SKYWARN Recongition Day 2007 Report

The following is the SKYWARN recognition Day 2007 report for WX1BOX Operations. It was another successful event at WX1BOX for SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) 2007. The following Amateur Radio Operators participated in SRD 2007 from WX1BOX:

KD1CY-Rob Macedo
KB1KQW-Jim Palmer
KA1NCF-Eric Horwitz
KB1MRH-Matt Dempsey
W1VFB-Greg Glynn
KB1LXH-Don Burke
N1PJ-PJ Howe
KB1CYO-Phil McLaughlin
KB1FVN-Joanne McLaughlin
KB1G-Bill Boyes
W1EAV-Chris Washburn
K2DCD-Dennis Dura (Manager of Preparedness and Response at ARRL HQ)
KB1GHX-Glenn Field (Warning Coordination Meteorologist at NWS Taunton)
KE5HFU-Rebecca Gould (Forecaster At NWS Taunton formerly from NWS Midland, TX)

From NWS Taunton, we made 207 unique contacts and 239 contacts if you counted duplicates. We worked 51 NWS offices from our location qualifying our operation for the F1 Tornado Certificate.

Operations were on VHF/UHF across many of the SKYWARN repeaters that were reachable from our location, EchoLink/IRLP and HF. HF band conditions suffered significantly from QSB but a number of contacts were made on 20, 40 and 80 meters. The VoIP and VHF/UHF modes made up for the erratic HF conditions. There was a reasonably large number of folks on the area repeaters looking for our NWS office as we scheduled time on each repeater and tried to get to each repeater following the schedule that we published.

Warning Coordination Meteorologist-Glenn Field, KB1GHX, brought pizza for the Amateur Radio Operators and made a couple of contacts as he came in on a day off to be with us for a few hours Saturday Afternoon.

Another highlight from our SRD activities was having Dennis Dura-K2DCD, Manager of Preparedness and Response from ARRL HQ at our SRD in NWS Taunton. Dennis made a few contacts on EchoLink including with the NWS Mount Holly/Philadelphia Office where Dennis was the former NWS Mount Holly/Philadelphia Office SKYWARN Coordinator. Due to a pending winter storm that was expected to affect the area on the Sunday Night and Monday after SRD, we did not get as many forecasters on the air as we would have liked but we did make a special connection for the newest forecaster at NWS Taunton. Rebecca Gould-KE5HFU transferred from the NWS Midland, TX Office to NWS Taunton, Mass. in mid-November. She made her first 2 contacts on Amateur Radio ever which included WX7CHS, NWS Cheyenne Wyoming and her former NWS office, W5MAF in NWS Midland, TX. These contacts were made over EchoLink.

As we have done for the last several years, we have continued testing and work with Eric Horwitz-KA1NCF software package known as “Netlog” which could be utilized in SKYWARN events and activations along with public service events. We are hoping to utilize this more during actual activations right from the NWS Office and it is being utilized by some SKYWARN Coordinators with their nets in the field. More information on the Netlog program can be found by emailing Eric Horwitz-KA1NCF at ka1ncf@ka1ncf.org. Special thanks to Bill Boyes-KB1G for the pictures and for also letting us utilize his Icom HF radio in addition to the Alinco DX-70-TH radio that is installed at the NWS Office. We are looking forward to SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) 2008.

The following is the SKYWARN recognition Day 2007 report for WX1BOX Operations. It was another successful event at WX1BOX for SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) 2007. The following Amateur Radio Operators participated in SRD 2007 from WX1BOX:

KD1CY-Rob Macedo
KB1KQW-Jim Palmer
KA1NCF-Eric Horwitz
KB1MRH-Matt Dempsey
W1VFB-Greg Glynn
KB1LXH-Don Burke
N1PJ-PJ Howe
KB1CYO-Phil McLaughlin
KB1FVN-Joanne McLaughlin
KB1G-Bill Boyes
W1EAV-Chris Washburn
K2DCD-Dennis Dura (Manager of Preparedness and Response at ARRL HQ)
KB1GHX-Glenn Field (Warning Coordination Meteorologist at NWS Taunton)
KE5HFU-Rebecca Gould (Forecaster At NWS Taunton formerly from NWS Midland, TX)

From NWS Taunton, we made 207 unique contacts and 239 contacts if you counted duplicates. We worked 51 NWS offices from our location qualifying our operation for the F1 Tornado Certificate.

Operations were on VHF/UHF across many of the SKYWARN repeaters that were reachable from our location, EchoLink/IRLP and HF. HF band conditions suffered significantly from QSB but a number of contacts were made on 20, 40 and 80 meters. The VoIP and VHF/UHF modes made up for the erratic HF conditions. There was a reasonably large number of folks on the area repeaters looking for our NWS office as we scheduled time on each repeater and tried to get to each repeater following the schedule that we published.

Warning Coordination Meteorologist-Glenn Field, KB1GHX, brought pizza for the Amateur Radio Operators and made a couple of contacts as he came in on a day off to be with us for a few hours Saturday Afternoon.

Another highlight from our SRD activities was having Dennis Dura-K2DCD, Manager of Preparedness and Response from ARRL HQ at our SRD in NWS Taunton. Dennis made a few contacts on EchoLink including with the NWS Mount Holly/Philadelphia Office where Dennis was the former NWS Mount Holly/Philadelphia Office SKYWARN Coordinator. Due to a pending winter storm that was expected to affect the area on the Sunday Night and Monday after SRD, we did not get as many forecasters on the air as we would have liked but we did make a special connection for the newest forecaster at NWS Taunton. Rebecca Gould-KE5HFU transferred from the NWS Midland, TX Office to NWS Taunton, Mass. in mid-November. She made her first 2 contacts on Amateur Radio ever which included WX7CHS, NWS Cheyenne Wyoming and her former NWS office, W5MAF in NWS Midland, TX. These contacts were made over EchoLink.

As we have done for the last several years, we have continued testing and work with Eric Horwitz-KA1NCF software package known as “Netlog” which could be utilized in SKYWARN events and activations along with public service events. We are hoping to utilize this more during actual activations right from the NWS Office and it is being utilized by some SKYWARN Coordinators with their nets in the field. More information on the Netlog program can be found by emailing Eric Horwitz-KA1NCF at ka1ncf@ka1ncf.org. Special thanks to Bill Boyes-KB1G for the pictures and for also letting us utilize his Icom HF radio in addition to the Alinco DX-70-TH radio that is installed at the NWS Office. We are looking forward to SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) 2008.