ANNUAL SKYWARN RECOGNITION DAY IS DECEMBER 7

ARRL ^ | None

[Chemist_Geek]

The fourth annual SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) http://hamradio.noaa.gov/ is December 7 (UTC). That's when Amateur Radio operators set up stations at National Weather Service (NWS) offices and contact other operators around the world. The event is sponsored by the ARRL and the National Weather Service.

"The purpose of the event is to recognize the vital public service contribution that Amateur Radio operators make during National Weather Service severe weather warning operations," said David Floyd, N5DBZ, warning coordination meteorologist, at the NWS Goodland, Kansas, office. "It also strengthens the bond between Amateur Radio operators and the local National Weather Service office."

For several decades now, hams have assisted the NWS by providing real-time reports of severe weather and storm evolution. The information radio operators locate near a storm can provide plays a key role in aiding forecasters. SKYWARN operators in several states activated to spot and track an outbreak of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes November 10.

Scott Mentzer, N0QE--the meteorologist-in-charge of the NWS office in Goodland, Kansas, and the creator and annual organizer of SRD--says more than 90 stations are registered to participate, up from 80 last year. Most participating NWS stations will operate on 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, and 2 meters using SSB and FM. Mentzer says a number of NWS offices will be equipped to support Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP) stations.

All contacts will be made utilizing the General or Novice portion of the bands. Stations will exchange signal report, location and a one-word description of the current weather at their respective locations ("sunny," "partly cloudy," "windy," etc). This is not a contest, so no scoring will be computed.

SKYWARN Recognition Day will take place December 7 from 0000 UTC to 2400 UTC. Since SRD is being held on Pearl Harbor Day, each NWS office will transmit a special message from approximately 1800 to 1900 UTC--approximately the time of the Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, attack on December 7, 1941--to honor the World War II veterans.

The deadline to register an NWS site is December 1. Contact Mentzer to register: scott.mentzer@noaa.gov. Complete information is available on the 2002 SKYWARN Recognition Day Web site http://hamradio.noaa.gov/.