Not happy with SKYWARN at ALL!

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

After the work day, more people would be able to notice or hear about approaching severe weather. But I'm curious as to whether or not there's anyway to confirm that anyone is actually doing so, such as by contacting them, or if the authorities simply...

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

...wait for (hope for?) reports to start coming in from spotters.

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

Me, I've always just turned on my Ham radio and/or scanner when I became aware of severe weather approaching or occuring in the Phoenix CWA, such as this past Tuesday, when I woke up to a severe thunderstorm warning at 5pm. (I'm a daytime sleeper.)

[Cskib32087]

Originally Posted by KD0LWU

Two days ago we had a decent storm move through the area, it split into two cells, one went South quickly, the other tracked South and East.
I was tracking it and went where I thought it would go. As I try to position myself they switch from one repeater to another, fine, but it's more than 70 miles for the switch (Derby KS to Beaumont KS) and few, if any could hit the repeater that were in the actual storm. I heard net control tell more than one spotter to just call his cell phone as he was breaking up! Nice, but I don't have that number!
I went home unhappy about this.
Tonight, I'm watching a cell, slow mover but growing, looked to me like a hail threat. I was wrong.
I went to where I thought it would track, checked the radar, it went South, so I haul and get gas in 50 plus mph winds and head south.
I am disgusted with what I see! There is a 24"ish inch tree blown over Rose Hill Road and the roof is blown off of the Rose Hill Recreation gym. This isn't a minor event, we are used to wind here! I also note several 8-9" tree branches lying in the road.
But Skywarn was NEVER activated? I tried to call in reports, but to no one! I was monitoring three known repeaters with HAM radios and running the scanner, nothing!
I am beyond livid over this! I am not trying to chase, I am trying to spot and warn others of what is coming, but is this what it's becoming?
I was really trying to get into it and enjoyed the thought of letting others know what was coming, but if NOAA say's they don't need spotters, even though wrong, are we not going to protect and notify people?
More and more I am questioning why I even bothered to become a HAM.

DUDE....Relax its just a hobby! If YOU don't babble on the repeater someone else will. Its ham radio, people love to talk and talk and talk and talk
Say it with me WooooSa its just a hobby

[KB7MIB]

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i just got home from a Skywarn training class (refresher for me). I asked if the NWS activates Skywarn. The Phoenix NWS Office does activate Skywarn here by contacting a net controller and asking them to activate.

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

This is especially true when they expect severe weather to cover a wide spread area. Your local NWS may or may not activate their Skywarn spotters. It may be your emergency management agency's decision.

[LtDoc]

That 'activation' works in both directions, NWS to locals, locals to NWS. Just depends on who becomes aware of the need first.
- 'Doc

[Ray_Air]

I experienced whacker issues in my county also. It got so bad I quit participating in skywarn two years ago.
I think my tech ticket expired last year. I didn't renew it.

[PJH]

...and on the 11th day, the lord proclaimed "Let us Lazarus old posts as ye has not found quality Japanese anime porn to my liking today"

[bryan_herbert]

Here in Los Angeles County, the NWS Storm Spotter-Skywarn program doesn't use ham radio. If need be, the local ARES/RACES teams are activated and Skywarn continues to report by phone or internet to NWS LOX. In the 10+ years I've been involved with the program, I don't even think I've met any other members.

No nets, no whackers, no drama

[reedeb]

Originally Posted by bryan_herbert

Here in Los Angeles County, the NWS Storm Spotter-Skywarn program doesn't use ham radio. If need be, the local ARES/RACES teams are activated and Skywarn continues to report by phone or internet to NWS LOX. In the 10+ years I've been involved with the program, I don't even think I've met any other members.

No nets, no whackers, no drama

WOW someone with a dim view of Hams [Whackers?? really??] Yes there might be 1 or 2 that are a bit more enthusiastic over, BUT whacker???? I guess it's a California thing then But then again U really don't see much severe weather there. Now as for the drama, well Hollywood is the founder of drama 99% of the drama is located in California anyways.

[Drachen_Fire]

OK.....

Hope I can shed a bit of light here:

Growing up, I had an interest in severe weather. After I could drive, I started "chasing", although I didn't know that was a thing at the time. Later, I found out about Skywarn, and several of my buddies had started learning and tagging along with me. One of them was a ham, and told me there were nets and such, and although I never was a ham, and never became one, I bought a Radio Shack HTX242 so i could listen in. If reports needed to be called in, I would do it on my car phone (remember those?) or my buddy would use my mobile.

Our early participation in Skywarn was infuriating to say the least. Net control would never activate, the repeater would be off for maintenance, or you couldn't hear or give any reports because two octogenarian gasbags were tying up the repeater, talking about hernia operations and hemodialysis. We got fed up. We abandoned amateur radio, and our little team (there were 7 in the beginning) recruited about 20 more people, and formed our own Skywarn team. We bought used Motorola 800MHz gear off of ebay, some VHF Minitor pagers, and a few VHF mobiles. We leased an 800MHz trunked channel and a slot on a VHF community repeater off a local radio shop. We elected 4 officers every year, and those officers got the VHF mobiles. When NWS would request spotter activation, one of the officers would drop the tones over the VHF, and activate the team. We'd then follow pretty standard ham protocol over the 800MHz repeater, and one older man we knew would man a desk in his house, taking reports and phoning them in to NWS by landline.

It wouldn't work for everyone, but it worked for us. The team was formed in 1997, and disbanded in 2006. Most of the equipment and members went to the local REACT team. I was made the Operations Supervisor of the team in 2007, and moved here in 2008. The REACT team collapsed in 2010.

[reedeb]

Umm OK. Where's here?

[PJH]

I couldn't tell ya. The thread has been in the grave for awhile but was lazurs'd to daylight

[Drachen_Fire]

Here is Pittsburgh. There remains undisclosed. Thread necromancy is a fine tradition of new members.

On top of that.....this forum is dead still!

[rapidcharger]

When did the Amateur Radio Service become the Amateur Weather Service?

[rdale]

It isn't, I think you may have confused a bulletin somewhere or something. Where did you hear that?

[newsphotog]

Originally Posted by rdale

It isn't, I think you may have confused a bulletin somewhere or something. Where did you hear that?

It's rapidcharger. Who knows?

[loumaag]

This topic should have never been in this section to begin with, it belonged in the Tavern Rants section. That said, it has even gone further off the rails of late and therefore is closed.