🚀 go-pugleaf

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Hello, all.  I am apparently getting Skywarn List messages late.  However, I
 just
pulled the following great posts on this wonderful Sunday morning where, in NTX,
we finally have cloudy weather and drizzling rain!I will take the post that I
 just
received in parts, because I think some real important "stuff" was said by Bill
Ricker and those to whom he was respondiing.

----------------------------------------------------------------

> Date:    Sat, 12 Sep 1998 03:15:08 GMT
> From:    Bill Ricker <wdr@WORLD.STD.COM>
> Subject: Modest proposals? Re: SKYWARN Reorganization
>
> ...<SNIP>
> If RACES operates SKYWARN radio links in your area, that would be at
> the local NWS option or due to RACES being (or having been) stronger in
> that area when the current SKYWARN operations solidified.

As far as I know, the only Skywarn nets that happen in the DFW (Dallas/Ft.
 Worth)
area are those that are operated as RACES nets.  And, you are right.  I reread
 the
MOU that Todd so graciously provided (thanks, Todd) and it does not mention
 RACES
specifically.  The only ARES Skywarn net I know of in my area is that which is
operated in Collin County, Texas.  And, operated with incredible efficiency I
might add!

...<SNIP>

> Here, ARES, RACES, and SKYWARN are separate organizations with
> different strengths whose leadership work together for regional
> planning and local cooperation.

It is my understanding that there exists a, to say the least, "riff" between
 ARES
and RACES in this area.  I may be wrong and may have gotten this impression from
the wrong people.  When I first became a HAM, I was eager to join and be a
 member
of ARES.  The long-time HAMs I was with when I mentioned this had one of "those
looks" in their eyes and all of them said, simply, "good luck."  I don't
understand this, but then I am not a player of politics.

> Warnings go out to town EMD centers on the police and state EMA teleprinter
> circuits, so that warnings on Skywarn frequencies tend to be for the
 information
> of
> our net controls and spotters (and to alert other hams in the
> vicinity to disconnect their antennae and get the HT out and look
> for hail).

...<SNIP>This is a great part of the organization!  I hope that if the North
 Texas
Skywarn group gets off the ground, we can be this organized!

> ------------------------------
>
> Date:    Sat, 12 Sep 1998 03:35:00 GMT
> From:    Bill Ricker <wdr@WORLD.STD.COM>
> Subject: Re: SKYWARN Digest - 7 Sep 1998 to 8 Sep 1998

...<SNIP>

> If there is an existing survivable network already in place that
> spans the right geography, be it REACT, ARES, RACES or EMA, it makes
> sense to use it. If there isn't one, it needs to be grown with what
> ever players will make it work.

That is what I am in the process of trying to do, Bill.  It is proving to be
probably the greatest challenge I have ever undertaken.  But, challenges are
educational skills and I thrive on knowledge!

...<SNIP>

> Same here.   Many of our individual coordinators hold ARES or RACES
> appointments in parallel with their skywarn appoitments, but everyone
> understands that the WCM appoints the single head coordinator and that
> the WCM is our Patron.

This is a part of the organization of Skywarn that I did not realize.  Does the
above mean that it is the NWS WCM that appoints a Skywarn Coordinator?  Can this
task be handed off to other entity(ies) by the NWS?  I wonder how I might find
 out
if there is a Skywarn Coordinator in Dallas County or Kaufman County here in
Texas.  I suppose I could make inquiry to the NWS?

> ------------------------------
>
> Date:    Sat, 12 Sep 1998 05:00:12 GMT
> From:    Bill Ricker <wdr@WORLD.STD.COM>
> Subject: Re: SKYWARN Organization

...<SNIP>

> It would be unfortunate if your strong metropolitan operation didn't
> cover adjacent areas because your counties are too small and the rural
> folks fell on the far side of a political boundary.

Then, we have a most unfortunate situation here in my local area of NTX.  The
existing RACES structure not only does not "cover" adjacent areas but expresses
"attitude" when other counties try to enter their net.  This is very frustrating
for those of us who live in rural counties and beyond.

...<SNIP>

> Suggestion:  You might be able to get RACES sponsorship for
> regional skywarn operations from a higher echelon of the state
> EMAgency, if it has higher echelons than County?

You bring to light so many important organizational facts in your posts, and I
thank you for that, Bill.  I have the energy to get this thing going, but not
 the
knowledge of people and positions that I need to have in order to get it being
discussed!

...<SNIP>

> In some areas, you may find un-affiliated SKYWARN operators better
> trained than either ARES or RACES, because they have regular
> activations not just monthly drills and weekly nets.

It may be just me, but I know that the aforementioned ARES Skywarn net that
operates in Collin County, the county adjacent to Dallas Cty. at the north
 border,
is extremely efficient, friendly sounding, and sounds like everyone there is
 well
trained.

...<SNIP>

> Our nets use wide-area repeaters that sometimes
> cover multiple jurisdictions, and we try to have at least one
> net/repeater covering each jurisdiction, with backup and relay.  Some
> of our nets are supported by ARES, RACES/EMA, or RACES/ARES teams on
> their home repeaters; some are merely hosted by sympathetic clubs whose
> general membership barely tolerates us.

This is going to be the challenge in our area.  I have already surmised that if
 I
can find enough people to get involved and working on this project--that will be
easy compared to developing and implementing all the communication methods that
will work together!

Thanks for the discussion, Bill and Sam and Todd, etc.  I awoke this morning and
read "over" it.  Now, I am going to go back and glean my lessons from it!

Kim Walker-W5TIT

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