UPDATE: SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) 2013 Friday Evening December 6th at 7 PM Through Saturday December 7th at 7 PM

Hello to all..

The following is a special announcement on SKYWARN Recognition Day. This announcement also appears on the WX1BOX home page via the following link:

http://beta.wx1box.org/node/3374

Announcement text is listed below:

The National Weather Service in Taunton Amateur Radio Station, WX1BOX, will once again be active for SKYWARN Recognition Day 2013. In addition, for the seventh straight year, the National Weather Service Gray, Maine Office will also be active under call-sign, WX1GYX. The Boston Amateur Radio Club will also be active as they have been over the past several years at the NWS Blue Hill Observatory under call-sign W1BOS from 9 AM-3 PM Saturday December 7th, 2013.

This will be the 15th year of SKYWARN Recognition Day and its anticipated that over 100 NWS Forecast Offices will be participating once again this year. A Web link to information on SKYWARN Recognition Day can be seen at the following link:

http://hamradio.noaa.gov

The following is a schedule of repeaters that will be utilized along with simplex being utilized during certain timeframes on Saturday at WX1BOX. We hope Amateurs will utilize this schedule and try and work WX1BOX during these various timeframes. If you don’t hear NWS, feel free to call for WX1BOX and if the office is monitoring, a response will be given. When you make contact, give your current sky condition and temperature as required. Below is the tentative schedule of operations:

Friday December 6th, 2013:
7:00-7:30 PM:    146.970-Paxton Repeater (PL: 114.8 Hz)
7:30-8:00 PM:    147.180-Bridgewater Repeater (PL: 67.0 Hz)
8:00-8:30 PM:    147.000-Dartmouth Repeater (PL: 67.0 Hz)
8:30-9:00 PM:    146.955-Westford Repeater (PL: 74.4 Hz)
9:00-9:30 PM:    146.79-Vernon, CT Repeater (PL: 82.5 Hz) (linked via IRLP.)
9:30-10:00 PM:   147.225-Killingly, CT Repeater (PL: 156.7 Hz)
10:00-10:30 PM:  146.760-Scituate, RI Repeater PL: 67.0 Hz
10:30-11:00 PM:  145.470-Danvers, MA Repeater (PL: 136.5 Hz)
11:00-11:30 PM:  146.955-Barnstable, MA Repeater PL: 88.5 or 147.375-Falmouth Repeater PL: 110.9
11:30 PM-12:00 AM: 146.640-Waltham Repeater

**Will Attempt to monitor both the New England Network and the *WX-TALK*/IRLP Reflector 9219 systems during this entire timeframe.

**It is possible we may switch off to different repeaters or simplex during time slots if we run out of contacts.

Saturday December 7th, 2013:
7:00-8:30 AM:   146.595 Simplex
8:30-9:00 AM:   Litchfield County Linked System via KB1AEV repeater system
9:00-9:30 AM:   145.230-Boston Repeater (PL: 88.5 Hz)
9:30-10:00 AM:  146.640-Waltham Repeater
10:00-11:00 AM: NWS Taunton will participate in the Eastern Massachusetts Hospital Net
11:00-11:30 AM: 146.895-Walpole Repeater (PL: 123.0 Hz)
11:30-12:00 PM: 147.225-Killingly, CT Repeater (PL: 156.7 Hz)
12:00-12:30 PM: 145.470-Danvers Repeater (PL: 136.5 Hz)
12:30 PM-100 PM:  146.79-Vernon, CT Repeater (Linked via IRLP.)
1:00-1:30 PM:   146.595 Simplex
1:30-2:00 PM:   145.37-Gardner/145.45-Fitchburg/147.39 Repeaters via IRLP 9122
2:00-2:30 PM:   146.685-Plymouth Repeater (PL: 82.5 Hz)
2:30-3:00 PM:   145.130-Gloucester Repeater (PL: 107.2 Hz)
3:00-3:30 PM:   146.955-Barnstable (PL: 88.5) or 147.375-Falmouth Repeater (PL: 110.9)
3:30-4:00 PM:   146.955-Westford Repeater (PL: 74.4)
4:00-4:30 PM:   146.970-Paxton Repeater (PL: 114.8)
4:30-5:00 PM:   147.165-Exeter, RI Repeater (PL: 67.0)
5:00-5:30 PM:   146.760-Scituate, RI (PL: 67.0)
5:30-6:00 PM:   147.000-Fairhaven Repeater (PL: 67.0)
6:00-6:30 PM:   147.180-Bridgewater Repeater (PL: 67.0)
6:30-7:00 PM:   449.375-Pack Monadnock, NH Repeater (PL: 88.5 Hz)

