Author: Michael Blake

The National Weather Service is striving to support a “Weather-Ready Nation” by ensuring you are aware of and prepared for the variety of weather and water-based hazards we experience across the country every day. One factor in supporting this awareness and preparedness is to make sure their messaging is as clear and focused as possible.

For decades, the NWS has used the Watch, Warning, and Advisory (WWA) system to alert users of forecasted hazards. In many ways, the WWA system has been highly effective in protecting life and property. With that said, as they have collected feedback during the course of this project, they have learned that some users find the WWA terms confusing. Also, users are sometimes confused about how to interpret and distinguish among the large number of individual WWA “products” (e.g., Wind Advisory, Flood Watch, Winter Storm Warning).

Based on this initial feedback, and with support from social and behavioral scientists, NWS is exploring alternatives for more effectively communicating our hazard messages. The NWS says it is not making any changes to the operational system at this time but that they are carefully considering a number of options, as follows:

• Keep the current WWA system as is;
• Make small to moderate changes; or
• Make a transformational change to the WWA system.

Given that the WWA system has been in place for a very long time, the National Weather Service says it will be important to weigh any and all new ideas carefully, and to consider making initial small improvements while they continue to investigate the possibility of larger change. To support both efforts, the National Weather Service is collecting public comments on these options as they move forward.

Visit their new “Hazard Simplification” webpage at http://www.weather.gov/hazardsimplification/ and let your voice be heard.  You can read more information about this project and participate in an online survey.

Following several weeks of work and testing, we’re excited to announce that the Buffalo, Missouri repeater at 147.180 MHz. is now permanently linked into the Southwest Missouri Regional Skywarn linked repeater system. It took quite a bit of time to gather the resources to get this repeater to where it can be regularly linked. System trustee Mike, N0NQW, says the Buffalo Repeater has been outfitted with a brand new Yaesu Fusion DR-1X Repeater, a brand new commercial Vertex VX 2200 link radio, and a new CAT repeater controller. Unfortunately a preexisting issue with the antenna and feed line atop the tower continues to produce occasional bursts of static over weaker signals transmitting into this repeater. These static bursts sound a lot like the noise that nearby lightning makes on a radio receiver. At this time it seems unlikely that we will have the financial resources available to try to correct this problem prior to the scheduled razing of the water tower upon which the repeater’s antenna is mounted.  So, in the meantime, you may have to use high power to reliably access this repeater.  Once we are able to raise the funding needed to move the Buffalo Repeater to its new location following the water tower’s demolition, this problem will be resolved.
Southwest Missouri Regional Skywarn would like to thank Joye McElwee, N0OCP, for his very generous donation which has allowed the Buffalo Repeater to become a full time part of our linked repeater system. This repeater will provide much-needed coverage into northern portions of the Springfield, Missouri County Warning Area. Now we are relying on your financial support to guarantee that this repeater will be able to stay on the air after the water tower is taken down. Please make your pledge of support today.

Saturday’s earthquake, which was felt by spotters throughout the Springfield, Missouri County Warning Area, is now on record as the strongest earthquake in Oklahoma history!  The United States Geological Survey says the official magnitude of the September 3, 2016 Pawnee, Oklahoma earthquake is now 5.8 (up from 5.6).

According to a USGS press release, the magnitude revision is based on further in-depth analysis of seismic recordings. Changes in estimated magnitude for an earthquake are common in the hours-to-days following the event, as more data are analyzed in greater detail than is possible in the first minutes after the earthquake occurs.

Concurrently, the USGS is also updating the official magnitude of the November 6, 2011 Prague, Oklahoma earthquake to Mw 5.7 (from 5.6). Questions regarding their relative size prompted a re-analysis of both earthquakes. Both updates are the result of comprehensive studies of the long-period, globally-recorded seismic data for these earthquakes, using consistent approaches and datasets for each event.

“USGS analyses indicate that the two earthquakes are very similar in size – to within typically-cited uncertainties of 0.1 magnitude units,” said Gavin Hayes, USGS research geophysicist. “However, the 2016 Pawnee event is slightly larger than the Prague earthquake in 2011,” noted Hayes.

