The North Alabama SKYWARN / Emergency Net is composed of groups of volunteer radio amateurs that make their services available during severe weather and other civil emergencies.
Purpose: The primary purpose of this net is to activate when severe weather threatens North Alabama, and engage in the spotting and tracking of dangerous thunderstorms and tornadoes. Our intention is to assist with the coordination of this activity by providing a network that allows intercommunication between local weather nets across North Alabama and the National Weather Service. It is our hope that this coordination effort will result in the general public receiving the earliest possible forewarning of weather emergencies. This communications network is also made available to amateur operators affiliated with their county's EMA during declared emergencies.
The North Alabama SKYWARN Net primarily functions with the North Alabama Weather Alert Response Network (NALWARN), to provide information on severe weather for the National Weather Service Office and Emergency Management Agencies.
Coordination: This net is strictly organizational in nature. It is primarily a coordination effort and in no way imparts any authority, privileges, or responsibility to its participants. The preferred mode for traffic into this net is via a liaison station from a local net (see below). Individuals are encouraged to "check-in" with their local net instead of this net. The SKYWARN Net will, however, recognize ANY station that has emergency or priority traffic, (see "reporting" below). This net may also attempt to contact stations in selected areas for the purpose of confirming radar observations.
Participation: To participate in this net one needs:
1. An FCC Amateur Radio License Technician Class or higher
2. A willingness to volunteer his/her services
3. A thorough understanding of these operating procedures
Frequencies:This network will utilize a linked VHF repeater system, which provides optimal coverage for all of the North Alabama counties and links those counties to the Huntsville NWS office. The linked repeater system is designed to allow stations to use low powered handheld and mobile radios, thereby eliminating the risk of operating on an external antenna during thunderstorms. With the linked repeater system, it is possible to set up direct communications between persons located virtually anywhere across North Alabama and that traffic can be linked to the National Weather Service in Huntsville. The linked repeater frequencies are: 146.960 (Moulton) 147.240 (Huntsville) 147.360 (Section)
Individual County Nets:This net recognizes that each county is responsible for organizing it's SKYWARN personnel and encourages each county to hold an ongoing net on their local frequency (see attachment for list of local frequencies and people to contact in your county.) It is preferable that stations "check-in" with a local net. It is recommended that these local nets be coordinated with the county EMA, and that provisions be made to have an operator at the EOC.
Severe Weather Activation:An ESTABLISHED NET CONTROL OPERATOR will activate the North Alabama SKYWARN Emergency Net anytime the NWS issues a Severe Thunderstorm Watch, Tornado Watch, or receives a specific request from the NWS office or a county EMA to activate. The Net Control Operator may be located at his/her residence or at a county Emergency Operations Center (E.O.C.). The NWS office in Huntsville will activate an NALWARN member and he/she will report to the NWS there to coordinate traffic with all hams in the north Alabama area. North Alabama SKYWARN, NALWARN, and the NWS utilize statewide alphanumeric paging to activate and update amateur radio operators that are equipped with pagers. The NALWARN member will coordinate all weather traffic with the Net Control Operator in North Alabama. Persons are asked to pass weather traffic to the North Alabama SKYWARN Net Control Operator only and operators are asked NOT to pass traffic directly to the NALWARN member unless directed to do so by the SKYWARN or local net control station. Upon activation of the net, all repeater (LALF) links are turned on and recreational use of the systems is temporarily suspended. The frequencies are kept clear for EMERGENCY and PRIORITY traffic. IMPORTANT: THE SUCCESS OF THIS NET DEPENDS ON EVERYONE USING DISCRETION WITH THEIR MICROPHONES. PLEASE DO NOT TRANSMIT UNLESS IT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. Do NOT transmit to pass general weather information such as it is raining, the clouds are getting thicker, it is lightning off to the west, etc. Traffic of this nature is of no real use to the net and only ties up the frequencies from critical information. Always think before you transmit! Remember that several hundred hams, private citizens, and media agencies are listening all across north Alabama. Just listening and calling when you have severe weather to report is the best help you can provide a severe weather net! The NWS office from time to time offers spotter training, and it is strongly recommended you take the classes that are offered.
Reporting: The NWS is especially interested in the following:
1. Funnel cloud or tornado
2. Wall cloud with or without rotation
3. Location (reference to major town or crossroads)
4. Event Time-Always give a relative time. This is important! Most all reports older than 15 minutes are of little or no use during a severe weather event. NEVER send in reports from a second source such as news media... Example: "Channel 83 says it's all clear in Limestone county" or "they are saying on the scanner in XYZ county that it is clearing to the west". These kinds of reports only confuse the conduct of this net and its purpose!
5. Give wind speeds in mph.
6. Hail- Always give hail size in reference to coins such as dime, quarter or 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch hail...etc. Generally, less than a quarter of an inch should not be reported. Avoid using "marble or pea size" to describe the size.
