evening leaving dark skies for what should be a good show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Orion, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

The Moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on October 26, when she will be 224,511 miles from Earth.

New Moon will occur October 28. The Moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This phase occurs at 9:39 CDT or 3:39 UTC which in Greenwich England is the 29th. 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

This is the time of year when the rich star clouds of the Milky Way in Cygnus crosses the zenith, looking like a ghostly band overhead in the hour after nightfall is complete. The Milky Way now rises straight up from the southwest horizon, passes overhead, and runs straight down to the northeast. Later at midnight, Orion the Hunter and the stars of winter rise over the eastern horizon, reminding us to enjoy the mild weather while it is here, for this season, as all seasons, is but a fleeting moment in the never ending waltz of time.

4057 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of September 26, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/.

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If you know anyone who is interested in getting into ham radio or upgrading, the next Volunteer Examination FCC test session will be 2:00 PM Sunday, October 6 at SCARC’s meeting site in Pelham. For more information visit https://aragroup.org/ for details.

This month’s meeting will be on October 8 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 NEW teleconference number is 1-866-231-8384 & and the conference code is
2056215645#.

Hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database

Hi everyone,

I will let you in on a closely guarded secret. Promise to tell no one? Fall is soon approaching.

My grass has been as golden brown as the temperatures reached the century mark, but, now with the recent rains there are signs of green hope springing through the withered mats.

Soon the Fall season and the events that come with it will arrive and we will enjoy the not too hot, not too cold days of the Goldilocks of seasons.

Football, camping, cookouts and a slight crispness in the air – do I sound like I am ready for it?

Whatever you are looking forward to, I hope you have a fun safe Late Summer / Early Fall Season.

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Hurricane Dorian Amateur Radio Frequencies

As Hurricane Dorian affects the Bahamas and the Southeastern US, the following net frequencies could and should be active as the storm threatens these areas.

Hurricane Watch Net
7.268 MHz LSB & 14.265 MHz USB

Streaming audio feed information:
https://www.hwn.org/tools/streaming-audio.html

Florida Phone Traffic Net & South Florida Traffic Net
3.940 MHz LSB

North Florida Phone Net & North Florida ARES Net
3.950 MHz LSB

Georgia Single Sideband Net / Georgia ARES Emergency Frequency
3.975 LSB

If the storm enters the Gulf of Mexico, the following frequencies will come into play.

Central Gulf Coast Hurricane Net
3.935 MHz LSB

Alabama Traffic Net Mike / Alabama ARES Net
3.965 MHz LSB

If you listen to these nets, unless the Net Control asks for general check ins or for stations with
specific capabilities or for a specific location, DO NOT TRANSMIT.

While we may want to feel we are “part of the action”, unneeded transmissions only hinder net operations, and in an extreme emergency can cost lives by blocking emergency calls or delaying emergency response.

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Enhancing Situational Awareness Capabilities

It was a clear fall day as I arrived at work, which at that time was in the electronics department at Sears. The day was an unusual day, as the sales staffs from the three area stores – Fairfield, Galleria and Century Plaza were to meet at the Century Plaza store to be introduced to the new Christmas electronics products presented by sometimes overly enthusiastic sales representatives.

Sometimes the presentations would be interesting, sometimes not and I remember the one hope I would leave with is “if you advertise it, please make sure you actually ship it to us”. For if anywhere along the supply line, whether at the overseas factory, the ship or seaport, the trucking companies or distribution center, the product didn’t arrive, yours truly would catch the grief, since it was most certainly my fault. And explaining that an earthquake levelled the factory or that the ad featuring the worthless $5 gizmo was printed five months earlier in Chicago would do little to ease the hellacious barrage.

Arriving at my store’s break room, I glanced at the TV to see one of the towers of the World Trade Center with smoke billowing from the side. Turning the sound up I learned that a plane had crashed into the building and my mind went back to the 1945 crash of a B-25 bomber into the Empire State Building. Everyone thought it was an accident. Then the second plane came in.

For the majority of people, whether it was the destruction of the Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia, assassination attempts, military actions or any other major news, the public’s first notice was “We interrupt this program for a Special Report from ABC News.”

Words that still make me cringe.

By 2013 Smartphones were now in vogue, but, mine was still dumb, so I learned at my new job about the Boston Marathon bombing three hours after the event. This let me know that major events could be taking place without me having a clue or warning, leaving me without any lead time to take appropriate action, if needed, such as head home, take cover, keep your eyes peeled, etc.

My search for information on the way home also validated an opinion I had formed that so called “stimulating news talk radio” was practically useless for finding information during breaking news events, for I found plenty of talk, but, not much news and the banter was not particularly stimulating either.

After getting a smarter phone, to counter this shortcoming, I started organizing apps for news, weather, communications, and loving the outdoors, navigation. But, for this article we will concentrate on the news, communications and weather sources.

When one is at the NWS Forecast Office in Birmingham, one will see six large screen TV’s mounted together on the back wall with programs from six TV stations, such as ABC3340 or WSFA in Montgomery, playing in the background.

This is their “Situational Awareness Display”.

This allows the meteorologists to see what is happening in various locations within their County Warning Areas. If a station’s tower cam is showing a tornado or if a hurricane is making landfall or a tornado touchdown has occurred they can watch the coverage live so that they, along with their normal equipment and resources, can better assess the situation to make the best decisions possible.

My phone and my laptop are my “Situational Awareness Displays”.

On my phone, which is an I-Phone, I have these resources organized in folders. On an I-phone you can create a folder by letting your finger rest on an icon, which will then wiggle and dragging it on top of another Icon. A new folder is then formed which once you tap you can rename. Three I have are “News”, “Weather” and “Communications.”

In the News Folder I installed apps from ABC3340, WVTM, WBRC, CBS42, CBS, AP News, CNN and the BBC.

Now, I try not to venture into politics with these newsletters, as I hate drama and arguments, and I realize that some of these sources may not be everyone’s cup of tea, due to perceived bias, either right wing or left.

I also realize, what many forget, that this is by no means a new complaint. I remember in the 1960’s and 70’s hearing my parents and their friends complaining that the news anchors of those days – Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Frank Reynolds and “that Communist Walter Cronkite” were “as biased as they could be”.

