SKYWARN Newsletter #26
Hello to all...
SKYWARN Training Update...
SKYWARN Activated for Western New England Thursday 2/27...
Greater Boston Area and North Shore SKYWARN Becoming More Active...
APRS Now Online at NWS Brookhaven...
ARES/RACES/SKYWARN Pagers Update...
SKYWARN Newsletter from Glenn Field to Be Mailed Soon...
***Newsletter Issued: 3/2/97
SKYWARN Training Update...
There have been some updates in obtaining a SKYWARN training session
in the North Shore area but we are still awaiting word on other
areas for training sessions.
North Shore: Terry Stader MEMA Area I Radio Officer, has secured MEMA
Area I headquarters for SKYWARN training for a date to
be decided on by Glenn Field. Also, I have asked Terry
to assist in securing the VA Hospital in Bedford, MA
along with Carl, N1FYZ.
Boston Area: Awaiting word from NUARC on SKYWARN Training at Northeastern
University.
Southern NH: Awaiting word from Don Dillaby and David Day on a date to
use the Nashua Town Hall for SKYWARN Training.
Connecticut: Awaiting a date to use the Canton High School in Canton
Connecticut for SKYWARN Training.
Western RI: Awaiting word from N1JMA, Martin Mendelson, and K1KYI,
Rick Fairweather, on SKYWARN Training in the Warwick RI
area.
We are rapidly approaching a full SKYWARN Training Schedule for this
year, and the devotion and work of all Amateur Radio Operators, Weather
Spotters, ARES and Emergency Management people are the reason for it.
Thanks to all for their assistance in obtaining SKYWARN training for
the region.
SKYWARN Activated for Western New England Thursday 2/27...
SKYWARN was activated from 4 PM-6PM on Thursday for the possibility
of a similar line of thunderstorms that affected the region on
Saturday 2/22/97. Although this did not materialize this was
a good oppurtunity to check out the station's slightly new location
and offer solutions to a few minor problems. Here is what will be
done:
The voice radio will be reprogrammed with all regions SKYWARN frequencies
segmented by geography. In other words, the first "bank" of frequnecies
will contain Western Mass and Northern Connecticut frequencies, followed
by Central Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Southern New Hampshire, then
Eastern Massachusetts. This way your not scrolling from channel 1 to
29 to obtain severe weather reports from repeaters that are near the
same geographical area. Also, Glenn Field will obtain a keyboard rack
so that there is space for the operators to write the reports as there
is little space to do that now. The SKYWARN procedures will also be
updated with basic functions of the voice radio, and some references
to the voice radio's manual for further information.
Greater Boston Area and North Shore SKYWARN Becoming More Active...
Jeff Arnold, and Terry Stader are trying to get the Waltham SKYWARN
net up and running on a weekly basis as well as trying to establish
stronger ties with NWS Taunton. Since the move, it has been difficult
for them to obtain information from NWS, but through the SKYWARN
Newsletter, we hope to remedy the situation.
Jeff Arnold activated SKYWARN on the Waltham repeater for the last
event just in case conditions worsened for the region. Although
NWS did not activate SKYWARN for this region, it is great to see
a SKYWARN contact activate on his own based on information that
led him to believe SKYWARN activation is required. It is better
to activate and be prepared then not to activate as it can be
a great training exercise and best of all its not a drill, it is
a real threat.
Jeff Arnold is now on this email list, and his QTH is now in Peabody
which is very close to the Danvers Repeater on 145.47 Mhz, and he
hopes to check in to that net as well. I am hoping that strong ties
between the Danvers and Waltham repeaters for SKYWARN will occur, similiar
to the strong ties for traffice nets, and PSE's between Waltham and
Boston, stay tuned here and on the Waltham and Danvers repeaters
for further developments.
APRS Now Online at NWS Brookhaven...
APRS is now online at both NWS Brookhaven and NWS Mount Holly, NJ. I
will be contacting these people for information on what they've done
to get their NWS connected, and see how NWS meteorologists can effectively
utilize their system. I will also be continuing experimentation with APRS
at my station as well.
The following appeared in The Hudson Division Loop (our ARRL Division's
organ) and I thought you might be interested. 73
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
NWS APRS STATION GOES ONLINE
The National Weather Service Forecast Office in Upton, NY is the latest
NWS facility to go online with Amateur APRS technology. The APRS station,
WB2FXN-2, went online Saturday, February 15, at approximately 1730 hours.
The station will be used by the National Weather Service as part of its
SKYWARN Volunteer Spotter Program. On hand to help construct the station
were amateur operators Andy - WB2FXN, Joe - AB2M, Scott - N2ZKB, Ed - N2XDD,
Paul - KB2WNZ, and Joe - N2QPD.
The NWS APRS station monitors the area-wide APRS frequency, 145.790 MHz
for weather information. It uses the latest version (v1.3.0) of WU2Z's and
KB2ICI's WinAPRS software on a Windows 95 platform.
Amateur stations equipped with a two meter radio, a 1200 baud TNC, a
computer and the APRS software (DOS, Windows or Macintosh) can send infor-
mation on rain and snowfall amounts as well as severe weather reports to the
NWS station. The APRS packages interface with a number of weather instru-
mentation packages including those from Peet Brothers and Davis Instruments.