**Will Attempt to monitor both the New England Network and the *WX-TALK*/IRLP Reflector 9219 systems during this entire timeframe.

**It is possible we may switch off to different repeaters or simplex during time slots if we run out of contacts.

There have been questions on whether we will utilize HF during SKYWARN Recognition Day. We will be utilizing HF. It is hard to know what bands and frequencies will be utilizing as it will depend on propagation and the amount of stations that we are working on various HF bands as well as operator availability at WX1BOX. A rough guideline is that we will likely be on 40 or 75 Meters during Friday Evening and on 20 Meters during much of the daytime hours Saturday switching to 40 or 75 meters towards evening. We will be sending out Tweets and Facebook status updates on what frequencies will be operating on via HF.

We will also be utilizing 6-Meters FM for the first time during SRD since we now have that functionality in working order at NWS Taunton. The setup is a Vertical Antenna through an Icom IC-706 Radio. The following repeaters and simplex will be utilized during SRD on 6-Meters. This schedule may change as we get closer to the SRD event and 6-Meter use during SRD may expand depending on operator availability etc.

1230-1245 PM: 53.31-Mt Wachusett, MA
1245-100 PM:  53.07-Hopkinton MA
100-115 PM:   51.74-Hopkinton, MA
115-130 PM:   53.01-Barnstable, MA
115-130 PM:   53.17-Portsmouth, RI (KA1RCI)
130-145 PM:   53.27-Framingham, MA
145-200 PM:   53.81-Marlborough, MA
200-215 PM:   53.830-Fitchburg, MA
215-230 PM:   52.525-Simplex

The following is information EchoLink/IRLP operations during SKYWARN Recognition Day on the *WX_TALK* Echolink Conference node: 7203/IRLP 9212 system. Further updates to follow as we get closer to the event. See the list of NWS offices below:

Time in UTC NWS Office Call-Sign
0000-0100: WX0GLD (Confirmed Time slot for This year)
0100-0200: WX1GYX (Confirmed Time slot for this year)
0200-0300: WX4MLB (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0300-0400: W0ABR  (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0400-0500: WX1BOX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0500-0600: WX9GRB (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0600-0700: WX4HUN (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0700-0800: WX7RNO (New NWS office for 2013)
0800-0900: KL7FWX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0900-1000: KL7FWX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1000-1100: KL7FWX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1100-1200: WX4HUN (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1200-1300: W7NWS  (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1300-1400: KL7FWX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1400-1500: WX7SLC (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1500-1530: WX1BOX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1530-1600: N0F    (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1600-1700: WX4NC  (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1700-1800: N0NWS  (Moved from 0700-0800 UTC time slot in past years)
1800-1900: WX6MTR (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1900-2000: K0MPX  (Confirmed time slot for this year)
2000-2100: WX4MLB (Confirmed time slot for this year)
2100-2300: WX4NHC (Confirmed time slot for this year)
2300-2400: WX6NWS (Confirmed time slot for this year)

There will be other conference systems utilized for SKYWARN Recognition Day. They are as follows:

The New England Reflector Gateway System will be utilized by the NWS Taunton, Mass. and NWS Gray, Maine offices from 0000-0500 UTC and 1200-2400 UTC. The New England Gateway system is on EchoLink Conference server *NEW-ENG* Node: 9123, IRLP reflector 9123. If other NWS offices would like to join the system, they are welcome to do so and participants in SKYWARN Recognition Day can also use that system to make contact with various NWS offices. This is a great place to move off the *WX_TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP 9219 system after your scheduled time if other Amateurs or NWS offices whish to make contact with you.

