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.
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.