🚀 go-pugleaf

> Kevin wrote:
>
> Your local NWS needs to recruit farmers and cattlemen as spotters to call in
 those
> reports by phone, if necessary.
>
> Kevin Heyboer KD4UYR
> Pinellas County Florida Skywarn Coordinator
>

 NWS has already recruited non-Ham spotter groups wherever necessary.   However,
 farmers
and cattlemen generally do not have the communications equipment available that
 Hams
have.  As a result, their reports may not be made in "real time", which for a
 long lived
event may not be a problem.  But, for events which occur relatively quickly
 (e.g., less
than 1/2 hour in duration), the delay may be too long and the warning may be
 issued after
the event is over.  Of course, minimum delay in issuing a warning for any
 dangerous event
is everyone's goal.

Let's not get off on an "ugly" tangent.  My concern was NOT about WHO does the
 spotting.
I was responding to a concern that the NWS itself has about the need for
 recruiting more
spotters to cover rural areas that are relatively long distances from WSR-88D
 transmitter
sites.  (The farther a storm is from the radar transmitter, the wider the radar
 beam and
the lower the resolution available from the returned radar echo.)

Another point of my original post was to solicit responses on whether other
 SKYWARN groups
that are organized around metropolitan areas, like Dallas/Fort Worth, support
 spotting in
surrounding rural counties.  It is secondary that Dallas SKYWARN is operated
 under RACES.

TAKE NOTE:  In my opinion, it is not important whether a SKYWARN group is
 operated under
RACES, ARES, REACT, The Cattlemen's Association or a volunteer fire department.
 But each
one may have advantages, depending on the local situation.

In large metropolitan areas, like Dallas, where the Ham population is also
 large, it may
be necessary to limit reports and net activity to trained spotters and RACES
 members only
(participation is not limited to only Dallas RACES members by the way).
 Accuracy and
validity of reports are critical.  So is the efficiency of net operation.  A
 long winded
poorly worded report by a well meaning but untrained never before check-in may
 prevent a
critical report from  a trained spotter who has spotted a tornado or other life
threatening weather.  RACES has its advantages, especially in large cities.
 ARES has its
advantages too, especially in more rural areas with lower population density
 where having
enough participation may be a problem.

Training is critical to the performance of any spotter group.  From what I've
 heard during
my travels while storm chasing from Texas to South Dakota, RACES groups tend to
 have the
highest level of training, with ARES running a close second.    I developed this
 opinion
based on the quality of the reports and the efficiency of the net operation that
 I've
heard.  I've also heard a few small town volunteer fire department spotters,
 while limited
in numbers of spotters, who would rival the efficiency and effectiveness of any
 spotter
group of any kind.

So back to the original question.  How do spotter groups in large cities support
surrounding rural areas?  And, how many multi-county or regional spotters groups
 are out
there?  And how are they organized?

On another topic, does anyone have an up to date list of HF frequencies in use
 for
Hurricane nets?  Are there any HF Ham Weather nets still in operation?  If so,
 what
frequencies and what times?

73,

Sam Barricklow K5KJ

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