2010 SKYWARN® Severe Weather Spotter Training

2010 SKYWARN® Severe Weather Spotter Training

Lucas County SKYWARN® TRAINING

The National Weather Service (NWS), in conjunction with Lucas County SKYWARN® and the Lucas County Emergency Management Agency, will be holding a SKYWARN® Severe Weather Spotter Training class on Saturday, March 27th 2010 starting at 10:00 a.m. at St. Lukes Hospital Auditorium in Maumee, Ohio. The class will last around 2 hours and includes a multimedia presentation. Gary Garnet, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Cleveland, Ohio, organizes the training each spring. It is open to all citizens interested in severe weather recognition, reporting, safety and teaches:

Basics of thunderstorm development
Fundamentals of storm structure
Identifying potential severe weather features
Information to report
How to report information
Basic severe weather safety

SKYWARN® Storm Spotters form the first line of defense against severe weather. It’s more than just a weather class. It is information that could save many lives by advance warning!

All interested individuals are encouraged to attend this free training for all ages and it is not necessary to pre-register for this training. Those who attend and complete the program will be registered with the National Weather Service Cleveland Forecast Office and will be issued a SKYWARN® Spotter ID card at the training.

For more information contact:
Tim McConoughey-Lucas County Skywarn Coordinator KD8HLX@ARRL.NET

TMRA Toledo Hamfest this Sunday

The Toledo Mobile Radio Association's annual Radio, Computer and Electronics Hamfest is this Sunday, March 21st, 2010. The Toledo Hamfest takes place at the Owens Community College – Student Health and Activity Center (SHAC) at 30335 Oregon Road in Perrysburg, OH. The hamfest hours are from 8:00 AM till 2:00 PM.

See the TMRA Website for additional information:

http://www.tmrahamradio.org/hamfest.htm

Take Note: NEW LOCATION at Owens Community College. Also new for 2010, Forums and VE Test Session.

Forum Details:

9:00 AM Jay Slough, K4ZLE “Your 8th Area QSL Bureau”

10:00 AM Jim Weaver, K8JE Director, ARRL Great Lakes Division “Promoting Amateur Radio Through International Treaty”

11:00 AM Steve Michalski, KB9UPS “A.R.I.S.S., Amateur Radio on the International Space Station”

12:00 Noon Dr. Alvin Compaan, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Toledo “Solar Power for Living & Driving in Toledo”

Navigate to the Toledo hamfest via APRS:

http://aprs.fi/?call=HFEST-21t

Talk-In frequency on the TMRA W8HHF 2 Meter Repeater 147.2700 MHz (+ transmit offset) with PL of 103.5 Hz.

2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES)

I will be attending the 2010 CES later this week in Las Vegas. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to cover the show from both a professional perspective as well as check out things from a hobbyist, enthusiast and personal perspective. While not being occupied by topics related to my day job, I plan to check out a variety of exhibitors and other interesting sessions. I'll also be sure to slide by the GRE booth, I suspect that there won't be much more for display than what they had at the Dayton Hamvention. But maybe they'll have an future iScan digital prototype or other GRE branded models.

The following are my primary objectives during my CES/Las Vegas trip:

1) Digital Health Summit (ces info) (website) - Cover the Digital Health Summit, in relation to my day job as a Business Analyst in a health care information company. We are simplifying the business of health care and connecting and empowering consumers to manage their health in a ever more consumer-based health care space. Looking for disruptive technologies and tracking the emerging markets of the rapidly evolving digital health care industry.
2) Tech Policy Summit (ces info) - Attend the Tech Policy Summit with interesting sessions like "Making Nationwide Deployment and Adoption of Broadband a Reality", "The Spectrum Grab and Innovation", and "Inside the FCC's Communications Agenda". These sessions will likely offer interesting discussions regarding our ever growing and connected wireless communications world and may have ramifications for Amateur Radio and other spectrum uses.
3) GRE America (ces booth) (website) - Represent the Radio Reference community, answer questions and provide general coverage related to the GRE scanner product line.
4) General Interest - Explore other exhibitors and sessions of general consumer electronics interest.
5) "#20casinos" Challenge - Travel the Las Vegas strip, hitting a total of 20 of the largest Casinos in the world in 10 Hours (or less) and gambling a total of $200 bucks at said casinos. Part of my Wednesday free day and a special project that will likely have heavy Twitter and TwitPic coverage. Look here and on Twitter this Wednesday for more information.

