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

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.

Radio Shack is at it again (Scanner Sales)

Radio Shack is at it again when it comes to Scanner Sales. Both the PRO-106 and PRO-197 are on sale again for $399.99 (only a $100 discount this time) until 01/03/2009. The PRO-2096 is also on clearance for $249.97 and while it is a digital scanner, this particular model is not the best for the Lucas County system, but some folks may still want to give it a try.

UPDATE: The Radio Shack PRO-2096 digital scanner comes to $204.97 when ordering online with the 10% clearance discount and the $20 off from the 20STUFF08 discount code. Just a general disclaimer, this is one of the oldest models of digital scanners, and may not provide for the best reception with certain systems. It is technically capable of receiving the 9600 baud Project 25 Standard trunking control channel format and the LSM (Linear Simulcast Modulation) CQPSK (Compatible Differential Offset Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) APCO-25 digital voice modulation format used by the Lucas County Public Safety system. Individuals however have generally been more likely to experience sub-par to unacceptable performance with simulcast systems especially when using these older models. Your experience may vary. For more information regarding the challenges, refer to the Simulcast Digital Distortion page on the Radio Reference Wiki (http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Simulcast_digital_distortion). The PRO-2096 would still make for a great scanner for the State of Ohio MARCS digital radio system.