I don’t remember what poor old Walter had done. It might have had something to do with Nixon or Vietnam, I don’t know. I was a kid, and in those days while kids were aware of events happening around them, they weren’t expected to be weighted down with the woes of the world, as are the children of today. We were just expected to be kids, and we had more than enough of our own woes just dealing with schoolyard schmucks and measles.

Besides, if the grownups couldn’t figure the mess out, why should a 10 year old be expected to do so?

So with news bias just realize that nothing ever changes except the names. Thus it has been, and thus it shall always be until the end of time.

Drifting back on topic, I have these apps set to alert me for major events, some feature audible signals, some don’t.

For the Weather Folder, the setup is slightly different for I set up internet shortcuts as well as downloaded apps.

To create a shortcut, go to Safari and type in the web address. After the website loads, tap on the share icon at the bottom of the screen. A list with “copy”, “print” and such will appear near the bottom of the screen. Swipe this to the left and the “add to home screen” icon will appear. Tap this and give the website a name in the first text field and then tap Add from the top right.

Weather related apps in the folder are Earthquake, Quakefeed, the Weather app that came with the phone, and Windy.

The earthquake apps give real-time alerts and the Windy app displays the wind streams over North America, and can be repositioned and zoomed. See https://www.windy.com for the computer version to try it out.

The websites I include are:

https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/al.php?x=1 All Alabama Watches, Warnings and Advisories.

https://radar.weather.gov/ridge/radar.php?rid=bmx&overlays=11101111&product=N0R&loop=yes
NWS Ridge Radar from Birmingham

https://weather.cod.edu/satrad/nexrad/index.php?type=BMX-N0Q-0-6 College of Dupage Radar…..slice up thunderstorms with four selectable beam angles, see cloud top heights, vertical integrated liquid products…

https://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/mesoanalysis/new/mobile.php Provides detailed tools and analysis of atmospheric conditions.

https://nwschat.weather.gov/live/?nomap
NWSChat Live to access NWSchat.

https://weather.im/iembot/
NWS text products. Choose the NWS Office from a dropdown Menu.

For Communications my primary tools are Facebook and Twitter. On Facebook I am in contact with friends and family and also follow the NWS Birmingham, the National Hurricane Center, other Government entities, news outlets and groups.

On Twitter, which I rarely tweet on, I follow the NWS Birmingham, the National Hurricane Center, FEMA Region 4, James Spann, Brian Peters, John DeBlock, Wes Wyatt, JP Dice, Jerry Tracy and other meteorologists. Overkill perhaps? Hardly. Some of the best and most timely information I receive is via Twitter.

I am also on MEWE and Instagram.

Now as for the laptop, the world is at my fingertips, as is my website https://weatherlynx.webs.com/ which as its description says, was “created in 2003….designed to give quick access to weather tools for emergency & planning purposes.” It is basically a overstuffed directory of what I consider “great” websites.

I use to get user statistics and found it was being accessed from all over the world. Which I assume is still occurring, and is nifty, I think.
With these resources at hand I can keep my finger on the pulse of the world and be aware of potentially serious situations, whether they are occurring across the globe or across the street.

One final word on Situational Awareness, once a gentleman asked me a question, which I answered. He said “what?” and I answered again. “WHAT?” he said impatiently. Again I answered. Finally on the third time he very angrily looked up from his smartphone, jerked the blaring earbuds out of his ears and yet again I patiently answered him.

Anyone could do anything to or around him and he was so engrossed in fantasyland that he would have been completely unaware until it was too late.

Don’t be like him. In this day and age, if never before, pay attention to the world around you.

It may keep you in “The Land Of The Living.”

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Mark’s Almanac

September is the ninth month of the year and the seventh month of the Roman calendar, which is where the month gets its name.

Temperatures are still hot at the beginning of the month, but, by months end, fall will definitely be felt.

Noticeable in September will be the thickening of the cat’s fur, as she begins growing her winter coat & the drift of Yellow Giant Sulphur Butterflies as they migrate towards Florida.

Weather starts shifting from the summer to autumn pattern and then back again. Storm activity resembles the August pattern, but the Bermuda High starts shifting southward and begins weakening, which weakens the blocking effect that has hampered fronts attempting to invade from the northwest.

September is the peak of the hurricane season, the actual peak being on September 10. This peak coincides with the time of “syzygy”, when the effects of the solar and lunar gravity and autumnal equinox combine to provide the highest astronomical tides of the year. Add a hurricane’s storm surge on top of this and you can have incredibly destructive flooding.

From 1851 – 2018 there have been 587 Tropical Storms and 407 hurricanes, 112 of which made landfall in the United States.

Some notable September hurricanes are:

The Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which was a Category 4 Storm whose storm surge overwhelmed Galveston Island, killing 8000 people, and is still the deadliest weather disaster in US history.

The Labor Day Hurricane of 1936, the most intense storm to strike the US, was a Category 5 storm which moved through the Florida Keys and along West Florida, overturning trains and literally sandblasting people to death.

Ivan, the category 3 storm which struck Alabama & Florida in 2004, caused tremendous damage to Gulf Shores and extensive damage to the state’s electrical grid. At the height of the outages, Alabama Power reported 489,000 subscribers had lost electrical power—roughly half of its subscriber base.

Rita, a category 3 storm which struck the Texas – Louisiana border in 2005, and, despite the distance, dropped 22 tornadoes over Western Alabama.

It is entirely possible and is now in fact predicted, that 2019 could be a “back loaded” season with the majority of the storms occurring in the latter portion of the system.

We have Dorian right now. How many brothers and sisters will he invite to the party?

Days continue to grow shorter as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon steadily decreases from 64.9 degrees at the beginning of the month to 53.6 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight decreases from 12 hours 52 minutes on August 1 to 11 hours 53 minutes on August 31.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

September 1 Sunrise 6:21 AM Sunset 7:13 PM
September 15 Sunrise 6:30 AM Sunset 6:55 PM
September 31 Sunrise 6:41 AM Sunset 6:33 PM

Looking skyward, at the beginning of the month Mercury, is hidden in the glare of the Sun and pass behind the Sun reaching “Superior Conjunction” on September 3, when Mercury and the Earth will be on opposite sides of the sun.

