What is skywarn? i see it in many of the county databases. Usually in the 144-222 band,
What is Skywarn?
- Thread starter Jimmy252
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Mick
Member
National Watches, Warnings and Advisories
http://www.afn.org/~afn09444/weather/skywarn.html
http://www.skywarn.net/
http://www.afn.org/~afn09444/weather/skywarn.html
http://www.skywarn.net/
SKYWARN is the official "organization" from the National Weather Service, that trains interested persons, and amateur radio operators how to identify severe storm related activities, and to alert the public by means of amateur radio to public safety agencies.
The ham frequencies are repeaters or simplex frequencies that are COMMONLY used by skywarn spotters with-in the respective county/region. These frequencies are not assigned to any SKYWARN group, since amateur radio frequencies are open to all operators.
When SKYWARN groups are activated by the National Weather Service, a "net" is set up, with a "net control" operator, who acts almost like a fire or police dispatcher. He or she takes information from mobile spotters in their region, and reports findings to the weather service, or public safety agencies.
Hope this helps explain everything to you.
I am a SKYWARN spotter, and enjoy every aspect of it.
for information on attending a training session, go to the National Weather Service webpage:
www.nws.noaa.gov/
search for your region, and follow the "SKYWARN" links.
73 and God Bless
Pete Strank
KC8TCS
The ham frequencies are repeaters or simplex frequencies that are COMMONLY used by skywarn spotters with-in the respective county/region. These frequencies are not assigned to any SKYWARN group, since amateur radio frequencies are open to all operators.
When SKYWARN groups are activated by the National Weather Service, a "net" is set up, with a "net control" operator, who acts almost like a fire or police dispatcher. He or she takes information from mobile spotters in their region, and reports findings to the weather service, or public safety agencies.
Hope this helps explain everything to you.
I am a SKYWARN spotter, and enjoy every aspect of it.
for information on attending a training session, go to the National Weather Service webpage:
www.nws.noaa.gov/
search for your region, and follow the "SKYWARN" links.
73 and God Bless
Pete Strank
KC8TCS
Alright thanks, and one more thing, is this like a volunteer severe weather spotter program, and if threatening weather arises, you are called out, and then log onto that freq?
Ive also heard that ham radios can be picked up on the scanner form quite far distances, any idea on how far i can recieve a ham frequency on my Pro-96?
Ive also heard that ham radios can be picked up on the scanner form quite far distances, any idea on how far i can recieve a ham frequency on my Pro-96?
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mikey60
Member
Jimmy252 said:
Whenever there is severe weather in the area, the county will activate the amateur radio operators in the area to watch for anything that may be threatening to life or property. Amateur radio operators by law are volunteers as the FCC part 97 rules do not allow amateur radio operators to accept any payment in return for their radio activities on the HAM bands.
In Oakland county, we use the 146.900Mhz frequency for this activity. We also have a weekly information net on that frequency every Thursday night at 8:00 PM.
In Wayne county they use 147.160 if I recall correctly.
Another frequency that might be interesting for you to listen to would be the MICON net on 442.175 during severe weather (this repeater is linked to many others in the region)
Keep in mind that when there is no severe weather in the area, these frequencies are open to any amateur radio operator to talk about anything they wish (within reason). Some of those conversations may be a bit boring for those that aren't part of the conversations.
Not all Skywarn trained spotters are amateur radio operators though. Anyone that's interested may become skywarn trained. You can also report the weather directly to the weather service via a toll free number.
Mike
tutakt
Member
I have taken the training for the past two years and found it very interesting. Here is a link where you can find training sessions in SE MI. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dtx/spotter/spotterTalk.php
One addition will be a class on June 16 sponsored by the Michigan Volunteer Defense Force.
One addition will be a class on June 16 sponsored by the Michigan Volunteer Defense Force.
iMONITOR
Silent Key
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When I lived in Texas it seemed like there was a "net" set up weekly during the summer and spring months when we get our crazy storms. It was pretty interesting to listen to the condition reports from surrounding areas. You could tell what kind of weather was coming at you.
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