See a Flash, Dash inside #WRN #Skywarn

According to the National Weather Service (NWS), summer brings an increase in lightning strikes. While the warm weather invites many outside activities, if you hear thunder, lightning is close enough to strike you. Take a moment during National Lightning Safety Awareness Week (June 24-30) to learn how to stay safe in a thunderstorm with tips from NWS. Outdoors: When thunder roars, go indoors - move inside a sturdy building or hard top vehicle with the windows up as soon as you hear thunder. Do not take shelter in small sheds, gazebos, dugouts, bleachers, under isolated trees, or convertible automobiles. Avoid open fields, the top of a hill, or a ridge top. Stay away from water, wet items, such as ropes, and metal objects, such as fences and poles. Water and metal do not attract lightning, but they are excellent conductors of electricity. Indoors: Stay indoors. Stay inside at least 30 minutes after you hear the last clap of thunder. Do not touch anything plugged into an electrical outlet. Use a corded telephone only for emergencies; cordless and cellular phones are safe to use. Avoid contact with plumbing; do not wash your hands, and do not take a shower or bath. To learn how to prepare for a thunderstorm, visit the Ready Campaign’s Thunderstorms page. For more lightning safety information, visit www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov. Remember: lightning can strike any time of year.

#Skywarn lives in Hurricane Season #ARRL #hamradio

Skywarn is a good program to support local communities with information from the National Weather Service and to the local NWS County Warning Area.

The Voice Over Internet  Protocol Weather Net has weekly nets during hurricane season with activations during landfalling hurricanes in support of the National Hurricane Center.

Please tune your Echolink and IRLP nodes to the WX-Talk Conference (7203) and IRLP reflector 9219 and see what's going on, especially during hurricane season.

This is why you evacuate on watch #Skywarn #WRN

It's easy to forget to be weather aware when vacationing on the lake.  There's not a cloud in the sky and then BOOM.

If you live in manufactured housing, even more substantial than these shown in the media report from KSWO, consider finding more substantial shelter NOW before the watch is issued.  Don't wait for the warning to hunt.

When the watch is issued, be it tornado or severe thunderstorm, be closer to the substantial shelter than in one of these.  Clearly, one would not want to be ON the lake during severe weather.

When too much is too much #ARRL #hamradio

Social media is great.  One can add lists on Twitter, Facebook, YahooGroups, Google Groups ... and then what?

There's an emergency management list that is orphaned on AOL (remember that?) and an active one on Yahoogroups.

There's a buy and sell on Facebook but one already existed on Yahoo and before that on QTH.net

How many is too many?  Do you really have time for a new group?  

When is too much too much? #ARRL #hamradio

Practice.  Move to an area.  Program the local repeater and simplex frequencies in your radio or scanner.

Listen.

What do you hear?

Unless you find yourself in a major metropolitan area, pretty much nothing.  Kerchunks?  Repeater Identification?  

It works like this.  If you are going to put something up, have people monitoring it.  One can't answer a MayDay, if one does not hear it.  

Does the club NEED the added expense of maintaining an additional repeater when the primary repeater sits unused and unmonitored?

How much is too much?  

Where are the #teamJesus nets? #hamradio

It seems to me that Jesus would have been an amateur radio operator, though, realistically, He would not need a radio, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN, or Google+ technology to reach the hearts and minds of men.

However, I'm a Christian ham ... a member of the Christian Amateur Radio Fellowship and have participated in the Bible Fellowship Net.

Here's some others who mix their hobby with the Faith.

Idaho Christian Resources - Amateur Radio and Christian Links, MP3's and PDF Files

"Sunrise Bible Study Group"

Hams for Christ

"World Association of Christian Radio Amateurs and Listeners"

"Ambassadors for Christ Net meets daily on 7.280 MHz. Monday thru Friday at 18:00 UTC, Saturday at 19:00 UTC"

A number of RemoteHams stations are dedicated to Christian Networks.  Can't reach your favorite net because of propagation?  Check the remotes.

Are there others?