By midmonth he will have emerged in the evening sky and on the 28th he will be near Spica, the brightest star in Virgo.

Venus is hidden behind the glare of the Sun.

Mars will pass behind the Sun on September 2.

Jupiter, magnitude –2.3, between the feet of Ophiuchus, is the white dot hanging in the south-southwest as twilight fades away.

Saturn, magnitude +0.3, in Sagittarius, is the steady, pale yellowish “star” in the south-southeast during and after dusk.

Uranus, magnitude 5.8, in Aries, is high in the south just before the beginning of dawn.

Neptune, magnitude 7.8, in Aquarius, is well up in the southeast by 11 p.m. and highest in the south by 2 a.m.

The blue giant planet will be at its closest approach to Earth or “Opposition”, 2,689,200,000 miles, on September 9. It will be brighter than any other time of the year and will be visible all night long.

Due to its extreme distance from Earth, it will only appear as a tiny blue dot in all but the most powerful telescopes.

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on September 13, when she will be 252511 miles from Earth.

September’s Full Moon will occur September 13 at 11:34 PM CDT or 4:34 UTC on September 14. This month’s moon is “Full Corn Moon” in Native American folklore because corn is harvested this time of year.

This year it is also “Harvest Moon”. Harvest moon get its name because the moon is larger and seems to rise at almost the same time every night, which allowed harvesting to continue on into the night.

Most believe that Harvest Moon is always in September; however this isn’t always the case. Harvest Moon is actually the full moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox, and so occasionally it can occur with October “Hunters Moon”.

Since this month’s Full Moon occurs at Apogee, it will be a “Micromoon”, which is opposite of a Supermoon. Also called “Minimoon”, “Micro Full Moon” or “Apogee Moon”, this Full Moon will appear slightly smaller than a normal Full Moon.

Fall begins at Autumnal Equinox on September 23 at 2:50 AM CDT or 7:50 UTC, when the Sun crosses directly over the equator and night and day is approximately the same length throughout the world. For the Southern Hemisphere it is Vernal Equinox, the first day of Spring.

One term that occasionally pops up is “equinoctial storms”. Which are severe storms in North America and the UK that supposedly accompany the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. Where this belief originated is obscure. Some say perhaps from the 1700’s when sailors were greeted by West Indies hurricanes, or due to the coincidence of the first fall severe storms sometimes coming in the latter half of September. At any rate, statistics show no evidence to support the belief.

On this date, if there is sufficient solar activity, and you are away from city lights, the aurora may possibly be seen, as the Equinox dates are the two most favored times of the year for auroral sightings.

The Moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on September 7, when she will be 222,328 miles from Earth.

New Moon occurs September 28 at 1:26 PM CDT or 18:26 UTC when the Moon will on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. 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.

High in the Southern night sky an asterism or a group of stars appearing clustered together, but not actually gravitationally bound will be seen that resembles a teapot. This is the Teapot of Sagittarius.

To the naked eye, the Teapot is roughly the size of your fist at arm’s length. Above the spout of the Teapot lies a band of light, the Large Sagittarius Star Cloud. A pair of binoculars will reveal a sea of stars and faint grayish patches, the largest of which is the Lagoon Nebula. When you look upon these nebulae you are seeing stars in the process of being born.

The spout, which is tilting and pouring to the right, also points towards the galactic center of the Milky Way, located just beyond the Large Sagittarius Star cloud, but largely hidden by the dust clouds, which lie along the plane of the Sagittarius arm of the galaxy.

4043 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of August 15, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/.

Incidentally, at a recent event at the University Of Colorado, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said “Just so you know, in my view, Pluto is a planet.

You can write that the NASA Administrator declared Pluto a planet again. I’m sticking by that, it’s the way I learnt it, and I’m committed to it,”

Though what he said may not count, I happen to agree with him.

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This month’s meeting will be on September 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 NEW teleconference number is 1-866-231-8384 & and the conference code is
2056215645#.
Hope to see you there!
Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database

Hi everyone,
I hope all is well as we enter these midsummer days. As you bake and broil in the sun, remember
that fall is just a little over a month away, and eventually the heat and humidity will retreat back
towards the tropical realms from whence it came and in about 6 months we will be griping and
wishing we could borrow one of these days for a welcomed winter thaw.
Our next ALERT meeting will be on August 13. Dues are still due, so if you missed the July
meeting, as I did, grab the piggy bank and come to the meeting.
I hope to see you there!
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The Strangers Among Us Revisited

In the February 2018 and March 2019 Newsletters I wrote two articles titled “The Strangers Among
Us” and “Non-Amateur Radio Options For Emergency Preparedness” covering the increasingly
frequent practice of Preppers and others of purchasing ham equipment, most notably $20
Baofeng UV-5R handie talkies to “put in my Bug Out Bag” or for buddies to use covertly in the
woods for hunting, and other activities, all without bothering to obtain an Amateur Radio License.
The problem addressed has not gone away, and in fact is much worse as thousands are
purchasing these radios for their Bug Out Bags, keeping track with buddies on the road and to
keep track of the kids. All of which would really be better suited by MURS, FRS or CB radios.
As mentioned in these articles, if you look at advertisements on Amazon, EBay, Wish and other
online retail sites, unless you read the comments section, if they have one, there is not a single
reference to any licensing requirement. Nor does the operation manual mention one. So, it’s
entirely possible that many, if not most people simply do not realize that an FCC license is
required.
Others simply don’t care. “Just another buck in the governments wallet”, “they just want to be
able to track you”, “my beeswax, not yours” etc, etc.
The most favored justification is “in an emergency, who cares?” quoting the oft used or perhaps
misused excuse “it is perfectly legal to use any radio transmitter on any frequency to seek
emergency lifesaving help.”
But, “Fran, its Mom, you about through in there, the others need to use it too?”, “Hey Joe, when
you pick up the beer, can you get me some tater chips too?” and “Change lanes up ahead Bob, or
you’re gonna end up in Memphis” are not “lifesaving” situations.
Though random operators thinking these are just advanced walkie-talkies might randomly show
up on any ham frequency, there are other groups that take this to another level.