I've primarily be covering objectives number 2 through 5 both here and via Twitter.

Stay tuned to this blog for a preview of my daily CES agenda and nightly summary and recap information. Follow me on Twitter @jpryor223 for real time updates and TwitPic images through out each day. And keep track of my position on APRS.fi via my KC8NNO-12 APRS-enabled location tracking Smart Phone.

Jeff KC8NNO

Test emergency prepardedness and practice communications skills with ham radio operating events and contests

I had the opportunity to work a couple ham radio HF (short wave) operating events/contests during this past September. These activities provided for both a good test of emergency preparedness in the field as well as the ability to practice communications skills from the comforts of home. I worked the 80 Meter HF frequency band exclusively for these particular events, in both voice and digital modes, with each event needing different configurations, and having different goals and setup requirements.

First, on Friday night, September 11th, I participated in an 80 Meter PSK31 digital mode contest, sponsored by the Penn-Ohio DX Society's "PODXS Ø7Ø Club" (http://www.podxs070.com/). The Ø7Ø comes from the "070" frequency suffix that is commonly used for PSK31 text chatting signals in the various HF bands (7.070, 14.070, etc) and the digital modes focus of this particular club. This specific contest was a short "sprint" from 8PM to 2AM local time with the goal to work as many stations on 80 Meters as possible using solely PSK31 during the six hour time period. For this event I was able to shoe horn my full size 80 Meter dipole into the backyard using somewhat of a inverted V configuration. I operated in the Low Power category (less than 50 Watts) and was able to make 42 contacts from 18 unique states and three countries, with the farthest contacts being in Utah and Puerto Rico.

Next, during Saturday on September 12th, I packed up my HF equipment and setup in the field to activate Maumee Bay State Park for the Ohio State Parks On The Air 2009 event. This operating event was sponsored by the Portage County Amateur Radio Service and was their 2nd annual Ohio State Parks event (http://parks.portcars.org/). This contest was an all day event from Noon until 8PM and it placed a premium on working stations at the State Parks. This provided an opportunity for hams to visit and activate parks across the state, along with the goal to work other Ohio stations on HF via deployment and utilization of NVIS antennas. The weather for this event was also ideal. For this particular setup, I utilized my full size 80 Meter wire dipole antenna in a Near Vertical Incidence Skywave configuration, having strung it up about 5 feet off the ground between a tree and a light pole at my location overlooking the inland beach area. This NVIS configuration sends the majority of the radiation straight up and the radio signals are then refracted back down to blanket a circular region surrounding the transmitter. I had no troubles hearing and working stations at the various parks from all around of Ohio using 80 Meter voice. Overall I had 52 total contacts at 30 unique state parks. Thanks to the Portage County ARS and Ohio State Parks for sponsoring this now annual event that takes place the weekend after Labor Day.

While I don't consider myself a really serious ham radio contester, I do find these kinds of operating events provide an opportunity to get on the air and work many contacts during a short time frame. These activities can help test your emergency preparedness capabilities to deploy a solution to meet specific needs. Along with practicing communications skills, this gives you a chance to have fun and work with other hams while trying to reach similar goals that often require rapid exchange of specific information. Give a ham radio event like these a try, and I look forward to working you on the air!

