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| Setup Procedures | SKYWARN Team References | |||
Upcoming Events and Activities
Statewide Upcoming COMEX. Operation Green House
PENDING: This is AK Statewide Quarterly Comex. Training on Winlink and station reports.
SKYWARN & Weather Spotter Training
Our SKYWARN program is off running. I am receiving more completion certificate for the basic requirements. Folks are getting the weather stations set up. I’ve put out some info on the first step, that involves you getting your weather spotter qualifications. Some of us that have been around in Alaska have a lot of experience figuring out what is going to happened base on various weather forecasting techniques we have used ourselves, from past experiences. We have more eyes on the ground with communications capabilities to provide a great service to our neighbors to possibly get warnings out to provide time to get to higher ground, establish links around Alaska to get info from areas in trouble to the NWS, SEOC, Red Cross and other supported agencies, than any of the commercial groups. They have a lot of automatic sensors but human eyeballs can add so much more. The Alaska Skywarn Sop is now posted. Please review and pass on any recommendations to Don/KL7JFT for improvements.
We have established Alaska’s DMR TG 31022, to be used by the Skywarn Teams. If you do not have DMR, contact one of the team that does or pass it on one analog repeaters in Fairbanks or Southcentral to get you info to the team leaders.
With folks living off the grid and back country areas, they see a lot of this stuff first. So let’s start out with checking the current height of the water near you, maybe put a marker in and log the date and time you started your observations. Any changes noted, such as rising ice/water, avalanches, open leads forming, jams, etc, along with as much detail as possible, especially location. This should be passed on to the Weather Forecasting office responsible for your area or call on the radio or email me with the info and I’ll get it passed on. Next if you are in an area that was flooded in the past, start preparing for that high water, pack things in waterproof containers and put them were they will be safe. Storage bins are on sale in a few places around the valley and have spare drinking water, in case it affects your well, that’s one thing the stores have plenty of. If you are a pilot, and our up and about, check the rivers and streams you may be flying over and let us know if there is something that needs to be brought to someone attention. But be safe flying and be careful with that bug still running around out there. Good References to assist in predicting the weather.
PRECIPITATION INTENSITY (tpub.com)
Table 1-4.Precipitation Intensity Indicators (tpub.com)
SFCTraining.pdf (weather.gov) (METAR Observations)
Below are the links to submit a flooding or weather report. Harry/AL6F is our SKYWARN manager and is out of the Fairbanks office. You can send Winlink msg to him (AL6F) or the Fairbanks Weather office (KL7FWX). CCing the Anchorage Weather office would be good also that way they can back each other up. Also please send me a copy so I can update MATSU Emergency Services. Don/KL7JFT .
Email the River Forecast Center/ RFC at and we will be sure to share with both weather forecast offices.
Now if you are planning a trip, check these sites out to see what the river situation is and notice the grayed area south is the Anchorage Office AO and the green area north is the Fairbanks office AO
Training Opportunity: Folks please check out our emergency plans and SOPs for working in PODs (Point of Distribution) sites on this website. We have had a few drills and actual operations of this plan around the borough. Please review MARA’s SOP and Emergency plan on this site for procedures. We would like to, if deployed, to use Winlink Stations with voice backup. And as in any deployment request. Take care of your family first, before volunteering. Start looking over the various creditable information sources as to what to do to protect yourself. We will be under direct supervision of qualified Health Dept and Borough personnel at the sites. But lets get our go boxes ready if needed. Thank you. Don/KL7JFT MATSU DEC
Weather Spotter Training. Now that fall is coming, let start getting ready for our usual activities, hunting, fishing, berry picking, canning and antenna work. The below link will connect you to the Anchorage NWS site where you can do the training over the internet. Now you don’t have to join the weather spotter group unless you want to, but the more folks who join the SKYWARN system, the more info we can gather. Now we don’t have hurricanes, tornado’s or typhoons, but we have sever weather, earthquakes, high winds, snow storms and volcanoes. So complete the Course, send me a copy of your certificate to KL7JFT. Then we will begin the SKYWARN training. Due to the limited amount of weather reporting systems and folks to report this info, we will be filling a great need across the state. Thanks to Harry/AL6F, the Fairbanks NWS operator for getting this program off the ground.
