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APRS Weather Data from
Lawrence County EMA
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EMERGENCY & TRAINING NET
PREAMBLES AT BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE!
The North Alabama and Southern Middle
Tennessee SKYWARN Network is a part of
SKYWARN,
a voluntary program developed by the National Weather Service
to improve the weather
warning program. SKYWARN volunteers serve as storm spotters for the
National Weather Service
and local emergency management programs. Keeping their eyes on the sky
and their ears listening,
volunteers serve as the eyes and ears for the whole community. North
Alabama SKYWARN volunteers
come from all walks of life but they all have generally three things in common -
an interest in the weather,
an interest in serving their community, and an interest
in amateur radio.
WHAT IS NORTH
ALABAMA SKYWARN?
The North Alabama SKYWARN Net is composed
of groups of volunteer radio amateurs that make their services
available during severe weather and other civil emergencies.
The primary purpose of this net is
to activate when severe weather threatens North Alabama,
and engage in the spotting and tracking of dangerous thunderstorms and
tornadoes. Our intention is
to assist with the coordination of this activity by providing a network that
allows intercommunication
between local weather nets across North Alabama and the National Weather
Service. It is our hope that
this coordination effort will result in the general public receiving the
earliest possible forewarning of
weather emergencies. This communications network is also made available to hams
affiliated
with their EOC's during declared emergencies.
This net is strictly
organizational in nature. It is primarily a coordination effort and in no way
imparts
any authority, privileges, or responsibility to it's participants.
OPERATION
The preferred mode for traffic into this
net is via a liaison station from a local net. (see below).
Individuals are encouraged to "check-in" with their local
emergency net instead of the SKYWARN net.
It is critical that people in your county get the information as quickly as
possible. This also makes the net more
efficient, since the North Alabama and Southern Middle Tennessee SKYWARN net
control operator is only
having to communicate with around 10 liasons when a request for specific info
comes from the
National Weather Service. The North Alabama and Southern Middle Tennessee
SKYWARN Net will,
however, recognize ANY station that has emergency or priority traffic.
To participate in this net one
needs:
- An FCC Amateur Radio License Technician
Class or higher.
- A willingness to volunteer his/her services
- A thorough understanding of these operating
procedures.
Although not officially required,
the Huntsville National Weather Service provides storm spotter training
and certification, which will greatly increase the accuracy of the reporting.
Frequencies
This network will utilize a linked VHF repeater system, which provides optimal
coverage for
all of the North Alabama counties and links those counties to the Huntsville NWS
office. The linked
repeater system is designed to allow stations to use low powered handheld and
mobile radios, thereby eliminating
the risk of operating on an external antenna during thunderstorms. With the
linked repeater system,
it is possible to set up direct communications between persons located virtually
anywhere across
North Alabama and Southern Middle Tennessee and that traffic can be monitored by
the
National Weather Service in Huntsville.
The linked repeater frequencies
are:
- 146.960 (Moulton) - N4IDX Repeater
- 145.410 (The Shoals) - W4ZZK Repeater
- 147.240 (Huntsville) - KB4CRG Repeater
- 147.360 (Section) - W4SBO Repeater
SKYWARN Local Area Link Map
Individual County Nets:
This net recognizes that each county is
responsible for organizing it's SKYWARN personnel
and encourages each county to hold an ongoing net on their local frequency. It
is preferable that
stations "check-in" with a local net. It is recommended that these local nets be
coordinated
with the county EMA, and that provisions be made to have an operator at the EOC
Emergency Operations Center) to be a net liason.
Activation
Severe Weather Activation: An
ESTABLISHED NET CONTROL OPERATOR will activate the
North Alabama SKYWARN Emergency Net anytime the SPC issues a Severe Thunderstorm
Watch,
Tornado Watch, or receives a specific request from the NWS office to activate.
The Net Control Operator
may be located at his/her residence or, preferably, at a county EOC. An
NWS Liason will be activated by the
NWS office in Huntsville and he/she will report to the NWS there to coordinate
traffic with all hams
in the north Alabama area. North Alabama and Southern Middle Tennessee
SKYWARN, and the NWS
can utilize statewide alpha-numeric paging to activate and update amateur radio
operators that are
equipped with pagers. The NWS Liason will coordinate all weather traffic with
the SKYWARN Net Control Operator.
