4/30/2002: Ominous stormfront
 

http://cellar.org/2002/stormfront.jpg

Storm season again. MSNBC had this absolute beaut of
an approaching t-storm. Awesome.

Remember that line George C. Scott delivered in Patton about war... it kinda sums up the mixed feelings of guilt at being so attracted to a destructive power, like this thunderstorm. "God help me, I do love it so."

There's a bunch of weather weenies in ham radio, especially those involved in Skywarn, that would consider this photo delightfully pornographic. Some of the really hard-core folks go stormchaing in vans crammed to the gills with weather instruments, comms gear, and camcorders.

One of the local gals has a quote in her .sig on the Skywarn list "Feast on a smorgasbord of atmosphereic violence.". :-)

I kind of enjoy violent weather myself...as long as I'm not flying a light plane at the time. Like this one: http://voicenet.com/~maggie/card177.jpg

Thanks for the opportunity to plug Skywarn, ARES and RACES.

Each of these are Ham radio based services that provide information. Yes, some of the folks get off on this stuff, some are trying to provide a service.

Skywarn are weather spotters trained to report into the National Weather service - you do NOT have to be a ham for this

ARES - the Amateur Radio Emergency Service provide emergency communications for various agencies when the agencies equipment is not up to the task. Often they are the only people who can provide communications between agencies with incompatible radio. They were called out for the AutoTrain Crash, and were very active with the American Red Cross in NYC post 9/11 providing almost all the communication between shelters

RACES (Radio Amateur Communication Emergency Service) are a bunch of radio folks who work with FEMA - in case of war they would be the only folks allowed on the air. They are activated at the behest of the President, usually by FEMA - when the are activated, they can not talk with other people

There is also MARS - the Military Affiliated Radio Service - they provide radiophone calls back from overseas to the US

All of these programs are strictly volunteer

Disclaimer:
I am the Queens County NY Assistant Emergency Coordinator for NYC ARES

73
KC2IXE

And you're a shooter, too, I see. Coolness.

I'm just starting to get formally active with our local RACES group. As it happens, the county Emergency Operation Center (EOC) is just up the road here.

They've got a really nice radio repeater and a fairly extensive packet radio setup as well...so in the event there's a massive telephone and power outage here I should still be able to get email in and out though the gateway.

FEMA!?

Aaaagh!

Is Walton Simons the director?

No idea - I'm NOT RACES - just ARES - Here in NYC there are different standards for qualification, and I don't (yet) meet the standards for RACES

The FEMA involvement is small in most cases - It's usually used as a credential to allow us into places we need to be

CharlieG he's refering to a game Called Dues Ex which had an organisation called FEMA.

Ah - Got it! I don't play games on the PC - no time - besides, I'm like Stef - I suck at them

MaggieL
 

Where do you fly out of? As I recall, you're in Minnesota... so am I, out of Crystal airport near Minneapolis.

MaggieL's in Pennsylvania, but you were almost sorta close :) You're probably thinking of warch, who is in Minn, if I recall correctly.

Re: MaggieL
 

Uh, nope. I was born right here in Real World, one hundred percent pure-bred, home-grown child of Zion....uh...I mean..."the original Cellar". My flying club bases out of N47, Pottstown Municipal, and I live about 15 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

Mag, Is that a random plane or your usual ride?

That's the flying club's (only) aircraft, a 1977 model Cessna C-177-B. Four seats, 859 lbs useful load, 2,500 lbs max gross, cruses around 120 kts, service ceiling is supposed to be 14,000 ft , although I've never had it up above 9,000.

My usual ride, IOW.

You fly out of Pottstown? Uhh, let me know what your plane looks like and I'll try to stop "accidentally" firing my rifle in the air when that one flies over :-)



(just kidding. I don't actually have a rifle.)