In addition to HF frequencies, the following frequencies are listed or promoted on various sites as
“Prepper”, “Patriot” and “Redoubter” frequencies.
146.420 MHz x
146.520 MHz x
146.530 MHz
146.550 MHz x
146.680 MHz
445.975 MHz
446.000 MHz
446.025 MHz
446.030 MHz x
x most frequently referenced frequencies.
Now if private individuals, family groups or participants in an organization have a ham licenses
and follow the FCC rules and don’t use it for questionable or illegal purposes, there’s no problem.
It’s the influx of people lacking a license and the consequently lacking any knowledge of radio
protocols and procedures or even what Amateur Radio is about, or wanting to use it, for example
for purposes ranging from off-roading to paramilitary operations, that is the problem.
Curious as to whether any such activity is occurring locally, I dug out an old scanner and began
monitoring these frequencies. On July 18 I heard two men navigating through traffic on I-65,
trying to find the correct lane to turn onto I-59/20 heading for Tuscaloosa. “Dad, will you please
just follow me?”
For a couple of weeks, off and on, I have repeatedly heard a faint dead carrier on 146.880, possibly
the same person who likes blowing into the microphone, as heard last week.
I am told that there is a fellow using foul language and threatening people on several area
repeaters.
So, if nothing else, shenanigans are afoot.
So how do we address this problem?
1. Be aware that the problem exists. You can’t address something, if you blissfully ignore it.
2. If you become aware of someone planning on getting a radio minus a license, educate them.
Tell them how to become a ham and invite them. One of three things will happen, they may give
up the idea, they may brush you off and do it anyway or they may study and get their license and
become a valuable member of the ham community.
Tell those getting these radios for preparedness purposes that obtaining a license allows them to
use and become knowledgeable about their equipment and radio properties in general, allowing
them to become proficient in operating procedures before disaster strikes, giving them an edge in
preparing. This seems to be effective, while promising them that the FCC paddy wagon will be
showing up for them does not.
3. If you find a person bootlegging on the air, don’t talk to them. If you are already talking to them
and figure out that they are bootlegging simply say “I’m sorry, but you have to have a valid FCC
Amateur Radio license to be on this frequency. This is K#4### clear.”

Call the repeater trustee or a club officer, and let them know what is going on. Talking to them will
only encourage them to continue and the “I’m gonna open a can of whoop butt on you” approach
can backfire and inspire them to interfere with every net and QSO in central Alabama.
As to deliberate interference and which is basically “RF trolling”, simply ignore the person. Do
not acknowledge them or even hint that you know they exist. They will figure they their efforts are
ineffective and eventually get bored and leave. If you engage with them and argue with them, you
have satisfied their need for attention, and as the say “you ain’t seen nothing yet”.
I’ll throw this in. Over the years I have been a ham, hams that have been caught deliberately
interfering, in more cases than not, turn out being someone who has been licensed for years, and
sometimes even decades, not turn new hams or CBers as it assumed and loudly proclaimed.
Why they became soured with the hobby and perhaps life in general, we never know. To put years
into a hobby and then only to throw it all away is sad, to say the least.
4. Clubs and groups, if you are not active in “foxhunting” and direction finding, you may want to
get involved in this activity. Those already involved in these need to hone their skills so you can
locate these individuals so you can turn them and the evidence you gather over to the FCC.
Remembering that though tarring and feathering may be tempting please let the FCC be the one
that does it.
We really don’t want to see you on the evening news.
The frequencies 27.025 and 7.200 MHz, though in different radio services, have something in
common.
27.025, CB Channel 6, is known by CBers as the “Superbowl”. Though CB has much improved
over the wild and wooly days of the 1970’s, Channel 6 is still a radio free-for-all of people using
echo mics, roger beeps, excessive power levels, audio splattering over half the CB band,
repetitive nonsensical blathering, and radio procedures that would make the Three Stooges
proud.
7.200 MHz, ham radio’s version of CB Channel 6, is not much better with foul language, deliberate
interference, and every type of radio garbage you could think of being transmitted.
Given these shining examples of how bad things can be, let’s work to see that two meters doesn’t
become a radio wasteland that these two other shining beacons have become.
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Mark’s Almanac

August was originally named “Sextilis”, the sixth Roman month. It was renamed August in honor
of Caesar Augustus and lengthened to 31 days, to equal Julius Caesar’s month of July.
August is hot and humid and summer temperatures remain at or near their summer peak.
The rapid vegetation growth of spring is over, and, since conditions are now perfect for the
growth of mold, fungi & germs, plants have a “used” look, which is enhanced if rainfall is scarce.

In August the choir of cicadas whine in the afternoon & towards the end of the month the big
Yellow Sulphur Butterflies will begin heading to the South-Southeast, giving hints of their soon
upcoming fall migration & cats will begin to hint of growing their winter coats.
Hurricane breeding grounds in August are the Atlantic, with Low Latitude “Cape Verde” storms
forming off of Africa crossing the Ocean and either threatening the Eastern Seaboard or striking
the Leeward Islands, entering the Caribbean and then striking the Yucatan, or the Western or
Northern Gulf coast. Breeding grounds also include the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.
August is second only to September in the number of Tropical Storms and Hurricanes. From 1851
to 2018 there have been 391 Tropical Storms and 246 Hurricanes, 81 of which made landfall in the
United States, the most notable storms being Hurricanes Camille and Katrina in 1969 and 2005,
which devastated Mississippi and Louisiana and Hurricane Andrew which ravaged South Florida
in 1992.
21% of a year’s Hurricanes occur in August, however, 85 to 95% of land falling Hurricanes have
not occurred by August 15.

Days grow shorter as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon steadily decreases from 74.4
degrees at the beginning of the month to 65.0 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight decreases
from 13 hours 48 minutes on August 1 to 12 hours 54 minutes on August 31.
Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:
August 1 Sunrise 6:00 AM Sunset 7:47 PM
August 15 Sunrise 6:09 AM Sunset 7:34 PM
August 31 Sunrise 6:20 AM Sunset 7:14 PM
Looking skyward, at the beginning of the month, Mercury is hidden behind the glow of the Sun.
Mercury then emerges into dawn and by on August 9 He will reach his highest point above the
Eastern horizon or “Greatest Western Elongation” when he will be 19.0 degrees from the Sun.
This is the best time to view Mercury since he will be at his highest point above the horizon in the
morning sky. Look for the planet low in the eastern sky just before sunrise.

