ALERT Newsletter – July 2013

Hi everyone & welcome to your July ALERT Newsletter. July will be a transition month for ALERT as we welcome our new President Ronnie King as he assumes the reigns of leadership. There will be an upcoming Board of Directors meeting and Ronnie requests that if there there any items that you would like for the Board to address just drop him an email at wx4ron@gmail.com so he can add them to the meeting agenda. Our next regular meeting will be July 9 and dues are due! To respond to ALERT callouts and have access to the NWSChat system you must be an Operational ALERT member. To remain an Operational ALERT Member you must be a paid up member. If you are not paid up you can’t participate. So make sure to renew your membership at the July meeting! Dues for Operational and Supporting Members are $20 per person and $10 for each additional family member. Membership for students and senior citizens over 65 is $10.Some members have been known to pay for two years. If you choose this method, make sure to let us know, so we can keep track as the year changes.Lifetime memberships are also available for $450 after five years consecutive membership. Oh, did I mention we are a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization?So, save some money, join ALERT.………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Communications Methods Which Didn’t Work, Or Work As Well As Expected After Katrina, Sandy & Their Smaller Cousins Over the past months I have belabored the subject of “Personal Emergency Preparedness”. I know that this may seem repetitious at times, but since the disasters we deal with are equally repetitious, this focus justified. This month I thought it might be interesting to look at some communications options which didn’t work as well as hoped when survivor’s emergency plans were actually tested in the Laboratory of Experience. Cellular Communications Failed – This of course is well known and understandable. During Katrina multitudes of cell towers were blow down or cell sites lost all power. With Sandy it is said that over a ten state area 25% of the cell towers were destroyed. During more localized emergencies cellphones also have failed. For example, my Niece lives in Moore Oklahoma not far from the damage path caused by the May EF5 tornado. She says her cellphone would was useless as far as calling. She could receive texts, but, could send none. Oddly enough, however, the internet still worked and she could log on to Facebook. What can you do? First make sure the phone is charged. If you have no signal try rebooting the phone and if after then you still have no signal, you can try texting anyway. Just because the phone doesn’t “see” the cell tower doesn’t mean the cell tower doesn’t “see” the phone. To borrow an old CB term, the tower may be an “elephant rig”. That is one with big ears, but a tiny mouth, or signal. Landline Communications Failed – This was due both to damage and due to call overloads jamming the available circuits. After Sandy and her sisters, failures in communications prevented people from locating each other and verifying their wellbeing, and prevented emergency services from knowing where and what was needed. It is said that this accelerated the breakdown in law and order on Staten Island. One survivor said that what looting occurred didn’t begin until it was realized that no one could call 911 for help. This is why it is recommended that you stay off of the phones during an emergency, so that emergency calls can get through. We should have as many communications tools in our “toolbox” as possible. Ham radio, obviously, but other methods also, including FRS radios for close simplex operation and, yes, get a CB radio. A decade or so ago, when CB and CB operators were being loudly condemned by some members of the ham community, the ARRL did a survey and found that 50% of the amateur community not only had, but, still used CB radios. This figure is probably lower today since the “CB Boom” is long over, but, I still have a CB and am not allergic to using it, especially on trips. Some scoff and say “there are two meter repeaters everywhere, and I can get someone anytime I need to”. This is isn’t necessarily true, for repeaters can die, repeaters can be out of range or as with the 440 MHz band, you can have a whole forest of repeaters, but, not a soul to be found anywhere. So don’t limit yourself to good, but, deserted frequencies. If you need help, you need people, and it’s easier to find people if you go where people actually congregate. Another thing you should become familiar with is life without a repeater by learning to operate on simplex. Simplex operations and conditions are different from repeater operations and can take some getting used to. One of the best ways to become familiar with this realm of operations is by checking in to the Central Alabama Simplex Net, on 146.580 MHz at 8:00PM every Sunday. That’s an hour after the ALERT Sunday Night Net on 146.880 MHz, which you should be checking in to also. On an interesting side note, I talked with a ham that worked the 1956 McDonald’s Chapel tornado. He says that in the days following the tornado that the noise level was so high that the repeater they relied on was unusable, and that all communications had to be done on simplex. Fifty six years later our repeaters, though more advanced, are still fragile pieces of technology. So acquaint yourself with the simplex ways of hamdom. Hand Cranked Emergency Radios Failed – Of course not ALL