Imabug's journey into electronics and amateur radio as AB4UG and VA6BUG
It’s been a while since I’ve had the time to participate in SKYWARN™ Recognition Day. This year I’ll be on the air once again helping out with activating the National Weather Service Charleston office (WX4CHS) Saturday morning (December 6).
This year marks the 25th year of SKYWARN™ Recognition Day. Should be a fun time.
Spent the day today with fellow CARS club members helping out with communications support for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Ride for Life event today.
CARS has been helping out with the event for the past few years, and today was my second time participating. It’s a pretty easy and laid back event to work out in an area where some of the spots have marginal cell service.
This year I was at the start/finish line helping out with the net control duties. Had a pretty good turnout of hams to help out with the ride this year. 7 rest stations on the course, with 6 of them having at least one amateur radio operator, one motorcycle mobile ham, one in a SAG vehicle and one more participating in the ride. We had pretty good coverage of the entire course.
The day started pretty early with riders on the 100 mile route starting off at 7AM.
They were followed by the 65 and 30 mile riders about 45 minutes later.
We were able to keep tabs on where riders were along the course and kept the race director informed of the riders’ progress. Aside from someone getting a flat tire, there were fortunately no incidents throughout the day.
The event lasted a few hours longer than I anticipated, with the final rider rolling in just before 3:30PM. Everybody came in under their own power, and nobody needed a ride back. All in all, a very well run event and a nice easy event to work, especially if you’re just getting into the public service part of amateur radio.
Note for next year: Bring a chair and see about getting an earpiece for my HT.
Helped out yesterday with comm support for the Charleston Marathon again with my fellow amateur radio ops. Like last year, it was a pretty cool start to the event, but the weather warmed up nicely by the end of the race. This year I was assigned to two positions on the marathon course at Mile 2 and Mile 18.
Had a good time helping out with comm support, and fortunately there were no incidents along the course. Had a good time and I’m glad I was able to help out with the event.
Had a good time playing radio as WX4CHS yesterday morning for Skywarn Recognition Day. The Charleston NWS office seems like a pretty neat place.
Tom/AJ4UQ brought along his radio and setup for digital radio, and we spent the morning operating WX4CHS on 40m and 20m PSK as well as monitoring the local VHF repeaters. Made just under 30 PSK contacts and one repeater contact.
For SKYWARN Recognition Day, WX4CHS is working 40M at 7.070 frequency. Looking forward to making contact! #SRDay14 pic.twitter.com/7ydRnSiA7d
— NWS Charleston, SC (@NWSCharlestonSC) December 6, 2014
This was my first time doing an event like this, and it was a lot of fun. Had a great time playing radio there, and the staff at NWS Charleston were great hosts.
Coming up this weekend is Skywarn Recognition Day, and I’ve been tapped to do a 7AM-11AM shift on Saturday morning.
I’ll be on the air from the Charleston NWS office as WX4CHS on phone and maybe digital too if it’s available. If you’re around, hope to work you on the air!