What do weather spotters report?
Significant or hazardous weather in Southcentral Alaska may include:
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Severe weather
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Urban and/or small stream flooding
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Winter weather
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We are continuing to conduct 6 Meter Path Tests. If you are interested in helping, you will need a mobile 6 meter radio, so we can go to different locations around Matsu and test. We are preparing plans currently to work with Palmer PD to assist them in comms support to their EOC near the airport with this mode. Please contact me if you would like to assist.
Anyone interested in continued Winlink training let me know, we can do in place training from your location to the network or round table get together. If you would like to see local weekly Net for Winlink training, let me know.
We are looking for additional ECs for MATSU, please contact Don/KL7JFT MATSU DEC if you are interested. We need one for the Palmer Area and to support the Palmer City EOC near the airport.
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If you have not setup a Winlink Account yet you can go to www.winlink.org and set it up. It is free and only requires a ham call sign and some additional info. They have links to RMS Express YouTube presentations to give you some back ground. If you desire you can download the RMS Express software and we can help you set it up on your laptop at the training. If you bring you own equipment, you just need a portable VHF antenna, to connect to your transceiver. You can use your internal TNCs or External TNCs. Unless you have a serial port on your laptop or your TNC has a USB port cable, you will need a serial to USB adapter cable, either FTDI or prolific which either works best for your computer OS and a power supply to run your equipment.
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DMR Net
Larry/KL4GR, has established a DMR Net on TG3102, Monday evenings at 1930 AK Time. An informal net to promote DMR around the state. Homer has a repeater on 443.4 CC1 SLOT 1. We also have one in South Anchorage, KL7AA on 444.2 CC1 SLOT 2, one in Wasilla, WL7DN on 443.45 CC15 SLOT 1, and Fairbanks, KL7ET on 443.3. Some of them are in process of improving coverage in their Area. MARA completed their Repeater this summer. It’s under KL7JFU, CC1, SLOT1, on 446.300. So, if you do not have a hotspot try the repeaters in your area and contact the Repeater controllers and give them a hand improving their systems. DMR radios can be used various ways and can support emergency comms with or without the internet. Some of the radio will allow cross banding from Digital/Digital and Digital/Analog and Analog/Analog. We are not working on D-STAR mode operations. KL3IT & KL7BK are working on his D-STAR repeater to get it back on the air out of Knik Road. System has 2 meters 147.000 + 600 up and running 442.00+ and 1293.00 -20Ghz Voice and 1253.00 Ghz Data We have started a MARA technical discussion group on goups.io to further this endeavor and see what folks can contribute. It is open to all. Contact Shelia/KL3SOR or Don/KL7JFT to join. There are various brands of radios out there and everyone may have their favorite, but I have found that for quality systems and support Bridgecom is a good dealer. They have put together numerous videos to help you learn DMR. I am working on putting together some links on my website to provide those.
SOUTH CENTRAL ARES NET
Starts at 2000 hrs 147.300 Mhz Plus Shift, 141.3 hz Tone each Thursday evening. Backup frequency will be 146.67 Plus Shift 103.5 hz Tone.
This is the main emergency VHF net for South Central Alaska. If anything requiring Ham support comes about (quake, fire, flood, civil unrest) this is the net to seek out. Features include Local announcements, Exercises, Training Opportunities & Ham Calendar. You do not have to belong to the ARRL but we need you to registrar with your local ARES group to participate. Contact Don/KL7JFT for the MATSU ARES Group and Kent/KL5T for the Anchorage Group. Contact Todd/KL4EL in Sitka for other areas around the state. Keep up to date on upcoming activities on net. “Semi-formal” net during training, however, when being operated under an emergency it will be a Formal Net.
There are four main Themes for each week starting with Hand Held and/or Cross Banding, Mobile, Red Cross/Salvation Army, and Emergency Power. The months with 5 weeks themes will vary. Net Control will announce them at the beginning of the net. Other themes on the 5th week of the month would like: Go Boxes, EOC locations, Pet Emergency Plans. NOTE: The Theme is subject to change depending on Net Requirements or upcoming operations. So listen for changes at the beginning of each Net.
Be advised we are looking for additional net control stations and backup. Also for the Packet network. Contact Don/KL7JFT at kl7jft@arrl.com