Hi everyone, With Global Warming bringing us another chance for snow, I hope you have the emergency mugs of hot chocolate on standby. This hopefully being last major shot of cold weather it is good to be reminded that our first severe weather season has now begun. With that preface I’ll ask the question I usually ask this time of the year. Are you prepared? Here’s a quick test. Think of this as a “Simulated Emergency Test On The Cheap”. Ask a family member to pick a date & time, not telling when you of course, and on that date and time have them go to the breaker box & flip the switch. For a realistic test it should be during the last 15 minutes of that mini-series you’ve been watching the last five months. Or the end of that John Wayne movie when he has 3 bullets and 300 Comanche Warriors closing in. Or that ball game that’s in the bottom of the 15^th inning, with the bases loaded. Or, dare I say, just before the Imodium kicks in? Oh, you know….the usual times the telephone decides to ring. </s Continue reading →

Hi Everyone, Next month begins our spring severe weather season. Now is the time to take the time to review your emergency preparedness plans and for brushing up on your skills – including both communications & stormspotting. In preparing, you should ask yourselves these questions: Is my family shelter (and everyone should have one) ready? Is my equipment ready? Antennae up & radios working? Batteries charged? Are my communications channels open? Including RF, Internet & telephone resources. Can I receive weather bulletins & the ALERT callouts that will come? You want to prepare NOW, not wait until the sirens sound. For then it may be too late then. With this in mind, this is a good time to review ALERT’s operations procedures. We will call this some “online training”.

ALERT Callout Process

1. We want, encourage and welcome Operational members to take active roles in callouts. But, are you an ALERT member? If not, please join ALERT, for you must be a “paid up” member to be allowed to respond to a callout. Non-members cannot respond. < Continue reading →

Hi Everyone, Ever had an urge to once in a Blue Moon buy me an Icom-706? Well, lands sake & glory be, your time opportunity has arrived! On New Years Eve we will be treated to a Blue Moon. The current definition of a Blue Moon is a second full moon in a calendar month. Blue Moons occur every two and a half to three years, the next one being on August 21, 2012. New Years Eve Blue Moons are more rare, the last being in 1971. Where the term “Blue Moon” originated no one knows, but it dates to the days of Shakespeare. Back then it had little to do with the calendar cycle, but with an actual visibly blue moon appearance, which of course signaled global calamities in the near future. Sort of a Middle Ages version of Y2K, the 2012 Mayan calendar end of the world & Global Warming. <s Continue reading →

Hi Everyone, I hope you had a good Thanksgiving & over ate to a shameful degree. It’s ok to try to be the fat of the land this time of year. I know I plan to do my part. I have good ALERT news and I have bad ALERT news. First the good. Much work has been accomplished in restoring our antenna system. We now have three new tri-band antennas in the air for 6 Meters, 2 Meters, 220 MHz, 440 MHz and 1.2 GHz. So our VHF and UHF capability is better than it has ever been before. We appreciate the work the NWS has been done for ALERT in accomplishing this. The bad news is that as of November 27 we still don’t have an operational HF antenna, as the coax cable is still needing replacement, the original having been sushied some time back. W Continue reading →