Hi all,
Just to reiterate in a nutshell what was talked about at the meeting...
* Please see attached "Ham Radio 2024 Operations with NWSChat" PDF document.
* All counties/cities are now self-activating. The NWS does not activate the ham nets anymore.
* Basically, we have gone from centralized activation, to decentralized activation.
* But, the NWS has given us the tools needed to self activate and report WX from remote locations.
*?iNWS?is a tool that will give us a heads up on approaching severe weather. You can personalize it to fit your location and types of messages received. Another email will be sent on how to register for iNWS and some training.
*?NWSChat?v2.0 (Slack) is a tool that will allow us to send weather reports directly to the Duluth NWS WFO. Another email will be sent on how to register for NWSChat v2.0 (Slack) and some training.
* A suggested?Net Activation, presuming enough people are involved:
? - One or multiple people are monitoring severe weather approaching.
? - Communicate on-air or the "other wireless" means (texting/voice).
? - Someone or a group will need to make the decision to bring up a Skywarn Net.
? - Have one person bring up the net and be Net Control.
? - The Net Control operator will "filter" out reports that do not meet the criteria that the NWS is looking for in a report.
? - Have another person listening and participating in the net as the NWS Liaison. That person will be logged into NWSChat (Slack) and able to send valid reports to the Duluth NWS.
So what happens when a backhoe cuts the fiber? Or the first wave of severe weather knocks out your commercial communications/power infrastructure and there are still two more waves of severe weather coming at you? That is what we still need to figure out. More to come on that!
Thank you!