Also, the Western Reflector will be having NWS offices calling CQ as in past years and have multiple reflector channels and Echolink conferences available. There is reflector 9250/Echolink Conference *HI-GATE* node: 357564, IRLP 9251 and the *WORLD* Echolink Conference node: 479886, IRLP 9257/*DCF-ARC* Echolink Conference node: 336037 and IRLP 9258/EchoLink Conference *NV-GATE* Node: 152566 open for NWS offices. Please contact Kent-W7AOR for additional information on the Western Reflector.

A few technical reminders for folks interested in making contacts with the NWS Forecast Offices on the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP 9219 and New England Reflector Gateway IRLP 9123/*NEW-ENG* Echolink Node: 9123 systems:

-The system allows both EchoLink and IRLP connections. For EchoLink users, you connect to the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203 conference system. For IRLP users, you would connect to IRLP reflector 9219.

-If you are using EchoLink, the RF node or PC that you’re using must have EchoLink conferencing disabled. If it is not disabled, the system will automatically kick the node or PC off of the system. The reason this occurs is to prevent unintentional interference from a conferencing station that may not know the node is connected somewhere else. This will keep traffic moving on the net and reduce interference considerably.

For more information on VoIP Technical Configuration Tips, please go to our web site at http://www.voipwx.net where we have a link to that information on the main menu of the web site. This announcement will also be on the web site.

We are looking forward to another fun SKYWARN Recognition Day on the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP reflector 9219 system, New England Reflector Gateway system and Western Reflector system. Thanks to all for their support!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://beta.wx1box.org
Like us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/wx1box

Hello to all..

The following is a special announcement on SKYWARN Recognition Day. This announcement also appears on the WX1BOX home page via the following link:

http://beta.wx1box.org/node/3374

Announcement text is listed below:

The National Weather Service in Taunton Amateur Radio Station, WX1BOX, will once again be active for SKYWARN Recognition Day 2013. In addition, for the seventh straight year, the National Weather Service Gray, Maine Office will also be active under call-sign, WX1GYX. The Boston Amateur Radio Club will also be active as they have been over the past several years at the NWS Blue Hill Observatory under call-sign W1BOS from 9 AM-3 PM Saturday December 7th, 2013.

This will be the 15th year of SKYWARN Recognition Day and its anticipated that over 100 NWS Forecast Offices will be participating once again this year. A Web link to information on SKYWARN Recognition Day can be seen at the following link:

http://hamradio.noaa.gov

The following is a schedule of repeaters that will be utilized along with simplex being utilized during certain timeframes on Saturday at WX1BOX. We hope Amateurs will utilize this schedule and try and work WX1BOX during these various timeframes. If you don’t hear NWS, feel free to call for WX1BOX and if the office is monitoring, a response will be given. When you make contact, give your current sky condition and temperature as required. Below is the tentative schedule of operations:

Friday December 6th, 2013:
7:00-7:30 PM:    146.970-Paxton Repeater (PL: 114.8 Hz)
7:30-8:00 PM:    147.180-Bridgewater Repeater (PL: 67.0 Hz)
8:00-8:30 PM:    147.000-Dartmouth Repeater (PL: 67.0 Hz)
8:30-9:00 PM:    146.955-Westford Repeater (PL: 74.4 Hz)
9:00-9:30 PM:    146.79-Vernon, CT Repeater (PL: 82.5 Hz) (linked via IRLP.)
9:30-10:00 PM:   147.225-Killingly, CT Repeater (PL: 156.7 Hz)
10:00-10:30 PM:  146.760-Scituate, RI Repeater PL: 67.0 Hz
10:30-11:00 PM:  145.470-Danvers, MA Repeater (PL: 136.5 Hz)
11:00-11:30 PM:  146.955-Barnstable, MA Repeater PL: 88.5 or 147.375-Falmouth Repeater PL: 110.9
11:30 PM-12:00 AM: 146.640-Waltham Repeater

**Will Attempt to monitor both the New England Network and the *WX-TALK*/IRLP Reflector 9219 systems during this entire timeframe.

