UPDATE – SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) 2010 Friday Evening December 3rd at 7 PM Through Saturday December 4th, 2010 at 7 PM

December 2, 2010 Rob Macedo Leave a comment

**UPDATE TO FIRST PARAGRAPH ON CANCELLATION OF SPECIAL EVENT STATION AT
THE SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND WEATHER CONFERENCE. REMAINDER IS UNCHANGED**

The National Weather Service in Taunton Amateur Radio Station, WX1BOX,
will once again be active for SKYWARN Recognition Day 2010. In addition,
for the fourth 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/MQE from
9 AM-3 PM Saturday December 4th, 2010. Due to equipment logistical issues at
the site of the Southern New England Weather Conference, the special
event station at the Southern New England Weather Conference, which will be
on the same day as SRD, sponsored by the Worcester Emergency Communications
Team (WECT) will not be done at the site of the conference. Instead, WECT
will support SRD from their EOC in Worcester, Massachusetts.

This will be the 12th year of SKYWARN Recognition Day and its
anticipated that over 100 NWS Forecast Offices will be participating once
again this year. This event was featured on page 62 of the December 2010
Issue of QST Magazine and web links to information on SKYWARN Recognition Day
can be seen at the following links:

http://hamradio.noaa.gov
http://www.arrl.org/news/skywarn-recognition-day-set-for-december-4

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 3rd, 2010:
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:    145.490-Fairhaven 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 or 145.370-Coventry RI Repeater PL: 67.0 Hz
10:30-11:00 PM: 145.470-Danvers Repeater (PL: 136.5 Hz)
11:00-11:30 PM: 146.955-Barnstable 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 4th, 2010:
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
10:00-10:30 AM: 146.895-Walpole Repeater (PL: 123.0 Hz)
10:30-11:00 AM: 147.225-Killingly, CT Repeater (PL: 156.7 Hz)
11:00-11:30 AM: 145.470-Danvers Repeater (PL: 136.5 Hz)
11:30 AM-Noon: 146.79-Vernon, CT Repeater (Linked via IRLP.)
Noon-1:00 PM:   146.595 Simplex
1:00-1:30 PM: 146.685-Plymouth Repeater (PL: 82.5 Hz)
1:30-2:00 PM: 145.130-Gloucester Repeater (PL: 107.2 Hz)
2:00-2:30 PM:   146.955-Barnstable (PL: 88.5) or 147.375-Falmouth Repeater (PL: 110.9)
2:30-3:00 PM:   146.955-Westford Repeater (PL: 74.4)
3:00-3:30 PM:   146.970-Paxton Repeater (PL: 114.8)
3:30-4:00 PM:   147.165-Exeter, RI Repeater (PL: 67.0)
4:00-4:30 PM:   146.760-Scituate, RI or 145.37-Coventry, RI Repeater (PL: 67.0)
4:30-5:00 PM:   145.490-Fairhaven Repeater (PL: 67.0)
5:00-5:30 PM:   147.180-Bridgewater Repeater (PL: 67.0)
5:30-6:00 PM:   449.375-Pack Monadnock, NH Repeater (PL: 88.5 Hz)
6:00-6:30 PM:   146.895-Walpole Repeater (PL: 123.0)
6:30-7:00 PM:   147.000-Dartmouth Repeater (PL: 67.0)

**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.

The following is information EchoLink/IRLP operations during SKYWARN
Recognition Day. Further updates to follow as we get closer to the
event:

Time in UTC NWS Office Call-Sign
0000-0100: WX0GLD (Confirmed to Keep Time Slot)
0100-0200: WX1GYX (Confirmed to Keep Time Slot)
0200-0300: WX4MLB (Confirmed to Keep Time Slot)
0300-0400: W0ABR (Confirmed to Keep Time Slot)
0400-0500: WX1BOX (Confirmed to keep the time slot but can swap if needed)
0500-0600: WX9GRB (Confirmed to Keep Time Slot)
0600-0700: WX4HUN (Confirmed to Keep Time Slot)
0700-0800: N0NWS (Confirmed to Keep Time Slot)
0800-0900: KL7FWX (New NWS Office in Fairbanks Alaska. Will Show Up on Echolink as KL2GS)
0900-1000: KL7FWX (New NWS Office in Fairbanks Alaska. Will Show Up on Echolink as KL2GS)
1000-1100: KL7FWX (New NWS Office in Fairbanks Alaska. Will Show Up on Echolink as KL2GS)
1100-1200: WX7PHX (Confirmed to Keep Time Slot)
1200-1300: W7NWS (Confirmed to Keep Time Slot)
1300-1400: KL7FWX (New NWS Office in Fairbanks Alaska. Will Show Up on Echolink as KL2GS)
1400-1500: WX4HUN (Confirmed to Keep Time Slot)
1500-1600: WX1BOX (Confirmed to keep the time slot but can swap if needed)
1600-1800: WX4NC (Confirmed to keep the time slot, 2 hour time slot and time slot is from last year)
1800-1900: WX6MTR (Confirmed to Keep Time Slot)
1900-2000: K0MPX (Confirmed to Keep Time Slot)
2000-2100: WX4MLB (Confirmed to keep Time Slot)
2100-2300: WX4NHC (Confirmed to keep Time Slot)
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 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.

Also, the Western Reflector will be having NWS offices calling CQ as in
past years on reflector 9250 and have its gateway system on
IRLP 9258/EchoLink Conference *NV-GATE* Node: 125266 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 there
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