The National Weather Service in Brimingham is hosting an open house on October 14th from 10am – 3pm CST.
ALERT will be at the Birmingham office answering questions about us and our Amateur Radio Station that is set up in their office. Come by and say hello!!
Friday, December 2nd @ 6PM Central Time (Dec 3 0000z to 2400z), Skywarn Recognition Day kicks off, and continues for the next 24 hours.
The National Weather Service office in Birmingham is represented in Skywarn Recognition Day by ALERT (The Alabama Emergency Response Team) as the callsign K4NWS.
Skywarn Recognition Day is an event celebrating the contribution of SKYWARN volunteers to the NWS’s mission. More information about the event, including Operating Procedures for the contest, Participating Offices, Echolink Info/IRLP info, all can be found at the event link: https://www.weather.gov/crh/skywarnrecognition
To contact us via Amateur Radio:
HF: 10,17,15,20 Meters
2M FM 146.880 (BARC), 147.320 and 146.980 (SCARC)
220 FM 224.500
70cm FM 444.700
DMR Talk Group 31013 which is available on all DMR repeaters in the Birmingham area but is also available on various repeaters in the BMX county warning area.
D-Star: REF058B or REF090C/XRF334C
AllStar: 48168
EchoLink: K4NWS-L (155003)
IRLP Experimental Reflector: 0091
WinLink: K4NWS (at) winlink (dot) org
In 2020 and in response to COVID, SRD was expanded outside of Amateur Radio to include all Skywarn Storm spotters.
Here are some ways to contact our station that are not Amateur Radio:
Zello: https://zello.com/channels/k/duTMd
Telegram: http://t.me/K4NWS
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/K4NWS/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/K4NWS
MeWe: https://mewe.com/join/alert
Our participation in SRD in previous years can be found here:
http://alert-alabama.org/SRD/index.htm
When: Saturday, December 3, 2022, 0Z-24Z (6PM – 6PM the following day.)
Where: National Weather Service in Calera, and… At Home, Out and About.
What is Skywarn Recognition Day? A celebration of the contribution to public safety made by Skywarn Spotters and Amateur radio during threatening weather.
- Amateur Radio stations exchange information/messages with as many NWS stations as possible, on 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, 2 meter bands, and 70 centimeter bands. Contacts via repeater, and other digital means is permitted!
- Skywarn Spotters who are not amateur radio licensed would exchange weather information/conditions as often as possible via social media with NWS offices. Maybe, even use BMXSpotterChat to make contact!
If you are a trained spotter, and you do not have BMXSpotterChat, email a copy of your certificate from either NWS/COMET/SpotterNetwork or media, to casey@alert-alabama.org for an invite!
ALERT Members: If anyone would like to come to the NWS office to operate the radio, please reply back, so that we can inform NWS.
There’s nothing that says we have to be there for the full 24 hours, but we are welcome to operate the station for as long as we wish, as an activation. We are also able to represent NWS remotely.
Please see the email sent to you today, for more information. If you are with ALERT and didn’t receive the email, please send casey@alert-alabama.org a message. We need to add you to an email list.
Links:
Skywarn Recognition 2022 Page: https://www.weather.gov/crh/skywarnrecognition
Skywarn Recognition on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/srd2021 (Yes, this is for 2022 as well)
Amateur Radio Operating Procedures: https://www.weather.gov/crh/skywarn_operating_procedures
Zulu/UTC Time to Local Time Conversion Table: https://www.weather.gov/iwx/wsr_88d#utc
National Night Out is an annual community-building event that brings together local law enforcement agencies, other first responders, and neighborhoods for a night of fun and camaraderie.
ALERT is planning to have a presence Sylvan Springs event at the Sylvan Springs Community Center the evening of October 4 at 5:30pm.
This is a free event, family friendly, and you get to see the “cool stuff” that will be on site at the community center.
ALERT’s Objectives / Scope for this event are:
1. Participate as a Weather Ready Nation Ambassador, promoting weather preparedness in our community.
2. Promote Skywarn Storm Spotter Training.
3. Promote Amateur Radio, especially to existing storm spotters who might not have a way to contact NWS when other communications might fail.
4. Make friends in our community and have some fun!
At the ALERT table there will be a candy bowl, crayons for kids and coloring items for the kids, from NWS materials.
Middle school age kids get a book and smaller kids get coloring sheets.
Ronnie King’s Hambulance will be there and is providing support for marketing to the public and will have a looping presentation display.
Expect more information on the ALERT email loop and on ALERT’s Facebook page.
Hope to see you there!
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