How do you get your alerts? #Skywarn #WRN

Those that remember CONELRAD, will remember the Civil Defense diamonds on the AM radio dial on the dashboard of the car delivered standard from Detroit.  From there, came the transistor radio and the cry from the Civil Defense group to have a battery-powered radio in your disaster supply kits.

From the 50s through today, Alerting has come very far since ConelRad.  Has the public kept up?

Some will say yes.  Friends on Facebook and Followers on Twitter can get the latest news from the National Weather Service directly.

Almost every Radio and TV station has applications for free download that provides the latest breaking news.  Newspapers have joined in with their own apps and banners on their news sites.

At night and asleep, folks are startled awake by the National Weather Service All-Hazards radio system and the Federal Emergency Management Wireless Emergency Alerts.

Even the City of Altus as Alert Altus and, through it, the “Integrated Public Alert & Warning System”

Many amateur radio repeaters have the ability to interrupt with automatic weather reports from the NWS All-Hazards system mentioned above.  Those dedicated volunteers also participate in the area Skywarn programs.

All these efforts and more are the reason the City of Altus is listed in the NWS StormReady program.

Those that say No point to the plethora of Fake Weather social media sites that spring up to show sharks floating in neighborhood streets, fake radar sites showing the eye of hurricane over Indianapolis, and self-proclaimed meteorologists raising unnecessary alarm.

... and we still can't warm Suzy running the Hoover in her basement while listening to her IPOD.

As one County Commissioner once said "There's always room for improvement".

What part of "Whole Community" are you?

You saw the Tweet that said "Hattiesburg church hosts tornado recovery town hall meeting"

The tornado that struck that community last January is still producing recovery. If a #teamJesus group is hosting a meeting, there's other word to be done. Were the Baptist folks in town with their chain saw crew? Did the Masons have a shelter open? Did the Salvation Army feed folks and offer comfort? Did the #hamradio folks provide Skywarn and communications effort?

The effort continues well past the initial event.

How are you involved in the "Whole Community" where you are?

Do you use Ten Meters? #ARRL #hamradio #RSGB

Where is 10 meters open now?

Ten Meters is one of my favorite bands. Even when it's not "open", it's frequently open. With the sunspots on the rise, so should the activity on the band increase.

Have you found http://ten-ten.org/daily_nets.html yet? Nets listed there will help determine if the band is open. If you look at http://www.qsl.net/steelcity/nets/whichnet.html, one will see a search box that lets you know which nets are in operation.

http://www.dxwatch.com/dxsd1.php?f=92 or http://hamspots.net/10/ will also give you DX Cluster spots, just for 10 meters.

At http://www.vhfdx.info/spots/warnings.php, one can get email alerts when six meters is open. If SIX is open, it's almost a given that TEN is open.

http://www.dxmaps.com/spots/map.php?Lan=E&Frec=28&ML=M&Map=W2L&DXC=N&HF=N&GL=N also offers a map of openings AND the ability to post spots all in one place.

http://propnet.org/catch3.php?band=HY&last=24&call=&center=NAgives a map and paths band openings over a 24-hour time period. The site lists the stations and who heard who over PSK.

Another propagation tool is http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.htmlwhere one will find forecast for six- and ten-meters.

There's a number of 10 meter software defined radios that one can use to see where's the band is open. Two are dedicated to the "Beacon Band".

http://userpages.troycable.net/~wj5o/bcn.htm is a list of beacons on Ten. Tune here to see where the band is open, even when it's not.

Ten Meters is one of my favorite bands. Thankfully, there's plenty of tools to take some of the Magic out of the Band.