When sending a report in to the Net Control Operator ALWAYS relay your report with reference to the nearest city or town. For example: I am seeing a wall cloud in the Moorseville community 3 miles northeast of Decatur. This reference to the nearest town or city will help NWS officials in Calera who are not aware of the location of the hundreds of small communities and crossroads in north Alabama. Please remember that the purpose of the net is to RECEIVE severe weather reports from spotters in the field and help the NWS verify what they are seeing on radar. The net is not intended as a "one stop weather source" for all weather information you may request for a certain area... The net may relay conditions in a certain area for the storm spotter's safety, but detailed weather information requests to net control for a particular community only tie up the frequency, and should be gathered from NOAA weather radio, TV or Broadcast Radio. It is not the intent of this net to provide amateur radio operators with "up to the minute forecasts for their community". Please remember that in order for the net to be successful in its true purpose.
Alert Status:The Net may be downgraded to an alert status if a Watch is in effect, but there is not any severe weather immediately threatening the area. Recreational use of the repeaters is permitted during Alert Status, but please keep transmissions brief and allow pauses in between. If a weather emergency arises, the NET CONTROL OPERATOR will resume the controlled net.
Deactivation:When all severe weather bulletins is canceled or expired, the net will close and the linked repeaters will be returned to their normal use. If the severe weather is only effecting part of the North Alabama area, repeaters in areas not being effected may be returned to normal operation without bringing the whole net down.
Training Net:The Training Net is held on each Thursday at 8:00pm and is used to review and practice the principles as outlined in these standard operating procedures. Each county in north Alabama rotates calling the training net for one month. The schedule is as follows: January-Colbert February-DeKalb March-Franklin April-Jackson May-Lauderdale June-Lawrence July-Limestone August-Madison September-Marshall October-Morgan November-Madison December-Lawrence
Each counties responsibility includes having personnel on standby for notification to activate the North Alabama SKYWARN Emergency Net. The counties' emergency coordinators will be notified when emergency activation is required.
Sponsors:The North Alabama SKYWARN repeaters are supported by:
-146.960 (Moulton) Bankhead ARC, Inc.
-147.240 (South of Huntsville) KB4CRG
-147.360 (Section) Jackson County ARC
-442.075 (Birmingham)- KR4UD
-UHF (Eva, AL) Link to Birmingham- Contributions from Amateur Radio Operators in North Alabama to pay the power bill and upgrade equipment.
North Alabama SKYWARN / General Emergency Net DirectoryRevised 01/12/03 (All Repeaters-Standard Offset for Input Unless Noted)
Colbert County:146.610 (Muscle Shoals) PL 100 Hz - Coordinated by Colbert Co. ARES - Contact: Billy Tompkins (KK4GT)
DeKalb County:147.27 PL 100 Hz - Coordinated by DeKalb Co. EMA and DeKalb Co. ARC - Contact: Joseph Creel(WB4AWM)
Franklin County:
Jackson County:147.360 (Section) PL 123 Hz - Coordinated by JCAR and Jackson Co. EMA - Contact: Donald Knight(KG4QQO) or Dieter Schliemann(KX4Y)
Lauderdale County:146.610 PL 100hz - Coordinated by Lauderdale Co. EMA and ARES - Net meets Tuesday nights at 6:30 P.M. - Contact: Gary Friar (KF4OUB)
Lawrence County:145.270 (Moulton) PL 107.2 Hz - Coordinated by Bankhead ARC - Net meets each Thursday 7:00 P.M. - Contact: Rex Free (KN4CI)
Limestone County:145.15 (Athens) Coordinated by Limestone Co. ARES - Net meets each Thursday 7:00pm - Contact: Joe Ivey(W4JSI)
Madison County: 146.94 (Huntsville) PL 100 Hz - Coordinated by Madison County ARES - Net meets each Thursday 7:30pm - Contact: Tom Hatter(K4AKC)
Marshall County: 147.200 PL 100 Hz - Coordinated by Marshall County ARES/SKYWARN- Net meets each Monday 8:00pm - Contact: Buddy Smith (AC4B)
Morgan County:
Note: Other nets report into SKYWARN that are of a specialized nature (Firefighters, RACES, etc.) This is not intended to be a complete list, but a list of general nets in each county.
This S.O.P. up for adoption January of 2003 from revision "C" of 2002. This January 2003 S.O.P. is in effect as of January 31, 2003. All previous versions are no longer used.
For more information:
North Alabama SKYWARN: Rex Free KN4CI
North Alabama SKYWARN Website: http://nalsw.net
NALWARN: Doug Childs K4DIG
NALWARN Website: http://nalsw.net/nalwarn
NWS Website: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/hun