December 2021 – Page 2

Storm Coordination Message #1 – Monday 12/6/21 – Strong to Damaging Wind Potential

December 6, 2021 Rob Macedo

Hello to all…

..A strong frontal system will bring unseasonably mild conditions but also strong to damaging winds along the cold front with convective showers and possibly an isolated strong thunderstorm. A Special Weather Statement on the potential for gusty winds up to 50 MPH for 1-2 hours along the cold front has been issued for interior locations. In Southeast coastal New England, a Wind Advisory is in effect..

..A Wind Advisory is now in effect from 1 PM Monday to 1 AM Tuesday for South Coastal Massachusetts and Rhode Island including Eastern Plymouth County and Cape Cod and the Islands for sustained winds of 20-30 MPH with gusts to 50 MPH likely. These winds will cause isolated to scattered pockets of tree and power line damage and power outages. The extent of these winds in the advisory area and possibly areas north and west of the Wind Advisory area will hinge on ability for strong winds to reach the surface, how warm temperatures get and convective showers and any thunderstorms bringing winds to the surface..

..SKYWARN Self-Activation will monitor strong to damaging wind and thunderstorm potential Monday Afternoon into Monday Night. Another coordination message will be posted by 10 AM Monday Morning. Below is the NWS Boston/Norton Wind Advisory Statement, Area Forecast Discussion and SPC Day-2 Convective Outlook..

NWS Boston/Norton Wind Advisory Statement:

https://kamala.cod.edu/ma/latest.wwus71.KBOX.html

NWS Boston/Norton Area Forecast Discussion:

https://kamala.cod.edu/ma/latest.fxus61.KBOX.html

SPC Day-2 Convective Outlook:

https://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/archive/2021/day2otlk_20211205_1730.html

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://www.wx1box.org
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Special Announcement: SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) 2021 Friday Evening 12/3/21 700 PM ET to Saturday Evening 12/4/21 700 PM ET and Changes for COVID19

December 1, 2021 Rob Macedo

Hello to all..

**SKYWARN Recognition Day 2021 will occur this year but modified due to COVID19 and the fact NWS offices are not allowed to have volunteer Amateur Radio Operators at any NWS office due to COVID. Similar to last year, a social media component will be added to engage non-Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters more with 2021’SRD.**

**SRD Numbers will be issued on a “best effort” basis for any late registrants as its a manual process. You do not need a SRD Number to participate in SRD’2021.**

Due to COVID19, typical WX1BOX Amateur Radio Operations will not occur at NWS Boston/Norton. There is a possibility similar to last year through the efforts of employees at NWS Norton who have Amateur Radio licenses, the WX1BOX station will be on the air for a few hours during SRD. Otherwise, the WX1BOX Amateur Radio team will be operating remotely via their home stations. In addition, the Boston Amateur Radio Club has cancelled their operations from Blue Hill for 2020 but will operate remotely. The NWS Gray Maine office cannot be active at the office due to the same restrictions on volunteers at NWS offices nationwide but will have remote SRD operation for 2021.

For WX1BOX Amateur Radio operations, we will cover the typical SKYWARN repeaters on VHF/UHF as well as simplex and be on HF via the various remote home stations along with our WX1BOX social media pages. In addition, contacts with other Amateur Radio SKYWARN stations will count towards NWS certificates. Similar to 2020, there will be a social media component to engage non-Amateur Radio and Amateur Radio SKYWARN spotters alike. The current set of information is available and additional information will be made available on the SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) web site via the following link:
https://www.weather.gov/crh/skywarnrecognition

Also, all participants are welcome to register on the SRD web site. They can obtain a SRD number. The SRD Number for this year is part of the qso exchange but is not a requirement. It is something new since 2020’SRD so as always there will likely be some glitches and delays in getting the SRD number but if you register and obtain your SRD number, please feel free to add that to your exchange.

There is also a SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) Facebook group open to all SKYWARN Spotters and Amateur Radio Operators. The Facebook group link is listed below:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/429783718861293

New for this year is we’d like to conduct an experiment to test and experiment with a radio email system known as Winlink. We would like to have Amateur Radio and non-Amateur Radio SKYWARN spotters test sending email to a radio based email. This system allows for emails to be retrieved over Internet but also over radio. You do not have to be an Amateur Radio Operator to be involved in this experiment. During the SRD period from Saturday 12/4/21 from 0000-2400 UTC (Friday Evening 12/3/21 7 PM EST-Saturday 12/4/21 7 PM EST), we’d like people to do the following:

1.) Compose an email with a report in text format or using one of the Winlink system specific weather or other forms to wx1box@winlink.org with either a current observation from the SRD time period or a prior severe weather event that occurred dring 2021. Do “not” include file attachments. For Amateur Radio Operators who have winlink setup, please go ahead and use winlink. For other Amateur Radio and non-Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters who do not have Winlink setup, feel free to use your normal email client but only use text and no attachments in the report.
2.) Put in the subject of the email //WL2K as this will allow for emails to get filtered through the built-in spam protection of the winlink system

We will acknowledge all emails as a contact and publish results of this work as part of the SRD’2021 report.