**It is possible we may switch off to different repeaters or simplex during time slots if we run out of contacts.

Saturday December 7th, 2013:
7:00-8:30 AM:   146.595 Simplex
8:30-9:00 AM:   Litchfield County Linked System via KB1AEV repeater system
9:00-9:30 AM:   145.230-Boston Repeater (PL: 88.5 Hz)
9:30-10:00 AM:  146.640-Waltham Repeater
10:00-11:00 AM: NWS Taunton will participate in the Eastern Massachusetts Hospital Net
11:00-11:30 AM: 146.895-Walpole Repeater (PL: 123.0 Hz)
11:30-12:00 PM: 147.225-Killingly, CT Repeater (PL: 156.7 Hz)
12:00-12:30 PM: 145.470-Danvers Repeater (PL: 136.5 Hz)
12:30 PM-100 PM:  146.79-Vernon, CT Repeater (Linked via IRLP.)
1:00-1:30 PM:   146.595 Simplex
1:30-2:00 PM:   145.37-Gardner/145.45-Fitchburg/147.39 Repeaters via IRLP 9122
2:00-2:30 PM:   146.685-Plymouth Repeater (PL: 82.5 Hz)
2:30-3:00 PM:   145.130-Gloucester Repeater (PL: 107.2 Hz)
3:00-3:30 PM:   146.955-Barnstable (PL: 88.5) or 147.375-Falmouth Repeater (PL: 110.9)
3:30-4:00 PM:   146.955-Westford Repeater (PL: 74.4)
4:00-4:30 PM:   146.970-Paxton Repeater (PL: 114.8)
4:30-5:00 PM:   147.165-Exeter, RI Repeater (PL: 67.0)
5:00-5:30 PM:   146.760-Scituate, RI (PL: 67.0)
5:30-6:00 PM:   147.000-Fairhaven Repeater (PL: 67.0)
6:00-6:30 PM:   147.180-Bridgewater Repeater (PL: 67.0)
6:30-7:00 PM:   449.375-Pack Monadnock, NH Repeater (PL: 88.5 Hz)

**Will Attempt to monitor both the New England Network and the *WX-TALK*/IRLP Reflector 9219 systems during this entire timeframe.

**It is possible we may switch off to different repeaters or simplex during time slots if we run out of contacts.

There have been questions on whether we will utilize HF during SKYWARN Recognition Day. We will be utilizing HF. It is hard to know what bands and frequencies will be utilizing as it will depend on propagation and the amount of stations that we are working on various HF bands as well as operator availability at WX1BOX. A rough guideline is that we will likely be on 40 or 75 Meters during Friday Evening and on 20 Meters during much of the daytime hours Saturday switching to 40 or 75 meters towards evening. We will be sending out Tweets and Facebook status updates on what frequencies will be operating on via HF.

We will also be utilizing 6-Meters FM for the first time during SRD since we now have that functionality in working order at NWS Taunton. The setup is a Vertical Antenna through an Icom IC-706 Radio. The following repeaters and simplex will be utilized during SRD on 6-Meters. This schedule may change as we get closer to the SRD event and 6-Meter use during SRD may expand depending on operator availability etc.

