SKYWARN Recognition Day 2017

The WX5FWD SKYWARN™ team are volunteer radio operator liaisons for the Fort Worth National Weather Service (NWS) North Texas SKYWARN™ Spotters. During SKYWARN events, you are reporting information to our team and the NWS warning forecasters. Three goals of a storm spotter are to safely observe, identify and report conditions.

Weather spotters provide what's called "ground truth" to the National Weather Service and emergency weather management. Spotters are needed because, while radar is very good at helping the National Weather Service see what's going on in the upper atmosphere, it's unable to detect what's actually happening on the ground because of the curvature of the Earth. Knowing the "ground truth" about a weather event from the location can be the deciding factor to issue a warning.

NWS UPDATE: Today's/Tonight's Heavy Rain and Thunderstorm Potential (Saturday, April 21, 2018)

Submitted by wd5m on Sat, 2018-04-21 10:35

From: National Weather Service, Fort Worth
Date: Saturday, 21 April 2018 9:39 CDT

Bottom Line

Scattered showers and storms will affect North and Central Texas through late this evening. A few strong to severe storms are possible late this afternoon and evening.

2017 SKYWARN Recognition Day QSL Log

Submitted by wd5m on Sun, 2017-12-10 12:02

Thank you! Everyone who participates in SKYWARN storm spotting makes SKYWARN Recognition Day a wonderful event. We hope everyone enjoyed themselves.

The W5W/WX5FWD station logged 280 contacts in total.

We have created a log of contacts with a link to display a QSL card for printing. Click on the Read More to display the QSL Log page.

NWS Special Event 2017 SKYWARN® Recognition Day

Submitted by wd5m on Thu, 2017-11-16 19:33

2017 SKYWARN® Recognition Day

Fort Worth NWS CWA The 2017 SKYWARN® Recognition Day event is from Friday evening, December 1st 18:00 (6PM) CST until Saturday December 2nd 18:00 (6PM) CST. Or in UTC time December 2, 2017, from 00:00 to 24:00 UTC.

SKYWARN Recognition Day was developed in 1999 by the National Weather Service (NWS) and the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). It celebrates the contributions that SKYWARN volunteers make to the NWS mission, the protection of life and property. Amateur radio operators comprise a large percentage of the SKYWARN volunteers across the country. The Amateur radio operators also provide vital communication between the NWS and emergency management if normal communications become inoperative. During the SKYWARN Special Event, operators will visit NWS offices and contact other radio operators across the world.

National information regarding SKYWARN Recognition Day is published at www.weather.gov/crh/skywarnrecognition and the ARRL. A list of participating NWS offices is on the NWS SKYWARN Recognition Day web page. David McAnally (WD5M), with the WX5FWD Radio Desk Team, is the local SKYWARN Recognition day coordinator for the Fort Worth NWS WFO.

North Texas spotters are encouraged to participate in SKYWARN Recognition Day, and log radio contacts with NWS offices and SKYWARN spotter groups. We hope to share memories and recognize all spotters who provide vital information to forecasters for warnings.

SKYWARN volunteers may visit the Fort Worth Weather Forecast Office on Saturday December 2. Lunch will be provided. Visitors must RSVP before Friday, December 1 via wx5fwd.org/RSVP, or send email to SRD@wx5fwd.org. Please RSVP including your name, email address, call sign (not required), and county. More details will be provided to attendees via email.

ARRL Field Day 2017 QSL Log

Submitted by wd5m on Sat, 2017-07-15 13:26

We have published a preliminary log of Field Day contacts with a feature to display a QSL card for possible printing. We will be reviewing and updating as necessary over the next several days.

Click on Read More to display the QSL Log page.

Preliminary WX5FWD/W5T's Contest Summary Report for ARRL-FIELD-DAY

 Total Contacts = 283
 Operating Period: 2017/06/24 18:00 - 2017/06/25 18:00
 Total Contacts by Band and Mode:

 Band       CW   Phone     Dig   Total       %
 ----       --   -----     ---   -----     ---
   80        0       1       0       1       0
   40        0     107       0     107      38
   20        0      29       1      30      11
   15        0      11       0      11       4
   10        0       3       0       3       1
    6        0     131       0     131      46
            --   -----     ---   -----     ---
 Total       0     282       1     283     100

Here is a summary of the last few years for comparison:

2017 - QSOs 283   QSO points   568   Bonus points 1050
2016 - QSOs 652   QSO points  1318   Bonus points 850
2015 - QSOs 954   QSO points  1908   Bonus points 970
2014 - QSOs 202   QSO points   408   Bonus points 650

How Spotters May Contact the NWS Radio Desk

Submitted by wd5m on Wed, 2017-06-21 12:26

This is a brief list of methods and links to more details on how spotters can report weather conditions to the Fort Worth NWS warning forecast office, and radio desk.

North Texas NWS Skywarn Repeater directory These are frequencies used by local area spotter groups when activated for a weather event.
North Central Texas Connection (NCTC) linked repeater system. NCTC is a wide area linked repeater system that we may monitor for liaison spotter reports during weather events.
EchoLink Conference *WX5FWD* 372418. Reference our Radio over Internet Protocols (RoIP) page.
IRLP Reflector 0010. Reference our Radio over Internet Protocols (RoIP) page.

Alternative methods...

Phone: 1.800.792.2257
Web Site: www.weather.gov/fortworth
Social Media: Facebook & Twitter @NWSFortWorth #fwdspotter

Some of this information is on the Skywarn spotter training hand out. All spotters, experienced and new, should attend training every year. Spotter training covers new information and procedures, as well as the standard spotter basic and advanced topics.

WX5FWD SKYWARN® Team