Also, new for this year is a SKYWARN Spotter Map that is being tied for SKYWARN Recognition Day 2021 but also shows a great display of SKYWARN Spotters across the country whether you are able to participate in 2021’SRD or not. To add yourself to the map, utilize the link below:
https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/6af367236b8b499f8a3c40110e58a596

Here is the SRD Schedule for 2021 for local repeater operation and this will be covered by various Amateurs from home stations using WX1BOX portable and then their personal call-sign:

Friday December 3rd, 2021:
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: 146.790-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: 145.470-Danvers, MA Repeater (PL: 136.5 Hz)
10:30-11:00 PM: 146.640-Waltham Repeater (PL: 136.5 Hz)
11:00-11:30 PM: KA1RCI Repeater System
11:30 PM-12:00 AM: 146.955-Barnstable, MA Repeater PL: 88.5 or 147.375-Falmouth Repeater PL: 110.9

**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 4th 2021:
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 (PL: 67.0 Hz)
10:00-11:00 AM: We 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)
12:30-100 PM: 146.790-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: KA1RCI Repeater System
3:00-3:30 PM: 146.970-Paxton Repeater (PL: 114.8 Hz)
3:30-4:00 PM: 146.955-Westford Repeater (PL: 74.4 Hz)
4:00-4:30 PM: 146.955-Barnstable (PL: 88.5 Hz) or 147.375-Falmouth Repeater (PL: 110.9 Hz)
4:30-5:00 PM: KA1RCI Repeater System
5:00-5:30 PM: 146.760-Scituate, RI Repeater (PL: 67.0 Hz)
5:30-6:00 PM: 147.000-Dartmouth Repeater (PL: 67.0 Hz)
6:00-6:30 PM: 147.180-Bridgewater Repeater (PL: 67.0 Hz)
6:30-7:00 PM: 147.225-Whitman Repeater (PL: 67.0 Hz)

The VoIP Operations on the *WX_TALK* Echolink conference node: 7203/IRLP 9219 system will still take place for 2021’SRD. Here is the info regarding Echolink/IRLP operations:

Due to COVID19, volunteer Amateur Radio Operators are not allowed to be at NWS Forecast Offices. Forecast offices will be represented by Amateur Radio Operators at home and possibly by some NWS employees from actual NWS offices.

As in past years, the EchoLink *WX_TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP reflector 9219 system will be scheduling time for NWS offices and due to COVID, Amateur Operators who typically are at weather service hours, in 1-2 hour time slots to act as a net control to make contacts with spotters that are on the system. If a NWS office/SKYWARN NWS Operator runs out of contacts and there are other NWS offices on the system, the NWS office/SKYWARN Operator acting as net control can turn it over to a different NWS office to act as a net control on the system at their discretion. Also, for this year, we will have the following modes connected in through the efforts of KC5FM-Lloyd Colston and VK3JED-Tony Langdon. They are as follows:

Allstar 28848
Hamshack Hotline 94032
IRLP 9550
AllStar 27154
DMR BM TG 50535
P25 TG 50535
YSF reflector 50535 (narrow mode only)
D-STAR XLX432 D (DCS432 D)

Below is the 2021 SRD Schedule with the time slots confirmed so far for 2020 and those time slots relinquished by NWS offices/SKYWARN NWS Office Amateurs. See the list of NWS offices run by SKYWARN NWS Office Amateurs below:

Time in UTC NWS Office Call-Sign
0000-0100: N0NWS (Time slot confirmed for this year)
0100-0200: WX1GYX (Time slot confirmed for this year)
0200-0300: WX7SLC/KJ7MEB (Time slot confirmed for this year)
0300-0400: Open
0400-0500: WX1BOX (Time slot confirmed for this year)
0500-0600: WX9LOT (Confirmed time slot from last year)
0600-0700: WX4HUN (Time slot confirmed for this year)
0700-0800: WX8APX (Time slot confirmed for this year)
0800-0900: WX8APX (Time slot confirmed for this year)
0900-1000: Open
1000-1100: WX7SLC/AD7LO (Time slot confirmed for this year)
1100-1200: WX1GYX (New time slot this year for existing NWS Office)
1200-1300: W7NWS (Confirmed time slot from last year)
1300-1400: WX7SLC/W1YMI (Time slot confirmed for this year)
1400-1500: WX1AW (Confirmed time slot from last year)
1500-1600: WX1BOX (Time slot confirmed for this year)
1600-1700: WX4NC (Time slot confirmed for this year)
1700-1800: WX4JKL (Time slot confirmed for this year – NEW office)
1800-1900: WX6LOX (Time slot confirmed for this year)
1900-2000: K0MPX (Confirmed time slot from last year)
2000-2100: WX4JKL (Time slot confirmed for this year – NEW office)
2100-2300: WX4NHC (Time slot confirmed for this year)
2300-2400: Open

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 Boston/Norton, 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-ENG3* 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-ENG3* 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, Allstar 28848 along with DMR/DSTAR and other modes provided by VK3JED-Tony, New England Reflector Gateway system and Western Reflector system. Thanks to all for their support!

Thanks to all for their continued support of the NWS Boston/Norton SKYWARN program!

Respectfully Submitted,

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