73 Jeff

Photo caption: Station KC8NNO at Maumee Bay State Park

Recap of Field Day via Twitter Pictures

For those not following me http://twitter.com/jpryor223 on Twitter, here is a brief recap of Field Day activities from this past weekend:

Bob W8NYY helping with launching antenna lines over trees via his industrial grade sling shot http://twitpic.com/8kdxu

Steve W8TER and Mike WA8SYD hanging up the TMRA information sign inviting all to stop by a ham radio field day site today http://twitpic.com/8khsu

A ham radio slow scan TV image (SSTV) from Joe KJ0EYT at TMRA field day site in Maumee Ohio as received over the air via ham radio and then uploaded over the air via wifi http://twitpic.com/8lfnz

Steve KC8YRK and Nancy KC8ZLZ on the W8HHF 20 meter Field Day station working and logging voice contacts via ham radio http://twitpic.com/8lpcm

Steve W8TER the TMRA Field Day chair and others, what's a ham radio field day without food http://twitpic.com/8m35z

Digi Classes: APRS program at June TMRA meeting

Jeff KC8NNO and Steve KB9UPS will be offering an Introduction to APRS presentation and conduct a basic APRS equipment demonstration at the upcoming Toledo Mobile Radio Association (TMRA) monthly General Meeting. APRS stands for the Automatic Packet Reporting System. This educational APRS program will take place at the Wednesday June 10th TMRA General Meeting which starts at 7:30 PM at the Electrical Industry Building in Rossford Ohio.

This program is a continuation of the latest series of 'digi classes'--covering ham radio digital communications topics--and TMRA's overall commitment to providing ongoing educational opportunities. The program will consist of a presentation covering some of the basic functionality and uses for APRS, an interactive 'on the air' equipment demonstration, and as well as time for questions and answers and any additional discussion.

The Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) is an amateur radio based system for real time tactical digital communications of information of immediate value in the local area. In North America, APRS data and activity is primarily found in the 2 Meter band on 144.390 MHz. In addition, all such data is ingested into the APRS Internet system (APRS-IS) and distributed globally for instant access. In addition to messages, alerts, announcements and bulletins, the most visible aspect of APRS is its map display. Anyone may place any object or information on their map and it is distributed to all maps of all users in the local RF network or monitoring the area via the Internet. Any station, radio or object that has an attached GPS is automatically tracked. Other prominent map features are weather stations, alerts and objects and other map related amateur radio volunteer activities including Search and Rescue and signal direction finding.

Individuals looking to learn more about the Automatic Packet Reporting System and where they can apply APRS digital communications are encouraged to attend the program and participate in the demonstration and discussion. Plenty of information is also available via the Internet with http://www.aprs.org/ being a good place to start.

Google Wonder Wheel gets "kc8nno" call sign search correct

I noticed that the Google Wonder Wheel feature got my amateur radio call sign "kc8nno" search correct with the spokes being "ham radio operator", "weather spotter", "oregon oh", "dayton hamvention", "lucas county" and "aprs fi".

About NW Ohio Live Services: "Live Mapping (APRS)"

This is the fourth entry of a series of seven blog entries that will provide additional details surrounding all the elements at NW Ohio Live Services (http://nwohio-liveservices.dyndns.org/).

Today's topic is the "Live Mapping (APRS)" component (http://nwohio-liveservices.dyndns.org/livemappingaprs.html).

The Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) is an amateur radio based system for real time tactical digital communications of information of immediate value in the local area. In addition, all such data is ingested into the APRS Internet system (APRS-IS) and distributed globally for instant access. In addition to messages, alerts, announcements and bulletins, the most visible aspect of APRS is its map display. Anyone may place any object or information on their map and it is distributed to all maps of all users in the local RF network or monitoring the area via the Internet. Any station, radio or object that has an attached GPS is automatically tracked. Other prominent map features are weather stations, alerts and objects and other map related amateur radio volunteer activities including Search and Rescue and signal direction finding.

The Live Mapping APRS (Amateur Automatic Packet Reporting System) feature on NW Ohio Live Services is made possible by the APRS-IS network and APRS.fi (Google Maps APRS) as well as all of the stations that provide RF APRS digipeaters and gate RF APRS traffic to the Internet. Find me on APRS via APRS.fi at http://aprs.fi/?call=KC8NNO*

This concludes the in depth look at the details surrounding the Live Mapping (APRS) element. Stay tuned for the next topic which will cover the Live Mapping (AIS) component in more detail.

