Author: Michael Blake

The National Weather Service, along with the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency and the Kansas Division of Emergency Management, has designated the week of March 4th through March 10th as Severe Weather Awareness Week for 2018 in both Missouri and Kansas.

The State Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service will conduct their Annual Severe Weather Tornado Drill on Tuesday, March 6th, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. weather permitting. Everyone including schools and businesses is encouraged to participate in this drill.

During this drill, the National Weather Service Springfield will issue a test tornado warning. Local warning sirens, NOAA All-Hazards Weather Radio, and the Emergency Alert System (EAS) will be activated to signal the start of the drill. The “TOR” code for EAS and NOAA Weather Radio will be used again this year to simulate what would occur in the event of an actual tornado warning.

Source: National Weather Service Forecast Office, Springfield, Missouri

The past several days have been very wet which resulted in flooding of streams, rivers, and many roads. Seven-day rainfall totals from February 18 through February 25, 2018, generally ranged from 3 to 6 inches with localized higher amounts around 7 inches. The highest totals were across southern Missouri generally along and south of Interstate 44.  This excessive rainfall resulted in 70 flood reports.

Below is a graphic showing observed precipitation across our area throughout this event.

Observed Rainfall from February 18 through February 25

The National Weather Service in Springfield, Missouri has canceled this evening’s Skywarn Storm Spotter class for Greene County and Springfield, Missouri because of the threat of icy weather.

They say they will reschedule the class at another time and date.

The National Weather Service Forecast Office in Springfield, Missouri has released the Climate Summary for January 2018. They say it was a month with extreme temperatures, some winter weather, and even a tornado. When averaged out temperatures were slightly below normal across the area with below normal precipitation.

Click here or on the graphic below for details.

Saturday, February 24, 2018 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Battlefield Mall, Springfield, Missouri

Battlefield Mall will host the 2018 Severe Weather Awareness Expo along with the National Weather Service and other local agencies and partners to better equip Southwest Missouri communities to prepare for the upcoming severe weather season of tornadoes, flash flooding and severe storms. The event will be located in the East Court of the mall and it is free to attend. Mark your calendars for Saturday, February 24th from 10 am to 2 pm…Bring the whole family! An interactive map to Battlefield Mall is available below.

Missouri is known for its dangerous weather ranging from tornadoes, to extreme flooding, and even winter storms. It’s important for Missourians to know about weather safety since we have the extremes. The Severe Weather Awareness Expo at the Battlefield Mall is to inform the community on how to keep their families safe before and after severe weather hits.

NWS Springfield along with other local partner agencies and media outlets will be there to educate the community on severe weather. There will be fun interactive activities and educational material for everyone. We will have our tornado simulation machine on display. There will be meteorologists there to answer your questions and even help you program your NOAA weather radio.

Also trained spotters and volunteers from Southwest Missouri Regional Skywarn will be on hand as well to answer any questions you might have about getting involved with weather spotting via amateur radio. We hope to see you there.

Getting the Buffalo Repeater moved to its new home on the KRBK television tower in Polk, Missouri continues to be a very long yet steady process, but we’re getting close! As you may remember from previous updates, the biggest delay in this project has been the need for us to construct our own “repeater shack” because we are unable to mount our equipment inside of the existing building at the tower site.

Construction of the shack is almost complete (pictured left). Electrical wiring has been installed (pictured below). Once the finishing touches including paint and roofing material are in place, it will be time to move the structure to the tower site. As you can see in the photo to the left, the shack is already sitting on the utility trailer that will be used to transport it.

We thank everyone for their patience and understanding throughout this process. For those of you who donated toward this project, the fruits of your giving will be recognized soon.

More updates on the progress of this repeater are forthcoming. Stay tuned.

The National Weather Service in Springfield, Missouri is confirming that a brief EF-1 tornado touched down Sunday night near Mount Vernon and Hoberg, Missouri. The NWS storm survey reports the tornado hit about two miles southeast of Hoberg at about 8:04 p.m. and traveled for about one and a half miles on the ground. It was approximately 75 yards wide and had peak winds of nearly 95 miles per hour. Surveyors say four outbuildings, an irrigation system, two ski boats, and numerous trees were destroyed. Other minor damage occurred to a house and a larger outbuilding. No injuries were reported.

Above left is a Doppler radar image showing relative wind velocities at the time the tornado touched down. The area with bright green next to dark red indicates the rotation

The National Weather Service says the tornado was spawned “when a strong spring-like upper level and slightly negative tilted trough moved across the Ozarks region Sunday evening. The atmospheric environment was highly sheared with low instability.”

Below is a map of the tornado’s path. For more details including photos of damage caused by the tornado, click here.

As we reported here last March, two new ham bands were recently authorized by the FCC here in the United States. Since then, we have been waiting for publication of the rules in the Federal Register, and that time has finally come.

Stations cannot immediately start transmitting between 472 kHz. through 479 kHz or between 135.7 kHz and 137.8 kHz. First of all, the soonest one can transmit is 30 days after the aforementioned publication which was dated September 15, 2017. Additionally, ALL amateurs wishing to use these new Low Frequency (LF) and Medium Frequency (MF) bands must  notify the Utilities Technology Council (UTC) that they plan to do so. According to the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), if the UTC does not respond within 30 days, [licensed hams] may commence operation.

