On Saturday December 6th, 2008 the National Weather Service held its annual SKYWARN Recognition Day. SKYWARN Recognition Day was developed by the National Weather Service (NWS) and the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL). Its purpose is to celebrate and acknowledge the many contributions that amateur radio SKYWARN volunteers make to the National Weather Service. The NWS and ARRL both recognize the vital role that amateur radio SKYWARN volunteers provide during severe weather events. The vital real time information provided by professionally trained SKYWARN volunteers is crucial to the mission of the NWS, which is to preserve life and property.
The Central Indiana SKYWARN Association, Inc., in cooperation with the Indianapolis NWS and the Central Indiana SKYWARN Radio Club were active participants in this year’s event. Station W9NWS was activated at 0000Z by N9GDR and N9NBX. Both HF and IRLP stations were active for more than 14 hours providing communications between the Indianapolis NWS office and amateur radio operators not only across the US but foreign contacts as well. The IRLP link was provided courtesy of the Indianapolis Carmel Experimenters Group, home to the Central Indiana SKYWARN Voice Network. (www.w9ice.com)
W9NWS completed log showed 344 total contacts on both HF and IRLP. Of those 344 contacts, Switzerland, Australia, Canada and Spain were among the QSO’s. In addition, there were 66 NWS offices that were contacted as well. The 66 NWS stations worked earned W9NWS an F5 Tornado Certificate for participating in the program.
For further information on the SKYWARN Recognition Day program and to view the logs of other stations, please visit the web site http://www.crh.noaa.gov/hamradio/index.php. To find out more about the Indianapolis National Weather Service and the SKYWARN program, please follow the appropriate links on the www.w9nws.org web page.
A special thanks to Steve N9NBX for manning the IRLP radio, as well as the other amateur radio operators on the Indianapolis NWS staff for their support and participation.
Mark Shaffer
President
Central Indiana SKYWARN Association, Inc.
