[W8lrc] Fwd: SKYWARN Recognition Day

[Jack Amelar]

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30.11.2020, 22:50, "Tom Behler" <tombehler at gmail.com>:

From: Tom Behler <tombehler at gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, November 30, 2020 2:36 PM
Subject: SKYWARN Recognition Day

Hello, everyone.

As many of you know, SKYWARN Recognition Day is an annual event that is jointly sponsored by the National Weather Service and the ARRL aimed at showing appreciation for everyone involved in the SKYWARN program and all of its relevant aspects.

The idea is for National Weather Service offices throughout the country to operate amateur radio stations from those offices in order to contact as many NWS offices and other interested hams as possible, in a 24-hhour period.  This year’s event runs from 7 PM Eastern time this Friday:  December 4 through 7 PM this Saturday:  December 5.

However, Due to the Covid 19 situation and its associated restrictions, this year’s event is going to be quite different than what we are accustomed to.

First of all, after consulting with Ernie Ostuno, Lead Forecaster from the Grand Rapids NWS Office, I have learned that the office is not going to be open for this event this year.  In fact, visitors to the office are now strictly limited to contractors and other highly-essential personnel.

I also checked with Jason Veenstra (Allegan County’s EC), since the Allegan group has organized event participation in our area for the past few years.

According to Jason, the Allegan group is planning to do a home operating event this year, with members participating on an individual basis from their own stations.

I would encourage any of you as team members to do the same if you are interested.

Apparently, if you register for the event, you can get an SRD number that you can use when contacting either other NWS offices or other fellow SKYWARN operators from throughout the country.

That registration form can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdjTY8Cpa7b43CdUdgeBGRKcHlUv4FB86wVL7MpO19i2t7MBg/viewform

In addition, Ernie Ostuno has provided a link to a FaceBook page that will be used for a “virtual SKYWARN Recognition Day” event.  That link is:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/skywarnrecognitionday
Please try to enjoy SKYWARN Recognition Day however you can, and let’s all hope we can get back to normal for the usual SRD event in 2021.

Tom Behler:  KB8TYJ

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