Skywarn Fall/Winter 2023-24 training - NWS Binghamton

 Fall/Winter Spotter Training 2023-24

more info: https://www.weather.gov/bgm/outreachSKYWARNtraining

Most Upstate NY NWS Offices are holding similar training this Fall. See the links below.

SKYWARN - Severe weather reporting program

What is SKYWARN?

The effects of severe weather are felt every year by many Americans. To obtain critical weather information, NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, established SKYWARN® with partner organizations. SKYWARN® is a volunteer program with nearly 290,000 trained severe weather spotters. These volunteers help keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of severe weather to the National Weather Service.

Although SKYWARN® spotters provide essential information for all types of weather hazards, the main responsibility of a SKYWARN® spotter is to identify and describe severe local storms. In the average year, 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods and more than 1,000 tornadoes occur across the United States. These events threatened lives and property.

Since the program started in the 1970s, the information provided by SKYWARN® spotters, coupled with Doppler radar technology, improved satellite and other data, has enabled NWS to issue more timely and accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods.

Learn more at the National SKYWARN web site: https://www.weather.gov/SKYWARN
Binghamton NY NWS SKYWARN page: http://www.weather.gov/bgm/outreachSKYWARNtraining
Buffalo NY NWS SKYWARN page: http://www.weather.gov/buf/Skywarn
Albany NY NWS SKYWARN page:  http://www.weather.gov/aly/skywarn

60 Meter band changes proposed by FCC - PLEASE COMMENT

Updated on 10/30/23 to reflect the extended dates for the comment period.

Comments are now due November 28, 2023 and replies December 28, 2023.

from the ARRL:

ARRL; The National Association for Amateur Radio® is asking that all radio amateurs urge the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to continue the existing use of the 60-meter band. The ARRL is encouraging expressions of support to the FCC for the current 100 watt ERP power limit (instead of reducing the power limit to 15 watts EIRP) and continuing secondary access to the current channels.  An opportunity to reply to comments ends on October 30,2023. Comments should be submitted in FCC Docket No. WT 23-120.

ARRL has assembled a web page with instructions on how to submit your comments, as well as background information on the issue: www.arrl.org/60-meter-band 

Its really pretty simple to comment on the FCC site. Just follow the ARRL instructions and link above that will take you directly to comment section form on the FCC web page.

And better yet, when you are done writing a comment consider checking in on the 60 Meter "Short & Sweet" net each day at 5:30pm EST on 5346.5 khz.

Operators still needed! Can You help? - Onondaga County Pumpkin Patrol -

10/18/23 update: Operators still needed! Can You help? 

Please contact John Edwards, K2JSE at Larcppoc@gmail.com or by phone at 315-453-7264 

Technician Class - Nov. 11-12, 20223 - Clay NY

Bear Bait Radio Club - upcoming Amateur Radio Technician licensing class and testing

(from The Bear Bait Radio Club web site:https://bearbaitradioclub.com/ )

Sign-up info email: WA2DTN1@gmail.com

LARC - Amateur radio licensing

 from the LARC October 2023 Longwire:

Solar Eclipse QSO Party Seeks Amateurs

 

ARRL is proud to partner with HamSCI to help promote participation in the Solar Eclipse QSO Party (SEQP). SEQPs are a series of global experiments -- and you can be a part of them. Solar eclipses will pass across the continental United States on October 14, 2023, and April 8, 2024.

During these celestial events, you can join thousands of fellow amateurs as part of the largest crowd-sourced event for ham radio scientific exploration. The SEQP is part of the Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science and is for learning more about how the ionosphere works.

All radio amateurs need to do is operate using any mode and any band for all or part of the day, then upload their logs. Participation can be from anywhere; you don't need to be near the path of the eclipse to contribute valuable data. You don't even have to be a licensed ham to participate in the experiment (only to transmit).

More information at: http://www.arrl.org/news/solar-eclipse-qso-party-seeks-amateurs-and-radio-enthusiasts-for-global-experiment