San Antonio Hams

Seasons change and as they do, so do our emergency communications priorities. With the advent of Summer, in this case a bit earlier, June 1st marks the beginning of “Hurricane Season”. It’s been predicted to be a very active period.

Many newly licensed hams have joined the amateur radio ranks just in time to become useful communicators should an emergency caused by severe weather arise. There is always a need for trained emergency communications personnel, but this is especially true in the areas which are more likely to be impacted by a hurricane, those regions being the Atlantic and Gulf Coast areas. However, it takes more than just a license and a hand-held radio to make you a useful part of emergency communications. It also takes preparation, training and practice.

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Local radio operators manned the radio station inside the National Weather Service office in New Braunfels, TX from 6pm Friday (Dec. 5th) thru 6pm Saturday (Dec. 6th) in two hour shifts.

I’ll update this report once I receive more details, but my wife (Pat Knight AD5BR) and I (Lee Besing N5NTG) were there Friday from 6pm – 10:30pm, along with J.C. Smith N5RXS, Lew Archer KD5MSW, Bob Hejl W2IK and visitation from Danny McCarty WA5KRP and Chuck Kenworthy WB5FWI.

J.C. N5RXS started out the operations by tagging onto the end of the Arkansas Razorback Net on HF, telling the Net Control what he was doing tonight and asking that stations interested in talking with this NWS stay on frequency afterward.  The calls stacked.   Then he moved over to the Texas Traffic Net and repeated that technique.  He quickly filled up almost 4 pages of log sheets, with 14 contacts per sheet.

Then comes Bob W2IK.  The reluctant Bob.  Pat AD5BR talked him into getting on the radio after he first resisted the idea, and he quickly filled up about 3 sheets of contacts in about 45 minutes.  This guy knows how to work a contest, even when it wasn’t really a “contest per se”.   He staked out a heavily used area on the HF band, started talking, and started logging contact after contact.

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2008 National Weather Service
Skywarn Recognition Day
December 6, 2008
0000-2400 UTC

SKYWARN Recognition Day was developed in 1999 by the National Weather Service and the American Radio Relay League. It celebrates the contributions that volunteer SKYWARN radio operators make to the National Weather Service. During the day SKYWARN operators visit NWS offices and contact other radio operators across the world.

Check with your local National Weather Service office to see if they are participating in this event or having an “open house”. It is not a contest, but rather an operating event. Amateur radio operators will be on the air from National Weather Service offices and from their home stations as well. Depending upon how many NWS stations a ham operator contacts they will be given certificates of varying levels.

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