Mercury will be at his closest approach to the Sun or Perihelion on August 20.
Venus, is hidden behind the Sun. Venus will be at her closest approach to the Sun on August 8.
She will pass directly behind the Sun or be at Superior Conjunction on August 14.
Mars is also hidden behind the Sun.
Mars will be at his farthest distance from the Sun or Aphelion on August 25.
Jupiter, magnitude –2.4, between the legs of Ophiuchus, is the white point glaring in the south
during and after dusk.
Saturn, magnitude +0.1, in Sagittarius, is the steady, pale yellowish "star" in the south-southeast
during and after dusk, 31° left of Jupiter. Look lower right of Saturn for the Sagittarius Teapot.
In a telescope Saturn's rings are tilted a wide 24.7° to our line of sight.
Saturn will pass directly behind the moon at 5:07 AM on August 12.
Uranus, magnitude 5.8, in Aries, is high in the southeast before the first beginnings of dawn.
Neptune, magnitude 7.8, in Aquarius, is high in the south as dawn breaks.
The moon will be at Perigee or her closest approach to Earth on August 2, when she will be
223,319 miles from Earth.
The Perseid Meteor Shower peaks on the night of August 12 & 13, with 50 to 60 meteors per hour.
This shower, produce by debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1862, ranks as
the best of the best, famous for producing bright meteors. The shower runs annually from July 17
to August 24. It peaks this year on the night of August 12 and the morning of August 13.
This year the shower coincides with a nearly Full Moon, which will wash out all but the brightest
meteors. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Perseus, but can appear anywhere in the sky.
August’s Full Moon will occur August 15 at 12:30 UTC or 7:30 AM CDT. August’s Full Moon was
called “Fruit Moon” in Cherokee Folklore, “Women’s Moon” among the Choctaw, “Sturgeon
Moon” by the Algonquin because the large sturgeon fish of the Great Lakes and other major lakes
were more easily caught at this time of year. This moon has also been known as the Green Corn
Moon and the Grain Moon and at one time was called “Dog Days Moon” by the Colonial
Americans.
The moon will be at Apogee or her farthest distance from Earth on August 17, when she will be
252,428 miles from Earth.
On August 30 the Moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be
visible in the night sky, which is known as New Moon. This phase occurs at 10:37 UTC or 5:37 AM
CDT. 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.
Though July’s New Moon was on July 31 at 10:12 CDT, it was also at 3:12 UTC, August 1.
Therefore by UTC time August will have two New Moons.
You may remember that a second of Full Moon in a single month is popularly called a “Blue
Moon”, but what about two New Moons in a single month?

A second New Moon in a month is a “Black Moon”.
Now a more persnickety definition, is the third Full Moon in a season which has four Full Moons is
a Blue Moon and the third New Moon in a season which has four New Moons is a Black Moon.
A third definition says a Black Moon is a month with no Full Moon
A fourth definition states that it is a month with no New Moon, which last happened in 2014, and
will next occur on February 2033.
No one writes songs about Black Moons. “Black Moon, you saw me standing alone….”
It just doesn’t “sing”,
The Black Moon will be at her second Perigee or closest approach to Earth on August 30, when
she will be 221,939 miles from Earth.
4025 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of July 25, per NASA’s
Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/
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I’m looking for articles and suggestions and ideas for articles for our newsletter. What would you
like to see? Send suggestions to wd4nyl@bellsouth.net
Thanks for your help!
This month’s meeting will be on August 13 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.
Hope to see you there!
Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter
wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

Hi everyone & an early Happy 4th of July!

I hope you are staying cool and hydrated as we wind our way through the heat of Summer.

Our next ALERT meeting will be July 9, when our new Officers take office. Let’s make sure to support, help and encourage them as they steer ALERT into the future.

Dues time also arrives with the July meeting.

So join me as I dust off the wallet, shoo away the moths and cough up some dough, so I will remain current.

See you there!

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Storm Spotting vs Storm Chasing

One sunny day in 1943, on a small atoll in the Solomon Islands, a fisherman sat on a pier mending his nets. Suddenly his attention was captured by the whine of propellers and he looked up and saw a formation of aircraft passing over.

Rushing to his radio shack he looked at charts to determine if it was American, British or Japanese aircraft and by comparing the size of the image with the size of the aircraft he had seen he estimated the aircrafts approximate altitude.

He then flipped a switch and the tubes of an HF radio began glowing. Reaching for the microphone he called the base taking the reports in Port Moresby, New Guinea and said “This is Red Robin, Red Robin, eight Mitsubishi bombers at 11,000 feet moving Northeast, over.”

The report was acknowledged and he powered down his radio and after getting a drink of water he headed back to the pier and his nets, keeping an eye on the horizon beyond the palm lined beach and an ear towards the sky.

The fisherman was just one of dozens of people, average civilians, scattered across the Southwestern Pacific islands, called Coast Watchers. Their only job was to report when they spotted enemy ships passing by or enemy planes flying overhead. They were not interceptors, they were spotters only.

Though the circumstances and targets are certainly different, they almost could be thought of as the ancestors of the Storm Spotters that you see today.

Storm Spotters play a vital part in the NWS storm warning process by providing “ground truth” to confirm what the meteorologists are seeing on radar and in some cases spotting severe storm activity when the radar shows nothing overly unusual.
Radar, for its tremendous capabilities is blind to ground level activity beyond the radio horizon. Meteorologists can see a suspicious storm, but what is really happening beneath that storm?

Many situations can affect and limit radar capability.

For instance radar returns can be blocked or shadowed by physical obstructions.

If one looks at Birmingham Nexrad you may occasionally see a blank area or spike on the radar display extending to the Northeast of the radar site at close to a 40 degree radial.

