Hello everybody and welcome back to the Everything Ham Radio Podcast! In this episode we are going to be talking about Skywarn, we talk about the Sioux Empire Amateur Radio Club in our amateur radio club spotlight, we talk about some upcoming events/contests and Hamfests for the next two weeks and wrap it up with some news from around the hobby! Show notes and further reading for this episode can be found at http://www.everythinghamradio.com/podcast/46/ Amateur Radio Club Spotlight Sioux Empire Amateur Radio Club Website: http://www.w0zwy.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/W0ZWY/ If you would like to have your amateur radio club highlighted on my podcast, please send an email to k5clm@everythinghamradio.com. In that email please give me the name of your club, your club’s website address and tell me a little about your club.
In McMinn County TN, we know SKYWARN first hand. 3 nights ago, Athens TN was hit by an EF-2 tornado. Amateurs were on the air relaying reports from 12:30AM onward. RACES was activated at 3AM, because one of the major towers for public service radio went down. During the tornado, the McMinn Co Amateur Radio Club lost one of their repeaters at the Athens site, but the 442.275 stayed up. Recovery is still going on. We lost no lives, had 23 injured, and one baby born! Here what happened to the repeaters... this is the Athens Utilities Board tower site: The folded dipole array on the left just below the bend is our 442.275 antenna, still working. The broken antenna on the right just below the bend is the 2M antenna, not working. That tower is already in the process of being taken down and replaced. The 442.275 had to be turned off. We expect to be back on the air soon. This is the cellular tower 200 feet away... If you pray, pray for the people of Athens TN and the army of first responder and disaster workers.
WOW!! The power of mother nature is just extraordinary! I hope that things get back up and running at normal levels soon and thanks for sharing!!
Wow, wow, and just... wow. Thank you for posting those pictures. As another poster said, Mother Nature's power really is amazing. I'm glad no one was killed by heart goes out to those injured. What the storm did to that tower is mind-boggling. KM4HOC (NCO for Skywarn, Area 3, Wakefield, Va)
its amazing tenn.has had it rough with the fires and then the storms pushed thru. we had a reported tornado touch down in sw charlotte nc from this same storm and an 18 wheeler flipped over driver was ok....tree damage and some power lines down but thankfully no bad injuries or fatalities....strange weather for early december.... wb4ud nco chlt regional skywarn(Charlotte NC)
Skywarn is nice but in Norman they don't listen to you unless you are driving 125mph chasing the storm, for the thrill of the chase or something, because otherwise your an idiot that hasn't been through their school 6 times and studied storms for 20 years. Too bad I can see the western sky for 20-40 miles with no obstructions, but I am sure there are plenty of "extreme storm spotters" out there who can see fine. Maybe they can call in a report of what the inside a funnel looks like.
In TN, the NWS tells us DO NOT CHASE! You can get away from storms in TN, too many curvy roads. FYI, both of the repeaters are now located at the Athens City Hall in the Ham Radio Room with reduced range. Hopefully, they will go back up in about 3 months. I should mention this, a plus the night the tornado hit was that the shift of sheriff's officer that was working had several officers that have their ham license! When their comms went down for a little while, they were on the ham repeater with us (and yes, IDing with their ham calls). I say a big at-a-boy to those officers who got their tickets, and hope even more will do so.
Oops, I put the wrong episode number on this post, doh! shows you what someone who is rushed can do... If a moderator sees this, can you please change the title to ep 46...thanks
