KF7ELY Amateur Radio

Good Evening from central Oregon...The following is a QST...  I was asked by Don, W0DVS if I would be interested in doing a phone interview about Skywarn and the almost daily weather reports I give on the local 2 meter repeaters.  It was a great experience, we talked for around and hour and a half and out of all of that there were two 30 second spots, hi hi.  Below is the text that would be read on the radio.

the first one:

TEASE:  CENTRAL OREGON HAM RADIO OPERATOR HAS QUITE A FOLLOWING.

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A group of ham radio operators and other volunteers are frequently called upon by the National Weather Service to provide weather observations in a given area. 

These volunteers fill a void in the Doppler radar system here in Central Oregon and also provide precise wind and temperature readings that allow the Weather Service to predict severe weather. 

Carroll Tracy is a Skywarn member living in Prineville.  He has become very popular on the ham radio bands because he keeps on eye on the weather even when Skywarn isn’t needed for severe weather.

[OUT:  “…and Northern California.”]  :20

VERBATIM:  "I just do this as a volunteer.   I’m not activating anything when I do those daily reports…and I do them as I can. I don’t do them on the hour or on the half hour as a structured deal.  It’s as I have time.  And I do this for the whole Northwest.  It’s in Idaho, Oregon, Northern California, and Northern Nevada." 

Tracy said he started sending out short weather reports on his ham radio one day.  He got so many favorable comments from other hams that he just kept doing it.  The reports are so popular that he now uses his computers and ham radios to keep other hams informed in the four-state area.

And here is the second:

TEASE:  CENTRAL OREGON HAM RADIO OPERATORS PROVIDE WEATHER OBSERVATIONS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

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YOU WOULD THINK WITH ALL OF THE TECHNOLOGY WE HAVE, THE WEATHER SERVICE WOULD BE ABLE TO PINPOINT EVERY CLOUD AND EVERY RAINDROP ANYPLACE ON EARTH.

LOCAL "SKYWARN" volunteer and ham radio operator carroll tracy in prineville says central oregon is in sort of a blind spot for most of the advanced doppler radar that covers oregon.

The weather service uses TRAINED "skywarn" volunteers TO FILL THE DEAD SPOTS.  Most of them are ham radio operators.

[OUT:  "...PLAN TO IT."]   :21

VERBATIM:  "WE ARE SELF ACTIVATING.  IF HAZARDOUS WEATHER COMES OUR WAY, AND THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PENDLETON HAS NOT ASKED US TO ACTIVATE, WE CAN SELF-ACTIVIATE.  SO IF A THUNDERSTORM COMES UP FROM THE SOUTH, FOR EXAMPLE, WE CAN START A NET.  I CAN START...ANY OF THE OTHER SKYWARN MEMBERS CAN START ONE.  IT'S KIND OF A LOOSE THING, BUT THERE IS AN ORGANIZATIONAL PLAN TO IT."

TRACY SAYS HAMS FROM ALL OVER CENTRAL OREGON USE THEIR TRAINING...AND IN SOME CASES...THEIR OWN PERSONAL WEATHER STATION EQUIPMENT...TO PROVIDE THE WEATHER SERVICE WITH THINGS LIKE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION, CLOUD ACTIVITY, OR LIGHTNING.