According to a 2014 NBC13 report, there is a company in Calera, Lhoist North America, which is a major supplier of lime, limestone and clay products. It reportedly began a stockpile mound or dump near the Waterford community and it grew and it kept growing, and growing and growing, until it has grown tall enough to interfere with the NWS radar.

Other Nexrad sites have similar shadowing due to buildings and close mountain ranges. Each site has its own quirks and peculiarities.

Physical distance is another major factor.

The farther the radar is from the storm, the higher the radar beam, which travels in a straight line, strikes the storm. The radar in Calera for instance, may show a line of very heavy thunderstorms on the Alabama – Mississippi line, and as the line grows closer to the radar site the radar shows less and less precipitation, the line passes over with nothing remarkable happening and then as it passes farther from the radar site it begins looking just as ominous as it approaches the Georgia line as it did when exiting Mississippi, as the radar is once again scanning the midlevel of the storms

Did the storm really die down and then pulse back up? Depending on the time of day and other factors, sometimes yes. Or it may be the precipitation at the midlevel of the storm was much heavier than the lower levels which by the time it reached ground level had largely evaporated.

This is why meteorologists look at radar returns from other radar sites and at different angles for a more accurate idea as to what is really going on.

There is a saying that “the best radar is the closest radar”. But, some areas have no close radar to switch to. For instance in Southwest Alabama an area generally around Choctaw, Clarke and Marengo county is covered by radar from Birmingham, Columbus, Jackson and Mobile. But, none of them are close enough to show what is happening near the ground. It is a low level blind spot.

This is why having eyes on the ground is vital. By actually seeing what is occurring and reporting this to the NWS it increases warning lead time, which is potentially lifesaving.

Storm Spotters may observe from their homes or workplace. They may report as they are travelling to or from work. In some cases they may preposition themselves to get a better DISTANT view of the storm to describe the storm structure.

But, Storm Spotters DO NOT CHASE storms.

There is a difference between storm spotting, which helps the NWS mission and amateur storm chasing, which does not.

The NWS offices regularly train Storm Spotters in classes, both in person and online.

They do NOT train, certify, encourage or endorse storm chasing and do not want their name associated with amateur storm chasers, their actions or the consequences of those actions.
Storm chasing in the Southeast is extremely difficult as compared to the Midwest, where roads are straighter, horizons are not obstructed by trees and the population density is much more spread out.

If you try to chase a storm in Alabama, you can easily wreck your or someone else’s car, strike someone or since you literally can’t see the storm for the trees, can easily misjudge and be at the wrong place at the right time.

I know this from personal experience, and after having light wires arcing and snapping above me and me hiding behind a building wondering if the aluminum siding being torn off would decapitate me, I never vowed never to be such a dimwit again.

Also, I had to pray about it a little, for when young teenage Mark told his mother “I want to be a ham operator” she said “that’s fine as long as you promise to never go chasing a tornado”, to which I agreed. I wasn’t lying…well, maybe I was, I don’t know. At any rate I quit doing it 16 years ago.

Keep in mind that most Alabama tornadoes, unlike the Midwest variety, are rain wrapped and obscured.

The Tuscaloosa portion of the April 27, 2011 EF4 Tuscaloosa/Jefferson County tornado was unique in that it was not rain wrapped as it tore through that area. Horrible as it was, it was also strangely picturesque. By the time it reached the Birmingham suburbs, it was an ugly rain wrapped mass of clouds.

Perhaps this is why even though the tornado was shown live nationwide as it swept through Jefferson County; Jefferson County is seldom mentioned when retrospectives are shown. I watched an entire network program concerning the April 27 tornadoes and watched as they discussed in detail Tuscaloosa and its recovery and I waited for them to move on to the Jefferson County devastation and recovery. They rolled the credits instead. It is as if they thought the storm dissipated, when in fact it continued wreaking havoc flattening communities for miles beyond.

If you choose to chase storms, it’s on your own responsibility. Again do not associate the NWS name with your actions or their consequences.

They don’t need people plastering “Official NWS Storm Chase Vehicle” on their light bar equipped, porcupine looking SUV, or folk bragging online “Certified NWS storm chaser here”. As there is no such animal, and it puts the NWS’s reputation and credibility in jeopardy.

And, if you tell the news media “I’m a NWS certified Storm Chaser”, they know better, and your credibility with them just went down the tubes.

On a related note, there is a trend in some areas, very isolated I hope, of EMCOMM groups sporting shiny badges and “security” type uniforms.

While I certainly see nothing wrong with a group having unique team clothing, when it looks “official” or “police like”, as if they have some sort of authority, it sends the wrong message and can cause confusion and harm.

In the past, and I’ve been in this a long time, I have encountered and dealt with a few EMCOMM folk who tried to exercise authority they did not have and them in ordinary clothes. Let them try it with a badge and uniform and it could easily damage trust, confidence and relationships between organizations that have taken years, if not decades to build. Sometimes it doesn’t very much for this to happen, either.

Or, perhaps even worse, people might think they really ARE Security Officers and expect them to act in that capacity, since they appear to be wearing the uniform. “’Security Officer stands by while looters fight over silver urn’. ‘I told the security guard over there that they were taking Gramma’s ashes and he just stood there mumbling about ham and radio. Guess he was too busy thinking about ham sandwiches to be bothered to help us.’ ‘More details to follow on WKRP Action News.’”

This isn’t far a fetched idea either. I could tell you some stories.

This is why we really don’t need “Sergeant Skywarns” running around wreaking havoc any more than the NWS needs “official storm chasers” doing so. The NWS needs storm spotters to report storms and ALERT needs operators to take those storm spotters reports.

When the fall sessions resume consider attending an NWS storm spotter class near you and become a Skywarn Storm Spotter.

For information on Alabama County Warning Area training and classes see:

Birmingham https://www.weather.gov/bmx/skywarnschedule
Mobile https://www.weather.gov/mob/skywarn
Huntsville https://www.weather.gov/hun/skywarn
Tallahassee https://www.weather.gov/tae/taeskywarn

For the current Birmingham’s presentations see:

https://www.weather.gov/media/bmx/skywarn/BasicSpotterGSAT.pdf
https://www.weather.gov/media/bmx/skywarn/Gerald_Satterwhite_Advanced_WEBPAGE.pdf

I also invite you to attend the next ALERT meeting and learn about who we are and what we do.

