Colorado Skywarn

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NorthCOVideo

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Since it is the season are any of the Skywarn frequencies still active. I was doing some programming and reprogramming of my scanners and couldn't seem to find them in the database, maybe I wasn't looking hard enough or did the names get changed.
 

Spud

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CO Skywarn

Douglas-Elbert: 147.225/447.150
Arapahoe: 146.640/146.880
Adams:146.985/448.225
Denver:145.490/146.670
Jefferson: 146.670/449.050
Boulder: 146.760/146.700
Larimer-Weld: 146.625/447.700
Car to car: 146.550
NCAR: 144.355


The Spud
 

N0GTG

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I have created a map with the freqs I have been able to gather at Skywarn. I'd be glad to have any additions or corrections.
 

Mojaveflyer

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CO Skywarn

Typically we use 446.00 MHz for car to car, 146.940 MHz is the Skywarn Primary. With the changes to the Skywarn reporting net county ARES freqs are used for each county and reports to the NWS radio station -WX0DEN- are on 146.94 MHz and some of us old 'Legacy Skywarn' people still report directly to NWS on that frequency. There is a ham station at the NWS office in Boulder (WX0DEN) and if you hear the Net Control reporting from there he's in the room with the meteorologists.
 

natedawg1604

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I didn't even know that storm chasers used these frequencies until I saw this post, they are quite active tonight. IMO we should add these frequencies in separate category on the main Colorado page, under "Colorado Areawide Frequencies".
 

radio

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I didn't know other chasers even existed,

From all the outstanding work I have heard from the fire/ems and law enforcement responders along with their dispatchers during these last couple of tornado outbreaks, I figured they were the official spotters.
 

radio

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Speaking of chasers, KKTV TV just broadcasted a story where a storm chaser got caught in one of the tornadoes in or around Simla where his truck was damaged.
 

Spitfire8520

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SKYWARN has been around for a some time and is more for storm spotters than chasers, but I imagine most chasers perform as spotters. It's a National Weather Service program that traditionally ties in with amateur radio so that a spotter in any location can pass on reports. A lot of severe weather warnings are issued based on spotter reports and they don't always originate from a public safety user. I think there has been a moderate shift towards phone based spotters since cell phones are so prevalent now.

As for listing in the database, all SKYWARN frequencies generally fall under the Amateur Radio tab on the database. Some of the frequencies here are listed there, but the ham radio side of database doesn't necessarily include details of the function of some of the repeaters as they aren't used for spotting 24/7.
 

Spud

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There is a difference

Speaking of chasers, KKTV TV just broadcasted a story where a storm chaser got caught in one of the tornadoes in or around Simla where his truck was damaged.

With the growing number of people willing to go out and get involved with severe weather, you will see more of these stories as time goes on.

There is a significant difference between chasers and spotters. Both may or may not have adequate training. The real chasers are the scientist and researchers that are trying to gather useful data to improve detection and survivability. They have to take some level of risk to do that.

The NWS trained spotters are not expected to and do not normally take risk to provide the ground truth that the weather service uses to issue warnings, etc.


The Spud
 

radio

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Needless to say, I will program the Skywarn frequencies. It was all I could handle with all the other radio traffic and live TV coverage on KKTV and KRDO yesterday.

I don't remember whether the man in the KKTV TV story last night was a chaser or spotter. Either way, he got caught in it.
 
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natedawg1604

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Douglas-Elbert: 147.225/447.150
Arapahoe: 146.640/146.880
Adams:146.985/448.225
Denver:145.490/146.670
Jefferson: 146.670/449.050
Boulder: 146.760/146.700
Larimer-Weld: 146.625/447.700
Car to car: 146.550
NCAR: 144.355


The Spud

So, do they link repeaters for the VFH & UHF pairs?
 

Mojaveflyer

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I've been involved with Skywarn since 1990. The addition of the county ARES frequencies is a fairly recent development that had to do with participation in the Skywarn Nets. Many of the County Coordinators use the 146.94 MHz repeater to relay reports from their nets to NWS.
 

natedawg1604

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So, do they link repeaters for the VFH & UHF pairs?

Just FYI, after listening to several of these frequencies during storm nets, it appears most of the VFH/UHF repeaters are not linked (i.e. like you'd see at airport towers). I might have heard one that could be linked, but I'll have to listen a bit more. I was thinking they might be linked if Unit A only had a VHF radio and Unit B only had a UHF radio or something. I don't know much about Ham stuff, maybe they can link/un-link sites remotely if needed.
 

Spirit

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What frequencies for weather, would spotters/chasers use for Morgan County, Washington County & Yuma County?
 

N0GTG

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Morgan and Washington should use 145.4 or 145.31 on the Colorado Connection, with a backup of 147.24.
Yuma should use 146.79.
 

natedawg1604

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So, I recently stumbled upon 447.525, 146.2 PL. Apparently as of 2010 this repeater was quasi-dedicated to "Emergency communication groups including A.R.E.S.®, R.A.C.E.S., Salvation Army and organized Search and Rescue squads". Is 447.525 still used for ARES/Skywarn operations?
 

kc0kp

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I think you will see a lot of ARES stuff migrating to DMR. Look on rmham.org for their network of DMR channels on UHF and VHF ham bands.This is not Skywarn but more of aftermath response. The Colorado Emergency Coordinator is big time into DMR. Add to that, RM Ham's emergency trailer is pretty state of the art with mesh networking, television and microwave connectivity and hosts a DMR repeater.
Craig
 

natedawg1604

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Douglas-Elbert: 147.225/447.150
Arapahoe: 146.640/146.880
Adams:146.985/448.225
Denver:145.490/146.670
Jefferson: 146.670/449.050
Boulder: 146.760/146.700
Larimer-Weld: 146.625/447.700
Car to car: 146.550
NCAR: 144.355


The Spud

FYI, for Skywarn Nets Denver ARES changed to a primary frequency of 147.210, 100.0 PL (Lakewood site run by the Denver Water Amateur Radio Club). The Backup frequency is still 146.670, 100.0 PL.
 

Mojaveflyer

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Skywarn in N/E Colorado and S/W Nebraska

Any one know what Logan, Sedgewick, and southwest Nebraska use for Skywarn? I get that out to those neighborhoods occasionally.
 
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