of these radios proved to be junk, but, a goodly number did. With some the hand crank didn’t produce any power. Some users thought that just cranking a few seconds would be sufficient to recharge the battery. Instead it was a case of “crank a minute, listen a minute, crank a minute, listen a minute, until your arm felt like it would fall off”. Some receivers had poor sensitivity. If a nearby station was on the air, fine, but, if the station was off the air the radios were unable to pull in more distant weak stations. All that was heard was static, if they were even that lucky. Some radios had terrible selectivity. What few stations that remained on the air interfered with each other. Imagine trying to listen to a faint news station, while being blasted by a nearby bluegrass/rap music station. Here is a hint. The AM Broadcast Band is roughly 1.2 MHz wide, and in North America it is divided into 10 kHz channels. The FM Broadcast Band is 20 MHz wide. The entire two meter band could fit into this band five times. If the radio you are looking at can tune this bandwidth in a quarter to half of a knob turn, it’s not a good sign. The “band spread” is much to narrow and therefore the selectivity will be terrible. One reporter said she tried in vain for hours to get her radio to work. Finally her five year old walked up to her and handed her a Fisher-Price toy radio and said “Mommy twye mine”. Sure enough, hers worked. This is why it’s always good to have a backup plan, and spare batteries. The best AM/FM radio I ever used one I pulled from a wrecked Chevy. It far outperformed my “fancy rig” and it had the added bonus of working on 12 volts. So it was perfect for emergency power use. Shortwave Radios Disappointed – Many of these suffered from poor selectivity and poor sensitivity. But perhaps the biggest problem was with people being unfamiliar with propagation and the quirks and nuances of the world of Shortwave Radio. The Shortwave band is divided into individual bands just as the HF Amateur bands are. These bands, and I’ll include the Medium Wave or MF bands are as follows: 535-1705 kHz AM Broadcast Band – Local reception by day, transcontinental by night. 2300-2495 kHz 120 Meters – Mostly used locally in tropical regions. 3200-3400 kHz 90 Meters – Mostly used locally in tropical regions, with limited long-distance reception at night. 3900–4000 kHz 75 Meters – Mostly used in the Eastern Hemisphere; not widely received in North and South America. Shared with the North American 80 meter Amateur band. 4750–5060 kHz 60 Meters – Mostly used locally in tropical regions, although widely usable at night. 5900–6200 kHz 49 Meters – Good year-round night band; daytime reception poor. 7.200–7.450 MHz 41 Meters – Reception varies by region – reasonably good night reception, but few transmitters in this band target North America. 7.200–7.300 MHz is part of the 40 meter Amateur band. 9.400–9.900 MHz 31 Meters – Most heavily used band. Good year-round night band; seasonal during the day, with best reception during the winter. 11.600–12.100 MHz 25 Meters – Generally best during summer and the period before and after sunset year-round 13.570–13.870 MHz 22 Meters – Substantially used in Eurasia. Best in summer. 15.100–15.800 MHz 19 Meters – Day reception good, night reception variable; best during summer. 17.480–17.900 MHz 16 Meters – Day reception good; night reception varies seasonally, with Summer being the best. 18.900–19.020 MHz 15 Meters – Lightly utilized. 21.450–21.850 MHz 13 Meters – Erratic daytime reception, with very little night reception. Long distance daytime broadcasting keeps this band active in the Asia-Pacific region. 25.600–26.100 MHz 11 Meters – Not to be confused with the 11 Meter CB band, this band is seldom used. As with the 10 meter Amateur band, reception is poor in the bottom of the solar cycle, but potentially excellent when the solar cycle is high. Nighttime reception is usually nonexistent, except for local ground wave propagation. In between these bands lie the Amateur, Marine and Aeronautical Bands, with discrete military frequencies scattered throughout. For instance 11.175 MHz USB, is one of the most active US Air Force HFGCC – HF Global Communications System channels, used by various US and Canadian military aircraft since the 1950’s. Shortwave bands are just as fickle as the Amateur bands. Most non-hams are unfamiliar with the normal daily propagation cycle, and non-shortwave listeners or “SWL’s” are completely unaware that Shortwave stations aren’t continuously on the air, but, activate according to the propagation patterns suitable to their target area, which may not be North America. Sadly, many stations no longer target North America. The mainstays I grew up listening to, such as the BBC World Service, Radio Canada International and HCJB in Quito Ecuador either no longer transmit to North America or have ceased to exist. Plus there is a question about listening to those stations that do still target us. One being, should we really expect for them to carry usable news about Central Alabama? Secondly, can we trust the source we are listening to? Some countries feel that our demise would be a Godsend. So, should one really expect a fair and balanced opinion from external sources? A far better idea is just wait until nightfall when the AM Broadcast Band lengthens out and listen for the “Clear Channel” stations such as: 650 WSM Nashville, Tennessee 660 WFAN New York, New York 700 WLW Cincinnati, Ohio 710 WOR New York, New York 720 WGN