Are you willing to step up to the challenge and be a part of the action?

The NWS and ALERT needs YOU!

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Is Two Meters In Jeopardy?

Currently on Ham Radio social media groups there is an outcry due to a French proposal at the recent World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23) held in Prague, Czech Republic, to reassign the 144 to 146 MHz Amateur Band as a primary Aeronautical Mobile Service allocation in ITU Region 1 which covers Africa and Europe.

Of the countries represented only Germany voiced opposition.

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), which was represented at the Prague meeting, expressed “grave concern” to any proposal that would include 144 – 146 MHz in the proposed Aeronautical Mobile Services agenda item.

Currently the 144 – 146 MHz band is allocated globally to the Amateur and Amateur Satellite services on a primary basis, and is the only globally harmonized Amateur Radio VHF band. Other bands are shared or may be included in only certain ITU regions. For instance there is a 4 Meter Amateur radio allocation in ITU Region 1, but, not ITU Region 2 where we are located. British Amateurs may use 70.0 to 70.5 MHz.

The proposal will be carried forward to the higher-level CEPT Conference Preparatory Group (CPG) meeting in August, and the IARU is expected to brief member-societies, requesting that they discuss the French proposal with their governments in advance of the August CEPT-CPG meeting.

What does this mean for the US 144 – 148 MHz band? Nothing, for right now, for it only covers Europe and Africa.

The potential problem that may arise in the future is that are entities in the US competing for spectrum space that may also eye the band and toy with the idea that since it is underused in the US they may try the same thing.

What can we do about this?

Well, the current knee jerk reaction of “let’s sign an online petition and let them know what we feel” is useless. The ITU Region 1 inhabitants really don’t care what ITU region 2 hams think. It’s like Lithuanian hams sending a petition to the FCC to reinstate code testing for American hams. It’s not their chunk of the globe to be worrying with and so they really don’t care what they may think.

If it were proposed in the US, hopefully it would raise a howl and protest. But, until then there is definitely something we can do to protect our spectrum.

What we can do is USE the frequencies we have. Whether you prefer SSB, CW, FM, Digital Modes, AM or Spark Gap, get on the air, use your equipment and quit carping that “ham radio is dying” and about newcomers not having to “pass test I did” and that “people don’t know squat anymore”. Encourage people, don’t discourage them. Mentor them. Be a force for good for heaven’s sake.

Throw your call out and talk to people. If you get no response try again at another time. Eventually you will get someone. Be friendly. Be approachable and inclusive. Don’t be an old Fuddy Duddy, talk to and encourage the new hams. Make them know they are welcomed.

From the 1980’s to 2000’s there was an informal group affectionately called the “Nut Net”. It was not really a net, as such, it was just an online haunt of operators young and the young at heart that would get on, talking to each other, carrying on and aggravating each other in friendly ways and just plain having fun.

The Old Fudds hated us, threatened to “turn you over to the FCC”, “did you know the repeater owner has a tape of every QSO on here”, etc, etc. Which I wish was true, so I could listen to those days. Thing is, we weren’t doing anything wrong, morally or legally. We were just having fun, as opposed to discussing politics, carbuncles and the general sorry state of things, especially “these new hams, the bunch of CBers, they all are.”

We were young, and we acted like it. The Nuts of The Nut Net eventually became BARC, SCARC and ALERT Presidents and Officers.

So, as an official alumnus of the Nut Net, I recommend folk get on the air, started it again, and have some fun. If old goats complain, let them. They are going to anyway, so why not ham it up?!

Maybe it will spread and start a nationwide trend and in doing so, help preserve our RF haunts and stomping grounds. If nothing else, you will have fun!

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Mark’s Almanac

Originally called “Quintilis”, the fifth Roman month, Quintilis was renamed “July” in 44 BC in honor of Julius Caesar.
July is miserably hot, as land temperatures reach their peaks in late July through early August – the Dog Days of Summer.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac lists the traditional period of the Dog Days as the 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11.

The Romans on the other hand said that the Dog Days ran from July 24 through August 24, or, alternatively, from July 23 through August 23, coinciding with the Sun and the Dog Star Sirius rising at the same time & their combined heat supposedly adding to the summer misery.

As you endure this heat, remember to drink lots of fluids, hug the shade & avoid the afternoon sun.

Also please resist the temptation to take Fido for a walk during the heat of the day. Remember that the “official” temperature readings are taken 6 feet above ground level. It’s much, much hotter on the ground where Fido & Puss have to walk with bare paws, where it could easily be 150 degrees.

Before taking Muttley for a walk, place your hand on the pavement and see how hot it is. If it’s miserable to you, it will be miserable to him also. Just walk him in the morning or wait until the sun is setting and it cools off to a tolerable level and try to stick to grassy areas. Then go have a good time together.

The last week of July is usually the hottest week of the year. Tropical conditions are dominant, with conditions similar to that of the Amazon Valley.

This is the time to test the “Brown Grass Theory”. According to this theory, if the grass remains green the temperature will probably not reach 100, but, if the grass turns brown, get set for triple digits. This is a local Birmingham rule, which the Old Timers at the Birmingham NWS, such as Frank Makosky and J.B Elliott used for years.

In July the least rainfall falls in the Northern Hemisphere.

Tornado activity drops sharply, with a 47% decrease nationwide. July has an average of 103 tornadoes.

Hurricane activity increases, but major hurricanes are not yet frequent. By months end, one hurricane will have occurred. Seven percent of a year’s hurricane total occurs in July.

Long track hurricanes are possible, forming off the African coast and crossing the Atlantic, either to threaten the US East Coast, then eventually veering off towards Bermuda. Or in the case of “Low Latitude” storms, cross the Atlantic, strike the Leeward Islands; enter the Caribbean and then striking the Yucatan, or the Western or Northern Gulf coast.

July Tropical Cyclone Breeding Grounds

From 1851 to 2018 there have been 120 Tropical Storms and 57 Hurricanes, 25 of which made landfall in the United States.