(About NW Ohio Live Services - Blog Entry 4-A of 7)

2009 NW Ohio Live Services

Ham Radio in the spot light for Glass City Marathon support

The Lucas County ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) and ham radio are in the spot light this year for providing Glass City Marathon radio communications support. The marathon race was held on Sunday, April 26th, 2009 and race day weather was much warmer than normal. Ham radio operators worked from various fixed and mobile locations all along the 26 mile marathon race course that crossed through both Lucas County and Wood County in the Greater Toledo Ohio area.

This year thanks to Jim Duggan, KD8CIJ, ARRL Public Information Officer for Ohio ARES District One, we also had plenty of media coverage and articles high lighting our ham radio communications support role.

Local Toledo television station WTOL Channel 11 featured two live shots and on air interviews regarding ARES support and ham radio on their Your Day Friday, April 24th, 2009 morning program:
http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?s=10242385

The American Radio Relay League's national weekly ARES electronic "E-Letter" newsletter on May 20th, 2009 features a "Hams Rally for Glass City Marathon" article:
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/ares-el/index.html?issue=2009-05-20#toc04

And the Ohio ARRL website includes a more detailed article with additional pictures from marathon race day operations:
http://www.arrlohio.org/glass_city_marathon_09.htm

Thanks go out to all the Lucas County ARES members who volunteered, including those operators from Wood County, Hancock County, and Monroe County (Michigan) that came out to help as well. And special thanks to Rick Sharpe, K8RKS, our ARES Race Coordinator from Lucas County.

Photo by KD8CIJ: Jeff Pryor (KC8NNO) Handles radio traffic for race officials / ARES Net Control--Command Center in background.

Heading down to Dayton Hamvention on Saturday

Hello all,

I'm heading on down to Dayton Ohio for Hamvention 2009 tomorrow. I'll be going via the Toledo Mobile Radio Association (TMRA) charter bus with about 50 other local ham radio operators. Follow our progress while enroute and returning via the Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) at http://aprs.fi/?call=KC8NNO-13 and watch for me walking around Hamvention at http://aprs.fi/?call=KC8NNO-7 also via APRS. You may also see my relative location via Google Latitude. Also feel free to follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jpryor223 for some mobile updates during the day.

Jeff KC8NNO

Holy High Altitude Balloons: HALO II Launch this Weekend!

According to the Amateur Radio High Altitude Ballooning Launch Announcements site (http://showcase.netins.net/web/wallio/ARHABlaunchannouncements.htm) there will be a large number of coordinated balloon launches this weekend.

The HALO II Project involves 15 Universities from across nine different states simultaneously launching high-altitude balloons to create a balloon-to-balloon network in order to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) Education and conduct cutting edge multi point science experiments.

The purpose of the HALO (High Altitude Launch Opportunity) project is to set up a high altitude communications network. When one balloon comes over the radio horizon of another balloon they will link and and start communicating. This project and Part-15 900MHz Spread Spectrum HALO NETWORK is managed by Taylor University (Indiana). Cooperating universities from Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia are also launching balloons.

The launches for these balloon flights are scheduled for this Saturday, April 4th at 11:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time. All high altitude balloons are equipped with Amateur Radio APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) transmitters on 144.39 MHz. Refer to the ARHAB site for more specific launch locations and tracking call signs.

The primary Talyor University balloon (KB9ZNZ-1) will likely have the normal Cross-band Repeater capabilities (Uplink ↑ 144.360 MHz & Downlink ↓ 446.025 MHz). The Wright State University balloon (W1WSU-11) is listed as having telemetry (145.050 MHz AX.25 TLM), Fast Scan television (427.250 MHz AM ATV) as well as a 2 Meter beacon (146.565 MHz DF Beacon).

Severe Weather Week Announcements

In conjunction with Ohio's Spring Severe Weather Awareness Week, and the Statewide Tornado Drill, Lucas County will be activating the outdoor warning sirens on the morning of Wednesday, March 25th at 9:50 AM Eastern Daylight Time. Lucas County Skywarn will be conducting a special session net that will take station check-ins, stand by for the outdoor warning siren test, and then conclude with a brief roll call of all stations that have checked in. This special Skywarn net will be activated Wednesday Morning at 9:40 AM on the primary Lucas County Skywarn frequency (the 147.27 MHz TMRA repeater). All stations that are available at that time are encouraged to check in to the net.