Live weather data can be transmitted from these station via APRS directly to
the National Weather Service.
The National Weather Service Office at Upton is located on the grounds
of the Brookhaven National Labs. It serves New York City, Long Island, the
Lower Hudson Valley, Northeast New Jersey and Southern Connecticut. It
joins the National Weather Service office at Mt Holly, NJ on the SKYWARN
APRS Network. The Mt. Holly National Weather Service Office serves thirty-
four counties in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania.
Amateur operators wishing to learn more about SKYWARN and APRS can
contact: Gary Conte - NWS Brookhaven at gary.conte@noaa.gov (SKYWARN); Joe
Miketta - NWS-Mt Holly at joseph.miketta@noaa.gov (SKYWARN); Keith Sproul,
WU2Z at ksproul@noc.rutgers.edu (APRS); Paul Toth, KB2WNZ, DEC/SKYWARN-
NNJ at ptoth@evertech.net (SKYWARN & APRS); or Andy Feldman, WB2FXN, Suffolk
County DEC/Long Island Deputy Skywarn Coordinator at afeldman@bnl.gov
(SKYWARN & APRS).
-- submitted by Paul J. Toth, KB2WNZ
SKYWARN Coordinator Middlesex & Union Counties
ARRL NNJ Section PIC/DEC SKYWARN
(ptoth@evertech.net)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Arte Booten (N2ZRC @ gnn.com)
Packet: N2ZRC@KB2VLX.#BRONX.NY.USA.NA
Local APRS Mentor/Elmer
ARES/RACES/SKYWARN Pagers Update...
Brad, N1VUF, and I will be reviewing a contract from Page New England
for pagers for our local ARES group this week which may also be ratified
for use by Section Emergency Coordinator, Ray Wall, for all of Eastern
Massachusetts. This is because of MobileComm filing Chapter 11, inducing
many hidden fees on people having those pagers, and the capcode for
paging being used by unauthorized people causing some users to have
to page additional fees for pages that were not for them. While we do
not have the contract, in hand, here are some preliminary details on
the pagers. Anyone who is not already on the list of getting pagers
can contact either Brad, N1VUF, or myself.
Here are the details known to date:
Example of the numeric pager costs...
6.00 pager * 6 months * 5% tax = $37.8
0.50 insurance *6 months = $3.00
$5.00 one-time activation
Grand total 1st bill $45.80
$40.80 subsequest billing every 6 months
Example of the Alpha pager costs...
9.00 pager * 6 months * 5% tax = $56.70
0.50 insurance *6 months = $3.00
$5.00 one-time activation
Grand total 1st bill $64.70
$59.70 subsequest billing every 6 months
1.) A copy of the pager rental contract is being mailed for review.
2.) Pricing rate for numeric type is $6.00
3.) Pricing rate for alphanumeric type is $9.00
4.) Cost for insurance $0.50/month
5.) The billing cycle is semi-annually or every 6 months (whichever way
you want to say it)
6.) No deposit if paid semi-annually
7.) There is a one-time only activation charge of $5.00 per pager
8.) Number of pages per month for numeric by calling local number - 500
9.) Number of pages per month for alphanumeric by using the software -
500 w/software
10.) Number of operator pages per month for alphanumeric - 150 +
$10.00/month/extra fee
11.) Telephone numbers listed - Toll Free in 508 & 617
12.) Software is $39.95 on-time fee and can be distributed.
13.) Coverage area - 931 service - RI & Eastern MA/Concord NH
14.) Voice mail available for $5.00/month additional cost
15.) Alphanumeric is the Advisor Pro (2-line display) which is
comparable to Advisor Gold
16.) Numeric is the Bravo LX from Motorola
17.) Anyone who owns a pager now is better to sell it outright, not
worth connecting.
Russ is going to send a copy of the contract for me to review. Upon
review, I will forward it to everyone involved so that you will be aware
of the questions asked.
Minimum information is name, address, phone, date of birth, social
security number. They do NOT do credit checks since this is a group.
Just don't try to screw us on the fee. The minimum age is 18 so it will
have to be in a parent's or guardian's name for minors :(.
I will have further information hopefully next week. If you have any
further questions, feel free to call.
73 - N1VUF - Brad - (508) 991-5466
SKYWARN Newsletter from Glenn Field to Be Mailed Soon...
Glenn Field will be mailing the Prevailing Winds SKYWARN newsletter
soon, and it will include some of the events of last year including
the Supercell in Brockton, and Hurricane Edouard. It will also details
the structure of ARES and the ARRL as well as some slight changes in
how SKYWARN will be activated across the region.
That concludes this week's edition of the SKYWARN Newsletter,
Comments, Questions, or Suggestions are always welcome. The next
SKYWARN Newsletter will be issued in the March 1st-2nd timeframe.
Respectfully Submitted,
Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Greater New Bedford ARES Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: (508) 435-1000 Ext.: 3411 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@ma.ultranet.com
Packet Address: KD1CY @ AA1FS
http://www.ultranet.com/~rmacedo
Back to the SKYWARN Newsletter Archive