Chicago, Illinois 750 WSB Atlanta, Georgia 760 WJR Detroit, Michigan 770 WABC New York, New York 780 WBBM Chicago, Illinois 810 WGY Schenectady, New York 820 WBAP Fort Worth, Texas 830 WCCO Minneapolis, Minnesota 840 WHAS Louisville, Kentucky 850 KOA Denver, Colorado 870 WWL New Orleans, Louisiana 880 WCBS New York, New York 890 WLS Chicago, Illinois 1000 WMVP Chicago, Illinois 1020 KDKA Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1030 WBZ Boston, Massachusetts 1040 WHO Des Moines, Iowa 1060 KYW Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1080 KRLD Dallas, Texas 1090 KAAY Little Rock, Arkansas 1090 WBAL Baltimore, Maryland 1100 WTAM Cleveland, Ohio 1110 WBT Charlotte, North Carolina 1120 KMOX St. Louis, Missouri 1130 KWKH Shreveport, Louisiana 1130 WBBR New York, New York 1170 WWVA Wheeling, West Virginia 1180 WHAM Rochester, New York 1190 WOWO Fort Wayne, Indiana 1200 WOAI San Antonio, Texas 1210 WPHT Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1510 WLAC Nashville, Tennessee 1520 KOKC Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 1520 WWKB Buffalo, New York 1530 WCKY Cincinnati, Ohio 1560 WQEW New York, New York 1570 XERF Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila This list is based on my actual intercepts, listening late at night, using a decent receiver. Once upon a time in the 70’s the AM band was the mainstay for Top 40 & Country music, with local stations such as 960 WERC and WSGN 610 battling it out for ratings. Now the AM band, especially at night is dominated by talk radio. LOTS of talk radio, some sports related, but mostly endless political cat calling. This may explain why many never tune to the AM band. If you want music, people turn to FM, Sirius or just disappear into a MP3 player and tune out the world. If you want to hear an unceasing barrage of why the country is going down the tubes, then you turn to AM talk radio. If a regional disaster has occurred they may suspend the usual cat fight long enough either to focus on the tragedy, or use it as an opportunity to blame it on the opposition, otherwise they usually hold the tomato throwing for a network news break at the top of the hour. One overlooked advantage of AM radio is that you can still build a “crystal radio” using salvaged radio parts or a World War II “foxhole radio” using a pencil, wire and a blued razor blade. For more information on these, search Google or Bing. One of the best things that one can do in emergency preparedness is to practice using and learning the “personality” of their equipment. Then you will know what to expect and what NOT to expect from you equipment, and whether it was worth the money, or just a case of “it sounded like a good idea at the time”. Don’t become the curator of an emergency preparedness museum. Test and try out your gear. …………………………………………………………………………………………………. July’s Almanac Originally called “Quintilis”, the fifth Roman month, Quintilis was renamed “July” in 44 BC in honor of Julius Caesar. In the Southern Hemisphere’s July is their equivalent of “January”, but, for us it is summer and it’s HOT. July is miserably hot, as land temperatures reach their peaks in late July through early August – the Dog Days of Summer. The “Dog Days” are so called because the Romans and others believed the oppressive summer heat was cause by a combination of the heat from the sun and the star Canicula, also known as Sirius, which rose with the Sun. The Romans would sacrifice a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, hoping to avoid the hot, sultry weather. The Egyptians on the other hand, used this to mark the time of the annual flooding of the Nile. The dates of the Dog Days have shifted through the centuries. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac the traditional period of the Dog Days is the 40 days beginning July 3rd and ending August 11th. 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 the 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 used for years. Tornadic 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. Long track hurricanes are possible, forming off the African coast and crossing the Atlantic, either to threaten the Eastern US 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. Looking above, if you have a dark enough sky, the Milky Way now forms a magnificent arch high across the whole eastern sky after nightfall is complete. It runs all the way from below Cassiopeia low in the north-northeast, up and across Cygnus The Swan and the Summer Triangle in the east, and down past the spout of the Sagittarius Teapot in the south-southeast towards the core of the galaxy. Mercury, Mars & Jupiter are hidden in the glow of the Sun. Venus is slowly gaining altitude low in the West-Northwest in the evening twilight. Earth is at aphelion, its farthest distance from the Sun for the year, just 1 part in 30 farther than at perihelion, its closest distance, which occurs in January. Saturn glows in the Southwest at twilight, with the slightly dimmer star Spica to his lower right. Uranus & Neptune are high in the Southeast before the beginning of dawn. July’s full moon is “Buck Moon” in Native American folklore, so called because bucks begin to grow new antlers at this time. This full Moon was also known as the Thunder Moon, because thunderstorms are so frequent during this month. Full moon occurs July 22 at 1:16 PM ………………………………………………………………………………………. In closing, take care, and I hope to see you at the July 9th meeting! Mark / WD4NYL Editor ALERT http://freewebs.com/weatherlynx