Persons are asked to pass weather traffic to the North Alabama and Southern
Middle Tennessee
SKYWARN Net Control Operator only, and operators are asked NOT to pass traffic
directly to the
NWS Liason unless directed to do so by the net control station.
Upon activation of the net, all
repeater links are turned on and recreational use of the systems
are temporarily suspended. The frequencies are kept clear for EMERGENCY and
PRIORITY traffic.
IMPORTANT: THE SUCCESS OF THIS NET DEPENDS ON EVERYONE USING DISCRETION
WITH THEIR MICROPHONES. PLEASE DO NOT TRANSMIT UNLESS IT IS ABSOLUTELY
NECESSARY.
Do NOT transmit to pass information that is of no real use for the net, such
as it’s raining,
the clouds are getting thicker, it’s lightning off to the west....etc... Traffic
of this nature is of no real
use to the net and only ties up the frequencies from useful information.Always think before you transmit......
Remember also that as many as several hundred hams, and private citizens, can be
listening
all across north Alabama and will not transmit unless they see a need to do so.
Most of the time
just listening and calling when you have severe weather to report is the best
help you can provide
a severe weather net!!
Alert Status
The Net may be downgraded to an alert status if a
watch is in effect, but there is not any severe
weather immediately threatening the area. Recreational use of the repeaters is
permitted during Alert Status,
but please keep transmissions brief and allow pauses in between. If a weather
emergency arises,
the NET CONTROL OPERATOR will resume the controlled net.
Deactivation
When the severe weather bulletin is canceled or
expired, the net will close and the linked repeaters
will be returned to their normal use.
Training Net
The Training Net is held on each Thursday at
8:00pm and is used to review and practice the
principles as outlined in these standard operating procedures. Each county in
north Alabama rotates calling
the training net for one month.
The schedule is as follows: January-Colbert, February-DeKalb, March-Franklin,
April-Jackson, May-Lauderdale, June-Lawrence, July-Limestone, August-Madison,
September-Marshall, October-Morgan, November-Madison, December-Lawrence.
Each county's responsibility includes having personnel on standby for
notification to
activate the North Alabama and Southern Middle Tennessee SKYWARN Emergency Net.
The county's emergency coordinators will be notified when emergency activation
is required.
REPORTING
NWS is especially interested in the
following:
- Funnel cloud or tornado.
- Wall cloud with or without rotation
- Location (reference to town or major roads)
- Event Time - Always give a time. This is
important!! Most all reports older than 15 minutes
are of little or no use during a severe weather event. DO NOT send in reports
from a second
source such as news media...Example: "Channel 83 says it’s all clear in
Limestone county"
or "they are saying on the scanner in XYZ county that it is clearing to
the west."These kind
of reports only confuse the conduct of this net and it’s purpose!
- Wind speeds in mph, remember that severe
begins at 58.
- Hail - Always give hail size in reference to
coins such as dime, quarter or 1/4 inch or
1/2 inch hail...etc.. Generally, less than a quarter of an inch should not be
reported.
Avoid using "marble or pea size" to describe the size.
- Flash Flooding
When sending a report in to the
Net Control Operator: ALWAYS relay your report with reference
to the nearest city or town.. For example: I am seeing a wall cloud in the
Moorseville community 3 miles
northeast of Decatur. This reference to the nearest town or city will help
NWS officials in Huntsville who
are new to the area and not aware of the location of the hundreds of small
communities and
crossroads in north Alabama. Please remember that the purpose of the net is to
RECEIVE severe
weather reports from spotters in the field and help the NWS verify what they are
seeing on radar..
The net is not intended as a "one stop weather source" for all weather
information you may request
for a certain area... The net may relay conditions in a certain area for the
storm spotter’s safety,
but detailed weather information requests to net control for a particular
community only tie up the frequency,
and should be gathered from NOAA weather radio, TV or Broadcast Radio. It is not
the intent of this
net to provide amateur radio operators with "up to the minute forecasts
for their community."
Please remember that statement in order for the net to be successful in it’s
true purpose.
NET PROTOCOL/PREAMBLES:
SKYWARN
Emergency Net Preamble
SKYWARN
Training Net Preamble
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