It’s here! The season some love and some are already tired of, Spring storm season. Yellow alerts, Orange alerts, repeater monitoring, weather report checking… all seem to be a part of spring for those involved in this part of ARES. Your SKYWARN NC team and its assistants have been busy watching and communicating with the OEM and NWS. Please know we have had several ARES related level alerts sent out via e-mail and texts. We use email for the preliminary rounds and texts for the Red activation alerts. Check out the alert levels on the Training tab of the website.

If you have not received these alerts and want to be involved, please let Wade KF5AUD or I know. Of course we would need a good e-mail address, and for texts your cell number and the carrier you are subscribed to. Different carriers have different protocols for our group messages.

In preparation for this season, we have had a small crew involved with the City of Sherman’s efforts to revamp their EOC in the basement of the PD building. The cooperation between the Fire Department, Police staff, Shipman Communications and our team has been very enjoyable. It’s good, even fun, to work with people invested in this type of operation. The UHF/VHF system has been rebuilt, and recently a new HF vertical was installed and made operational. The last few Siren Test nets Brad KE5UMJ has run have been using the equipment there. Look for an upcoming drill using those tools; and, we may work in concert with the county EOC in some operations to check the equipment out even more. Future work could include tools such as an Echolink application and APRS. As Sherman continues to finish out their EOC it will become a great tool for their citizens, and they have made it available to us in serving Sherman and our whole county. A true “getting the bigger picture” operation.

Enjoy the sunshine when it is out, and thanks for your willingness to serve when it’s not.

73
Rick
K5ECX