Month: August 2016

Amateur Radio and Skywarn scored big with some really good television media coverage this past weekend during and after the Joplin Hamfest.  On Saturday, KOAM-TV Channel 7 visited the Hamfest.  Reporter Chloe Leshner spoke to Southwest Missouri Regional Skywarn’s N0NWS Repeater Trustee Michael Blake, N0NQW.  During the interview, Mike was able to remind folks that during the devastating 2011 tornado in Joplin, trained spotters were on the ground relaying information back to the National Weather Service using our linked repeater system and were therefore able to help meteorologists to disseminate advanced warnings to the citizens of Joplin.

And this is truly the case: radar cannot see what’s on the ground; we can.  As horrible as the 2011 tragedy was in Joplin, the toll could have been much worse if precious seconds were wasted if not for the help of our Skywarn spotters.

To read and watch the full story on KOAM-TV Channel 7, click here.

Following the Hamfest, KODE-TV Channel 12 reporter Cortney Brown did an even longer story on how Skywarn and the National Weather Service are benefiting from the new analog/digital hybrid system known as Yaesu System Fusion. Once again N0NWS Repeater Trustee Michael, N0NQW was interviewed along with fellow system control operator and Yaesu System Fusion representative Chris Wilson, N0CSW and storm chaser Jordan Hamilton, KC0SHN.  An interesting point made during this interview is how Yaesu System Fusion allows the National Weather Service to get quicker and more accurate reports of what’s happening on the ground thanks to the digital system’s GPS.  Think of it this way:  If seconds save lives (and they do in these situations), then how much time can be saved during an outbreak if a spotter or chaser doesn’t even have to stop and think about his or her location and then report it because the National Weather Service already knows thanks to the GPS reporting?  And, if time is being saved, then so are lives!

To read and watch the full story on KODE-TV Channel 12, click here.

This is big, and, on behalf of the amateur radio community, we at Southwest Missouri Regional Skywarn would like to thank Channel 7 and Channel 12 in Joplin for helping remind the public how amateur radio is here and ready to serve at a moment’s notice.  And, as new technology becomes available and evolves, we work hard to implement all of new benefits available from it.

A brand new net targeted at younger amateur radio operators debuts this Sunday, September 4th on the Southwest Missouri Regional Skywarn linked repeaters.  The purpose of this net is to provide a forum to encourage young amateur radio operators and their families to key up and get out on the air and to create an educational awareness among these operators about Skywarn and basic weather facts.
The Skywarn Youth Net will meet on all full-time-linked Southwest Missouri Regional Skywarn repeaters every Sunday evening at 7:30. During severe weather outbreaks, this net will be pre-empted to allow for official Skywarn traffic on this repeater system.
Each net will start by taking check-in’s from young hams (approximately ages 25 and younger) and from any licensed hams within their immediate household. It will then open up to hams who have youths within their households who are not yet licensed but who are interested in getting their licenses. Those hams can then properly (in accordance with FCC Rules Sec. 97.115) allow these future hams to check in as a third party if they wish. Finally, any and all licensed hams will be invited check in.
As this net grows and evolves, we hope to create and present brief educational segments. For example, one segment, entitled “Skywarn Youth: Did You Know”, will involve a quick (about a minute long) summary about a specific weather-related fact, and it will be presented by one of our younger hams. This and other segments will be posted on the new “Skywarn Youth” section of this website.  Click on the “Skywarn Youth” tab on the navigation menu.
We invite all young hams, their families and the amateur radio community in general to support this net by checking in every Sunday evening at 7:30. Young hams are the future of this hobby, and we encourage them to get involved, to get out on the air and talk, and to invite their friends to become hams as well. We also hope that all participants will learn more about Skywarn activities and about weather.

Frequencies and EchoLink for this net are:
Fordland/Springfield 145.490 (-) PL: 136.5
Joplin: 145.350 (-) PL 91.5
Walnut Grove: 147.330 (+) PL 162.2
Buffalo: 147.180 (+) PL 136.5
Branson: 147.105 (+) PL 162.2
and EchoLink Node: 291849 or N∅NWS-R

The Joplin Hamfest is coming up this Saturday, August 27th from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Hammons Convention Center in Joplin.  It will be one day only this year, and it will feature  an electrical test bench/area to check your used equipment.  An ARRL VE-Testing session will take place on Saturday 8 a.m. inside a conference room at nearby La Quinta Inn – the host hotel for this year’s hamfest.

With numerous vendors and dozens of tables, this year’s Joplin Hamfest promises to be a lot of fun.

Visit www.joplinhamfest.org for more details including directions to the event.

Southwest Missouri Regional Skywarn’s Interactive Repeater Coverage Map is online.  Give it a try.  Just click on the “Repeaters” tab along our main navigation menu above.   This map is built upon the Google Maps API (Application Programming Interface), and it allows the end user to zoom, pan and select or deselect our various repeaters providing for local coverage predictions with pin-point precision.

Darker red shading on the map means that there is overlapping coverage allowing for the end user to access Southwest Missouri Regional Skywarn via more than one repeater frequency.  Repeater locations are noted on the map using two sets of alphabetical markers.  Red markers denote repeaters which are linked full time, and blue markers indicate repeaters which only link up during training nets and severe weather outbreaks.

These coverage predictions assume the use of a mobile antenna with unity gain (i.e. a 2 meter ground plane antenna) located upon the roof of a vehicle with the end user delivering 50 watts to the antenna. As a general rule, hand-held radios will receive diminished coverage especially while using “rubber duck” antennas, and base stations and mobile stations with higher gain antennas and/or who transmit more than 50 watts may receive increased coverage than what is represented within this approximation.

Factors such as tropospheric ducting, foliage, local interference from electrical sources, co-channel interference, intermodulation/front-end overload, etc. are not considered within these coverage predictions.

Follow Southwest Missouri Regional Skywarn on Twitter @SWMOWX

Be first to get the latest information concerning our repeater system, Skywarn in our area, and other events of interest to amateur radio along with updates from the National Weather Service in Springfield regarding severe weather in our area.

You can also follow our Tweets via the Twitter Feed located along the right sidebar of our website.