1230-1245 PM: 53.31-Mt Wachusett, MA
1245-100 PM:  53.07-Hopkinton MA
100-115 PM:   51.74-Hopkinton, MA
115-130 PM:   53.01-Barnstable, MA
115-130 PM:   53.17-Portsmouth, RI (KA1RCI)
130-145 PM:   53.27-Framingham, MA
145-200 PM:   53.81-Marlborough, MA
200-215 PM:   53.830-Fitchburg, MA
215-230 PM:   52.525-Simplex

The following is information EchoLink/IRLP operations during SKYWARN Recognition Day on the *WX_TALK* Echolink Conference node: 7203/IRLP 9212 system. Further updates to follow as we get closer to the event. See the list of NWS offices below:

Time in UTC NWS Office Call-Sign
0000-0100: WX0GLD (Confirmed Time slot for This year)
0100-0200: WX1GYX (Confirmed Time slot for this year)
0200-0300: WX4MLB (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0300-0400: W0ABR  (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0400-0500: WX1BOX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0500-0600: WX9GRB (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0600-0700: WX4HUN (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0700-0800: WX7RNO (New NWS office for 2013)
0800-0900: KL7FWX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0900-1000: KL7FWX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1000-1100: KL7FWX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1100-1200: WX4HUN (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1200-1300: W7NWS  (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1300-1400: KL7FWX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1400-1500: WX7SLC (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1500-1530: WX1BOX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1530-1600: N0F    (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1600-1700: WX4NC  (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1700-1800: N0NWS  (Moved from 0700-0800 UTC time slot in past years)
1800-1900: WX6MTR (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1900-2000: K0MPX  (Confirmed time slot for this year)
2000-2100: WX4MLB (Confirmed time slot for this year)
2100-2300: WX4NHC (Confirmed time slot for this year)
2300-2400: WX6NWS (Confirmed time slot for this year)

There will be other conference systems utilized for SKYWARN Recognition Day. They are as follows:

The New England Reflector Gateway System will be utilized by the NWS Taunton, Mass. and NWS Gray, Maine offices from 0000-0500 UTC and 1200-2400 UTC. The New England Gateway system is on EchoLink Conference server *NEW-ENG* Node: 9123, IRLP reflector 9123. If other NWS offices would like to join the system, they are welcome to do so and participants in SKYWARN Recognition Day can also use that system to make contact with various NWS offices. This is a great place to move off the *WX_TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP 9219 system after your scheduled time if other Amateurs or NWS offices whish to make contact with you.

Also, the Western Reflector will be having NWS offices calling CQ as in past years and have multiple reflector channels and Echolink conferences available. There is reflector 9250/Echolink Conference *HI-GATE* node: 357564, IRLP 9251 and the *WORLD* Echolink Conference node: 479886, IRLP 9257/*DCF-ARC* Echolink Conference node: 336037 and IRLP 9258/EchoLink Conference *NV-GATE* Node: 152566 open for NWS offices. Please contact Kent-W7AOR for additional information on the Western Reflector.

A few technical reminders for folks interested in making contacts with the NWS Forecast Offices on the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP 9219 and New England Reflector Gateway IRLP 9123/*NEW-ENG* Echolink Node: 9123 systems:

-The system allows both EchoLink and IRLP connections. For EchoLink users, you connect to the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203 conference system. For IRLP users, you would connect to IRLP reflector 9219.

-If you are using EchoLink, the RF node or PC that you’re using must have EchoLink conferencing disabled. If it is not disabled, the system will automatically kick the node or PC off of the system. The reason this occurs is to prevent unintentional interference from a conferencing station that may not know the node is connected somewhere else. This will keep traffic moving on the net and reduce interference considerably.

For more information on VoIP Technical Configuration Tips, please go to our web site at http://www.voipwx.net where we have a link to that information on the main menu of the web site. This announcement will also be on the web site.

We are looking forward to another fun SKYWARN Recognition Day on the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP reflector 9219 system, New England Reflector Gateway system and Western Reflector system. Thanks to all for their support!

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://beta.wx1box.org
Like us on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/wx1box
Follow us on Twitter – http://twitter.com/wx1box

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