“While the difference in size between the two events is less than 0.1 magnitude units,” Hayes continued, “rounding magnitudes to one decimal place means that the magnitude of the Prague earthquake is Mw 5.7, and the Pawnee earthquake is Mw 5.8.”

Precisely ranking the largest earthquakes in Oklahoma is difficult because seismic instrumentation has vastly improved over the last several decades. Other large, documented and felt earthquakes in Oklahoma include an instrumentally recorded 1952 event centered near El Reno, to which magnitudes of 4.9 to 5.7 have been assigned. Before the instrumental era, an 1882 earthquake in southern Oklahoma has magnitude estimates ranging from 4.8 to 5.7, based on the area over which it was felt.

Magnitude estimates can vary for a variety of reasons, including differences in methods used to compute magnitude, differences in data used, uncertainties in that data, differences in how that data is processed, and differences in our assumptions about the Earth structure through which seismic waves travel.

The morning of Saturday, September 3, 2016, is certainly one for the books for a couple of reasons. Of course the big story was the California-sized earthquake that struck the Pawnee, Oklahoma area and shook the western portions of our County Warning Area out of bed shortly after 7 o’clock. At 5.6, this ties the all-time record quake magnitude for Oklahoma set back in 2011*. Immediately following the main shock, several hams began exchanging information across the Southwest Missouri Regional Skywarn linked repeaters, and, after just a couple of minutes, it became clear that the shaking was worse the further westward you went.  While this wasn’t good news for the weary residents of northern Oklahoma, for those of us pondering the potential time bomb that may lie underneath the boot heel of Missouri, it served as a small relief.

As several aftershocks, some greater than Magnitude 3.5, continued to drive the impromptu Saturday morning round table, a fairly significant band opening seemed to be in place on 2 meters. Several long distance contacts were made across our linked system including a station in Bartlesville, Oklahoma – just 50 miles from the main quake’s epicenter.  Later on another amazing contact was made by a ham using an HT and located near Montrose Lake, Missouri.  This is just a few miles east of Clinton and nearly 100 miles from the 145.49 repeater in Fordland!  This station was located high up on a power plant smokestack with an HT running 8 watts.  The real fun was when he was able to knock his power down to 1 watt while continuing to be full quieting into the repeater.

Saturday morning’s excitement reminds us that even though we are weather spotters who can understandably let our guard down on dry, sunny, 80-degree days, the fact remains that disaster can strike without notice.  With past and present quake swarms in neighboring Oklahoma and Arkansas along with our friend, New Madrid, to our east, we can’t afford to be complacent. So, no matter what the forecast is, keep those battery packs charged and check into our weekly nets.  Keep regular amateur radio operation within your routine, because, as we were reminded last Saturday, you just never know!

* UPDATE 09/08/2016: The United States Geological Survey on Wednesday, September 7, 2016 upgraded this earthquake to a Magnitude 5.8.  Please click here for the updated story. 

September is National Preparedness Month. It is a time to prepare yourself and those in your care for emergencies and disasters.  You know that emergencies can happen unexpectedly in communities just like yours, to people like you. We’ve seen tornado outbreaks, river floods and flash floods, historic earthquakes, tsunamis, and even water main breaks and power outages in U.S. cities affecting millions of people for days at a time. Police, fire and rescue may not always be able to reach you quickly in an emergency or disaster. The most important step you can take in helping your local responders is being able to take care of yourself and those in your care; the more people who are prepared, the quicker the community will recover This September, please prepare and plan in the event you must go for three days without electricity, water service, access to a supermarket, or local services for several days. National Preparedness Month culminates on September 30th with National Preparedness Day, the national day of action.

The National Weather Service is proud to be participating in NPM.  By doing so, we want to make sure YOU are prepared in case of a disaster (natural or man-made).  If you haven’t taken the time to think about how different disasters could effect you, then we challenge you to take the necessary steps to become informed and develop a family plan for such events.  These simple steps could SAVE YOUR LIFE!  (Click here to continue)

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.

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