A new year is here, and all of us at Southwest Missouri Regional Skywarn wish you and yours a very happy, healthy, and prosperous 2017! We also want to thank each and every one of you for your support during 2016.
Firstly, to our trained severe weather spotters, thank you for being the eyes and ears on the ground of the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Springfield, Missouri. While 2016 did not have any widespread tornado outbreaks, your reports and observations were critical during the severe weather outbreaks that we did encounter. We thank you in advance for your continued assistance during 2017.
Secondly, to the handful of you who donated during 2016, we cannot thank you enough for your support. Thanks to you, we raised over $1,000 last year! This money will be used to construct and install a new repeater in Buffalo, Missouri on 147.180 MHz. The current water tower, upon which the repeater’s antenna is mounted, will be demolished soon. Considerable expense is required to install our antenna and feed line onto the new, forthcoming tower. As of today, about $4,000 is still needed to reach our funding goal for this project. We hope that we can count on your financial support during 2017.
Thirdly, thank you all for your continued on-air participation during our weekly Skywarn Training Nets on Tuesday evenings at 7 o’clock. Given our mission to protect lives and property, it is compulsory that we continually test our equipment and keep fresh our radio operating abilities. Checking into the Tuesday evening net is one such way to do this. Please continue to participate in these nets during 2017. Additionally, there are 2 other nets which take place on most of our linked repeaters on Sunday evenings. The Springfield Emergency Response Communications (E.R.C.) Net meets at 7 p.m. on Sundays, and the new Skywarn Youth Net meets at 7:30 p.m. on Sundays. We invite all hams to tune in and check into both of these Sunday evening nets as well. And, to be clear, while the Skywarn Youth Net is geared toward younger hams and allows them to check in first, all hams are encouraged to participate. When you check into the Skywarn Youth Net, you are showing your support and encouragement toward younger hams and future hams.
Finally, there are a couple of people who work very hard and put forth considerable personal financial expense and personal time to keep this repeater system on the air and to further our Skywarn spotter activities. A special thanks goes out to Mike, N0NQW, who is the trustee of all of the N0NWS repeaters in Fordland (Springfield), Joplin and Buffalo. Special thanks also goes out to Jim, N0UAM, who is probably the most dedicated and professional Skywarn net control operator on the planet. Both Mike and Jim have probably logged hundreds or even thousands of volunteer hours over the past several years. They’ll never brag about it. In fact, they are two of the most humble folks you’ll ever meet. So, at this time, we would like to say “Thank You” to both of you for your continued dedication and work in keeping this mission going strong.
Happy 2017, everyone! We’ll see you on the air.