WEA-111
Radio Operations at the
Houston/Galveston
National Weather Service
SKYWARN operations for the Houston/Galveston area are based at the Houston/Galveston National Weather Service (NWS) office on FM 646 in Dickinson. The radio room, on the second floor, is shared by both SKYWARN and the Galveston County Emergency Communications Group (GCECG). The main SKYWARN transceiver is a Yaesu FT-8800R which operates on the 2 meter and 70 centimeter amateur bands. SKYWARN radio operators have access to most of the local repeaters in the Houston metro area and South to Galveston.
The SKYWARN radio room includes an HF radio that. While HF operations are not normally used for SKYWARN, communications with the State Operations Center (SOC) and the National Hurricane Center (NHC) can be made via HF in the event of a serious, regional weather event. This capability was successfully tested during the 2007 Hurricane Drill where we were able to establish communications with the City of Austin using the ARES HF frequency of 7.285MHz (day).
Since the SKYWARN radio room is next to the NWS operations room, the person at the radio is in direct contact with NWS staff for incoming SKYWARN reports and the present weather situation. Weather warnings are relayed to the radio room by the Emergency Managers’ Weather Information Network (EMWIN). The weather consoles used by the meteorologists are also visible to the SKYWARN operator.
That concludes tonight’s training. Are there any questions, comments or suggested additions to this material?
Thanks, this is (callsign) clear to net control.