Recognized at the Store

Something really funny happened to me the other day. Let me first remind you that my commercial radio career began in the nineteen sixties and involved seven stations in two states. What happened was that while I was visiting a local electrical supply store, the assistant manager recognized my voice. 

There is nothing all that unusual there, it happens every so often. What was different this time was that he (obviously a weather geek) knew my voice from hearing me acting as net control operator on SKYWARN nets.

The SKYWARN nets probably had the better ratings. Oh, well. Fame is fame.

For some time my fantasy has been to own a home theater. I don’t mean an entertainment center, we have one of those. I am talking about a real theater, complete with huge screen, operating curtain, popcorn machine, etc.

Well, Peggy found one on-line for me. Incidentally, it is attached to a 25 million dollar house in Los Gatos, CA. The room is complete with a set of 10 custom seats, has acoustic paneling, a 130 inch screen and a restored antique piano.

If the theater alone doesn’t close the deal for you, how  about the 1600 bottle wine cellar with the cork flooring? You say you are a non-drinker? No problem, I know that you will enjoy the game room with its 1920 vintage restored billiard table. I am sure that there is also some free space for a ham shack somewhere on the premises.

I am sorry to say that, since we don’t play the lottery, my fantasy of owning a home theater is probably going to remain just that — a fantasy. Good luck to you and your dreams.

A tower accident during Field Day preparations around 11 AM EDT on Saturday, June 27 claimed the life of Larry Prelog, KE4PM, of Niles, Michigan. Prelog, a member of the Blossomland Amateur Radio Association (BARA), was airlifted from Watervliet to a Kalamazoo hospital where he passed away early Sunday morning. He was 57.

BARA Public Information Officer (PIO) Matt Severin, N8MS, told the ARRL that Prelog "…was very passionate about Amateur Radio and was very involved in club activities. He was the driving force behind the first high altitude balloon launch for our club. Larry was the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back even if he didn’t have another one for himself. He will be dearly missed."

SOURCE: the American Radio Relay League

In addition to offering some useful Vanity Call Sign services, N4MC’s Ham Locator has a neat feature whereby you can find where other hams live in your neighborhood. I was surprised to find that there are two Novices, 32 Technicians, three Tech Plusses, 13 Generals, seven Advanced and eight Extra class hams in the area of my zip code. I was really surprised to see that there are four club stations licensed in the area. Unfortunately, the map generator and many other features didn’t seem to be working when I visited the site.

When calling in a report please use the “TEL” system which stands for time, event, and location(county/city) of the event.  If you are reporting wind speed or hail size, please remember to mention if the value was measured or estimated.  If making a damage report, please reference the closest major intersection.  The list below outlines what information that should be reported to aid our warning operations.  

.: Wind gusts over 40 mph
.: Hail with a half inch diameter or larger (plain M&M or bigger)
.: Funnel Clouds
.: Tornados
.: Waterspouts
.: Rainfall rates of 1” per hour or more
.: Significant flooding of rivers or streets
.: Post Storm Damage

Please make sure when making a spotter report that you remember to report What, Where, and When.  The location of the event is very important to us.  Please identify your location by first giving us your County so that we can narrow down your position, then giving us your City, and major nearby crossroads.

SOURCE: NOAA Spotter Newsletter

This is the project that you have probably seem on Discovery and the Weather Channel. Lots of geeks in weird-looking vehicles chasing nasty thunderstorms across the nation’s mid-section.

A major field research project called VORTEX-2(Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2) is underway this year to help scientists better understand many aspects of tornadoes and tornadogenesis. VORTEX-2 is a collaborative project involving more than 100 scientists from not only NOAA and NWS offices, but also from universities and other academic organizations hoping to learn more about how, when, and why tornadoes form. This project will use a fleet of 40 vehicles equipped with various weather instruments and mobile Doppler radars. In addition, the team will utilize weather balloons, high resolution photographs, and unmanned aerial vehicles to gain as much information as possible about the environment surrounding tornadic storms. The VORTEX-2 team was out in the field from May 10 - June 13, 2009 and will be out again in 2010.

The first VORTEX project conducted in 1994-1995 helped to improve tornado warnings issued by the National Weather Service during the late 1990’s. Researchers and scientists hope that future findings will aid in understanding why certain storms produce tornadoes and again help to improve tornado warnings.

SOURCE: NOAA Spotter Newsletter

While browsing the many free (GPL) voice and IVR recordings available on the Flowroute site, I found some files that had been recorded by Pat Fleet. According to the site,

Pat Fleet’s "AT&T" is one of the most recognized sounds in the United States. Described as a "mega star" of phone voices by Ted Koppel on ABC’s Nightline and affectionately called “Ma Bell” by telephone workers, Pat has been the voice behind literally tens of thousands of telephone recordings since 1981.

To help your telephone system sound enterprise class, we have teamed up with Scrumption® to offer voice prompts that make your system sound like business.

This was just too good to resist. I immediately fired up an audio editor and re-created a phone company standard, thus creating the Perfect Answering Machine Message.

Just load it on your answering machine and then let the telemarketers, bill collectors and mothers-in-law try to reach you. Don’t forget to let your closest friends in on the joke, or you won’t be hearing from them either. Assuming, of course,  that you haven’t lost them already.

The pen is mightier than the sword, if you shoot that pen out of a gun.

— Stephen Colbert, American political satirist (1964-)

I first saw this scheme for cable management used in the radio room of the Genesee County, Michigan Emergency Operations Center. It was installed about fifteen years ago by local ARES members. It did a great job of corralling a nest of coax, audio and power cables into a neat, easily accessible bundle.

Lifehacker recently featured a detailed DIY post about using gutter as a method of keeping a computer desk’s attendant wiring neat and unseen. You don’t need me to point out that this can also apply to ham radio equipment laden desks. Now, if the owner of the desk in the picture would just replace his power cord with a white one…

Skip Voros, Executive Director of the Milwaukee Area Skywarn Association (MASA), provides us with this reminder.

JUNE 21-27, 2009 is LIGHTNING
SAFETY AWARENESS WEEK

Responders and spotters, recall safety is your top priority. Lightning strike victims suffer many 
long-term symptoms; memory loss, sleep disorders, numbness and stiff joints, fatigue, muscle spasms, depression, and the inability to sit for long periods. My suggested links:

All Audiences:   http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov
This NOAA site features handouts, indoor/outdoor safety, teacher tools, audio-video PSA’s, state statistics, sports, kids page, and more.

Medical And Clinic Personnel:   http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic299.htm
Lightning Injury: overview, differential diagnosis, treatment, medication, and  follow-up.
The Latest And Greatest:  (41 pages, 18Mb)  http://www.uic.edu/labs/lightninginjury/LtnInjuries.pdf

Covers medical, meteorological, myths, scientific, and historical. Numerous maps, charts, graphs, and diagrams. Caution for children…. Some injury and burn pictures are graphic.

SOURCE: MASA