Among notable storms are 2005’s Hurricane Emily, the only Category 5 storm to form in July, reaching 160 MPH and striking Mexico.

Hurricane Bertha, a 125 MPH storm holds the record for the longest lifespan for a July hurricane, churning for 17 days.

Days grow shorter as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon decreases from 79.6 degrees at the beginning of the month to 74.7 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight decreases from 14 hours 20 minutes on July 1 to 13 hours 49 minutes on July 31.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

July 1 Sunrise 5:41 AM Sunset 8:01 PM
July 15 Sunrise 5:48 AM Sunset 7:58 PM
July 31 Sunrise 5:59 AM Sunset 7:48 PM

Looking skyward, Mercury is fading into the sunset. He will fade from magnitude 0.8 at the beginning of the month from magnitude to 1.5 on July 6. He will then pass from view crossing between the Earth and Sun at “Inferior Conjunction” on July 21.

Venus is very low in the bright dawn, just above the east-northeast horizon about 20 or 30 minutes before sunrise.

Earth will reach her farthest distance from the Sun or Aphelion on July 4, when she will be 94.5 million miles from our home star.

Mars (magnitude 1.8 in Capricornus) is low in the west-northwest as twilight fades.

Jupiter (magnitude –2.6, in southern Ophiuchus) is the white point glaring in the south-southeast as the stars come out. Jupiter is highest in the south by about 11 or midnight, with the red star Antares to his lower right.

Saturn (magnitude +0.1, in Sagittarius) is the steady, pale yellowish “star” low in the southeast after dark

The ringed planet will be at its closest approach to Earth, or “Opposition” on July 9. His face will be fully illuminated by the Sun. It will be brighter than any other time of the year and will be visible all night long. A medium-sized or larger telescope will allow you to see Saturn’s rings and a few of its brightest moons.

Saturn will pass just north of the Moon on July 16 at 8:27 PM.

Uranus (magnitude 5.8, in Aries) is low in the east just before the first sign of dawn.

Neptune (magnitude 7.9, in Aquarius) is well up in the southeast before dawn.

New Moon will occur 2:16 PM CDT July 2 or 19:16 UTC July 2. The Moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. 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.

On July 2 there will be a Total Solar Eclipse visible in parts of the Southern Pacific Ocean, central Chile, and central Argentina.

The Moon will pass just North of the Beehive Star Cluster at 4:02 AM CDT or 9:02 UTC, July 4.

The moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on July 4, when she will be 226,010 miles from Earth.

July’s Full Moon occurs July 16 at 4:38 PM CDT or 21:38 UTC and is called “Buck Moon” in Native American folklore. This moon gets its name because the male buck deer begin to grow their new antlers at this time of year. It has also been called “Full Thunder Moon” & “Hay Moon”.

On July 16 there will be a Partial Lunar Eclipse. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the Earth’s partial shadow, or penumbra, and only a portion of it passes through the darkest shadow, or umbra. During this type of eclipse a part of the Moon will darken as it moves through the Earth’s shadow. The eclipse will be visible throughout most of Europe, Africa, central Asia, and the Indian Ocean.

Though it won’t peak until the night and morning of August 12 & 13, the Perseid Meteor Shower begins July 17, and lasts until August 24. This shower, associated with comet Swift-Tuttle will peak at 60 meteors per hour in August.

The moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on July 20, when she will be 251,953 miles from Earth,

The Delta-Aquariad Meteor shower peaks on the night of July 28th into the morning of the 29th.
This shower annually occurs from July 12 through August 23 is made up of debris from Comet Marsden Kracht and produces a ZHR or Zenith Hourly Rate of 20 meteors per hour.

The waning crescent moon will not be too much of a problem this year. The skies should be dark enough for what could be a good show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Aquarius, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

4009 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of June 27, per NASA’s
Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

By the way…

On June 22nd at 21:25 UTC or 4:25 PM CDT, a small asteroid entered Earth’s atmosphere and exploded south of Puerto Rico. Airwaves recorded by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization’s infrasound station in Bermuda recorded the energy of the blast as being between 3 and 5 kilotons of TNT. The explosion was captured as a bright flash by the GOES-16 weather satellite.

This event reminded me of another, much larger event called the Tunguska Event.

111 years ago at 7:15 local time on the morning of June 30, 1908, something happened in the skies above the Stony Tunguska River in Siberia.

Within a 900 mile radius, thousands observed a fireball in the sky, similar to, if not larger than the size of the Sun, and a series of explosions “with a frightful sound”, followed by shaking of the ground as “the earth seemed to get opened wide and everything would fall in the abyss.”

Various meteorological stations in Europe recorded both seismic and atmospheric waves, and for days later strange phenomena were observed in the skies of Russia and Europe, such as glowing clouds, colorful sunsets and a strange luminescence in the night.

Russian newspapers reported a supposed meteorite impact. International newspapers speculated about a possible volcanic explosion, as similar strange luminous effects were observed also after the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa.

Due to the inaccessibility of the region and Russia’s unstable political situation at that time, it wasn’t until March of 1927 that researchers were able to examine the area located at 60°55′N 101°57′E. They found a large area covered with rotting logs. A huge explosion apparently flattened more than 80 million trees across 820 square miles. Only at the epicenter of the explosion, in the “Forest of Tunguska”, so called “telegraph pole trees” were still standing, with all branches and the bark burned off.

If anyone had been living in the area at that time the shockwave, or blast overpressure would have killed them either due to debris impacts or damage to hollow organs such as auditory, respiratory, and gastrointestinal systems.

Even today, there is no definite explanation for what caused the explosions.

The leading theory is that a meteorite hit the area or more probably that an asteroid or comet of low density, and a diameter of between 100 to 250 feet exploded at a height of 4 to 9 miles above ground creating a nuclear type airburst and for this reason there is no impact crater.

Other nifty theories are:

A black hole hit the Earth
A chunk of antimatter hit the Earth
Radio pioneer Nikola Tesla tested a “death ray”
A UFO crashed (those darned Klingons)

Whatever caused it, it explains why I we built that underground bunker built under the house.

(But, don’t tell anyone)
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This month’s meeting will be on July 9 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.

Hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter
wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database
www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/