Hello to all..

SKYWARN Recognition Day is December 1st, 2018 from 0000-2400 UTC (Friday Evening 11/30/18 from 700 PM ET-Saturday Evening 12/1/18 at 700 PM ET) and Echolink and IRLP will be playing a role in SRD as it has in past years. SKYWARN Recognition Day is an opportunity for National Weather Service Forecast Offices across the United States to thank SKYWARN Spotters for their efforts in obtaining timely severe weather reporting for the protection of life and property. This is the SKYWARN program’s main mission.

EchoLink and IRLP are just a couple of modes people can utilize to contact NWS offices during SKYWARN Recognition Day. Many NWS offices will be on 2 Meters, 440 MHz, HF and other VHF/UHF bands. Additional details on SKYWARN Recognition Day can be found via the following links:

http://hamradio.noaa.gov

http://www.weather.gov/crh/skywarnrecognition

As in past years, the EchoLink *WX_TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP reflector 9219 system will be scheduling time for NWS offices in 1-2 hour time slots to act as a net control to make contacts with spotters that are on the system. If a NWS office runs out of contacts and there are other NWS offices on the system, the NWS office acting as net control can turn it over to a different NWS office to act as a net control on the system at their discretion.

We’d like to ask NWS offices to do their best to adhere to the schedule. Sometimes this is difficult due to the number of contacts received by NWS offices. We ask for everyone’s patience and working cooperatively to respect the time slot schedule.

Time in UTC NWS Office Call-Sign
0000-0100: N0NWS (New NWS Office for This Year)
0100-0200: WX1GYX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0200-0300: WX4MLB (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0300-0400: WX1BOX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0400-0500: WX9GRB (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0500-0600: WX9LOT (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0600-0700: WX4HUN (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0700-0800: WX8APX (New NWS Office for this year)
0800-0900: WX8APX (New NWS Office for this year)
0900-1000: Open
1000-1100: Open
1100-1200: Open
1200-1300: W7NWS (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1300-1400: WX2PHI (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1400-1500: WX1AW (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1500-1600: WX1BOX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1600-1700: WX4NC (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1700-1800: WX2PHI (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1800-1900: WX6LOX (New NWS Office for this year)
1900-2000: K0MPX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
2000-2100: WX4MLB (Confirmed time slot for this year)
2100-2300: WX4NHC (Confirmed time slot for this year)
2300-2400: WX6NWS (Confirmed time slot for this year)

Here are the details on the DSTAR/DMR resources that will be available for SRD:

D-STAR Smart Groups:
WXNET1 in New York – Login command WXNET1, Logoff command WXNET1 T
WXNET2 in California – Login command WXNET2, Logoff command WXNET2 T

D-STAR Reflectors:
XLX307W in Wyoming – Link commands XRF307WL, DCS307WL or REF307WL
XLX735W in New York – Link commands XRF735WL, DCS735WL or REF735WL

DMR BM 31680

There will be other conference systems utilized for SKYWARN Recognition Day. They are as follows:

The New England Reflector Gateway System will be utilized by the NWS Boston/Norton, Mass. and NWS Gray, Maine offices from 0000-0500 UTC and 1200-2400 UTC. The New England Gateway system is on EchoLink Conference server *NEW-ENG3* Node: 9123, IRLP reflector 9123. If other NWS offices would like to join the system, they are welcome to do so and participants in SKYWARN Recognition Day can also use that system to make contact with various NWS offices. This is a great place to move off the *WX_TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP 9219 system after your scheduled time if other Amateurs or NWS offices wish to make contact with you.

Also, the Western Reflector will be having NWS offices calling CQ as in past years and have multiple reflector channels and Echolink conferences available. There is reflector 9250/Echolink Conference *HI-GATE* node: 357564, IRLP 9251 and the *WORLD* Echolink Conference node: 479886, IRLP 9257/*DCF-ARC* Echolink Conference node: 336037 and IRLP 9258/EchoLink Conference *NV-GATE* Node: 152566 open for NWS offices. Please contact Kent-W7AOR for additional information on the Western Reflector.

A few technical reminders for folks interested in making contacts with the NWS Forecast Offices on the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP 9219 and New England Reflector Gateway IRLP 9123/*NEW-ENG3* Echolink Node: 9123 systems:

-The system allows both EchoLink and IRLP connections. For EchoLink users, you connect to the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203 conference system. For IRLP users, you would connect to IRLP reflector 9219.

-If you are using EchoLink, the RF node or PC that you’re using must have EchoLink conferencing disabled. If it is not disabled, the system will automatically kick the node or PC off of the system. The reason this occurs is to prevent unintentional interference from a conferencing station that may not know the node is connected somewhere else. This will keep traffic moving on the net and reduce interference considerably.

For more information on VoIP Technical Configuration Tips, please go to our web site at http://www.voipwx.net where we have a link to that information on the main menu of the web site. This announcement will also be on the web site.

There will be an operating a net on the NEDECN Skywarn Talkgroup on DMR from 9 AM-Noon Saturday December 1st with the WX1GYX-NWS Gray Maine and WX1BOX-NWS Boston/Norton offices.

We are looking forward to another fun SKYWARN Recognition Day on the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP reflector 9219 system, New England Reflector Gateway system and Western Reflector system. Thanks to all for their support!

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net