And also, as a general reminder, the National Weather Service, in conjunction with Lucas County Skywarn and the Lucas County Emergency Management Agency, will be holding Skywarn Severe Weather Spotter Training class this Saturday morning, March 28th at 10:00 AM at Saint Luke’s Hospital Auditorium in Maumee, Ohio. The program is updated every year and the National Weather Service recommends spotters take the training every 2-3 years as a refresher. All individuals are encouraged to attend.

TMRA Toledo Hamfest this Sunday

The Toledo Mobile Radio Association annual Hamfest is this Sunday, March 15th, 2009. The Toledo Hamfest takes place at the Lucas County Recreation Center at 2901 Key Street in Maumee, Ohio. The hamfest hours are from 8:00 AM till 2:00 PM.

See the TMRA Website for additional information:

http://www.tmrahamradio.org/hamfest.htm

Navigate to the hamfest via APRS:

http://aprs.fi/?call=HFEST-15t

Severe weather season fast approaching: Spotter Training 2009

Being a storm spotter not only means dedication, but also training. Each spring the Cleveland office of the National Weather Service trains members of police & fire departments, emergency management officials, amateur radio operators and weather interested citizens on spotting techniques. Typically the training is coordinated by a local group (such as an emergency management agency), and a NWS meteorologist serves as the guest instructor. The goal of the training is not just to recognize tornadoes, but to have some understanding of storm structure, which in turn better prepares the spotter for the extreme and unusual circumstances.

The National Weather Service (NWS), in conjunction with Lucas County SKYWARN® and the Lucas County Emergency Management Agency, will be holding a SKYWARN® Severe Weather Spotter Training class on Saturday, March 28th at 10:00 AM at St. Luke's Hospital Auditorium in Maumee, Ohio.

The class will last around two hours and includes a multimedia presentation. Gary Garnet, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Cleveland, Ohio, organizes the training each spring. It is open to all citizens interested in severe weather recognition, reporting, and safety and covers: Basics of thunderstorm development; Fundamentals of storm structure; Identifying potential severe weather features; What and how to report; Basic severe weather safety.

The program is updated every year and the National Weather Service recommends spotters take the training every 2-3 years as a refresher. All interested individuals are encouraged to attend this free training and it is not necessary to pre-register. Those who complete the program with be registered with the National Weather Service Cleveland Forecast Office and will be issued a SKYWARN® Spotter ID card.

NWS Cleveland SKYWARN® Spotter Training Schedule for NW Ohio District 1 Counties:

March 5th @ 6:30 PM - Seneca County
March 12th @ 6:30 PM - Wood County
March 16th @ 2:00 PM - Online Webinar*
March 19th @ 6:30 PM - Sandusky County
March 28th @ 10:00 AM - Lucas County
March 31st @ 2:00 PM - Online Webinar*
April 6th @ 6:30 PM - Hancock County
April 13th @ 6:30 PM - Wyandot County
April 14th @ 6:00 PM - Online Webinar*

* Cleveland also offers SKYWARN® Webinar Training, Visit their Website for more information.

Helpful websites:

National Weather Service Cleveland: http://www.erh.noaa.gov/cle/
NW Ohio District 1 SKYWARN®: http://www.nwoskywarn.org/
Lucas County SKYWARN®: http://www.lucascoskywarn.org/

TARE Meeting this Thursday

For folks wanting to get together with others from the NW Ohio area and chat about radio communications, the monthly TARE meeting is coming up this Thursday 01/15 at 7:00 PM.

TARE (Toledo Area Radio Enthusiasts) meets every third Thursday of the month at Schlotzsky's Deli on Reynolds Rd in Maumee Ohio (Schlotzsky's Deli‎ on Google Maps). There is always a good handful of folks there and the get together is pretty informal. Just look for the tables pushed together with radios and some laptops. Discussions usually range from shortwave listening, scanning and public safety monitoring, amateur radio communications and more (or less).

Folks that may have purchased or received newer radios from over the holidays, feel free to bring your equipment and questions. There are usually others with most of the common brands and models of scanners present, and there is always somebody that can help.