You can notify the UTC via the following website:  https://utc.org/plc-database-amateur-notification-process

If the UTC does not object to your use of these new frequencies from your specified antenna location within 30 days, then you may commence operation. So, the needed 30-day waiting period after publication in the Federal Register will run concurrently with that same period that one must wait to hear from the Utilities Technology Council. So, assuming one notified the UTC on September 15, 2017, and they receive no objections from them, then it’s safe to say that the earliest we can expect to use these new bands would be Sunday, October 15, 2017. It is not known whether the UTC will notify hams saying that they can operate on those bands. It will most likely be a “no news is good news” type of situation.

According to the ARRL, The FCC Part 97 rules that will apply to these new bands are: Part 97.3, 97.15(c), 97.301(b) through (d), 97.303(g), 97.305(c), and 97.313(k) and (l), which do not require OMB approval.

In a nutshell, here are a few requirements and restrictions for 630 meters and 2,200 meters:

1) You cannot operate portable or mobile! You may only transmit from a fixed antenna whose coordinates are registered and approved by the Utilities Technology Council (UTC). If you plan to transmit from more than one location, you must first notify the UTC of each specific antenna location. If a location is objected to, then you may not transmit from said location.

2) Only General and above licensees may transmit on 630 meters and 2,200 meters.

3) On 2,200 meters, the maximum Equivalent Isotropically Radiated Power (EIRP) is 1 watt with a maximum transmitter Peak Envelope Power of 1,500 watts allowed.

4) On 630 meters, the the maximum Equivalent Isotropically Radiated Power (EIRP) is 5 watts with a maximum transmitter Peak Envelope Power of 500 watts allowed (except in parts of Alaska within 800 kilometers (approximately 496 miles) of Russia, where the maximum is 1 watt EIRP) still with a maximum transmitter Peak Envelope Power of 500 watts allowed.
EIRP refers to the effective power output when antenna gain is factored in. Given the very long wavelengths on these bands, most antennas will be very inefficient and will thus have negative gain. So, most hams will most likely be able to transmit a PEP of 100 watts or maybe more while remaining well below the EIRP limits of 1 watt and 5 watts on 2,200 meters are 630 meters respectively.

5) Maximum antenna height is 60 meters (about 196 feet) above ground.
Most folks will not come close to putting an antenna up this high.

6) Emission Types Allowed: CW (international Morse code telegraphy), RTTY (narrow-band direct-printing telegraphy), data, phone, and image emissions.
The FCC’s allowance of telephony (aka: phone or SSB voice) is surprising given the narrow bandwidth of both of these bands, especially 2,200 meters. In their Report and Order dated September 15, 2017, the FCC says, “These emission types provide amateur operators with maximum flexibility, and we find that additional restrictions would needlessly hinder experimentation.” This is a commendable stance on the part of the FCC, and experimentation is indeed what will be required in order to squeeze an analog voice transmission into 2.1 kHz. of spectrum on 2,200 meters.

7) We must not cause harmful interference to, and must accept interference from, stations authorized by the United States Government in the fixed and maritime mobile services and stations authorized by other nations in the fixed, maritime mobile, and radionavigation services.

8) We may not communicate with holders of experimental licenses on these frequencies, and they may not communicate with us. According to the FCC, “Amateur operations in these bands currently authorized under experimental licenses should transition their operations in accordance with the adopted rules and not circumvent such rules by use of experimental licenses.”

9) Automatically controlled stations are permitted on these new bands!

For more details, you can view the FCC’s Report and Order pertaining to this article by clicking here.

And to view the latest edition of Part 97 Rules, you can visit the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations Website for Part 97.

Good luck on our newest amateur radio bands!

We are thrilled to report that the 145.49 MHz. repeater is back on the air today following a major antenna and coaxial feed line failure earlier this month. For the time being, we are using a temporary, bare-bones setup. It does work, and it will get the job done. EchoLink appears to be working as well, so the N0NWS-R EchoLink node should function properly with a few minor differences in sound quality.

As a result, the Skywarn Training Net for, Tuesday, September 12, 2017, is scheduled to take place starting at 7:00 p.m. Central. Please be sure to join Jim, N0UAM on the air and check in.

We thank you for your patience during this challenging time. There is much work ahead to restore the 145.49 MHz. repeater (which is the hub of our Southwest Missouri Regional Skywarn Repeater Network) back to its full capacity. Please stay tuned.

The Springfield E.R.C.Net and the Skywarn Youth Net for today, Sunday, September 10, 2017, have been cancelled.

The 145.490 MHz. N0NWS Repeater is currently operating at extremely low power following failure of its antenna system earlier this month.

We are hoping to have a temporary setup in place sometime on Tuesday. As such, there is a chance that we will be able to resume our net schedule in time for the Skywarn Training Net on Tuesday, September 12, 2017.

At this time there is no severe weather expected for the next 7 days. The latest Forecast Discussion from the National Weather Service in Springfield says “we will have some rain chances into our eastern counties late Tuesday/Tuesday night/early Wednesday” as the remnants of Hurricane Irma are expected to shift northwest into western Tennessee by Tuesday night.

Thank you for your patience. Rest assured, we are working fervently to resolve this matter. Please continue to watch for future email blasts and check our website at www.N0NWS.com often for the latest updates.