News

The NWS Melbourne,Florida Skywarn Spotter & Community Open House event scheduled for 22 February 2020 has been cancelled due to projected building construction. Please continue to monitor the local weather at www.weather.gov/mlb. Ham radio operators are encouraged to check in to the Treasure Coast Weather Net (TCWN) on Sunday nights at 9PM on the 146.775 repeater (-offset, tone 107.2) or Echolink node 146175.  Be Safe!. KI4RHL Martin County Skywarn Coordinator.    

SKYWARN® WEATHER SPOTTER TRAINING

Learn about the 2019-2020 Neutral El Nino effects on Florida’s weather. Learn how to report severe local weather. This FREE SKYWARN SPOTTER class in  Stuart will give you all the information needed to become a registered spotter for the National Weather Service.

Saturday October 12, 2019

9:00AM Doors open & Registration

9:30 AM to 11:30 AM Basic Class

Anyone interested in severe weather, tornadoes, waterspouts, and helping save lives and property are invited. Reservations are highly recommended.

You can sign up for this or other local Spotter classes at:

https://www.weather.gov/media/mlb/skywarnclasses.pdf

For more information or to sign up via email please contact Ray Jaworski KI4RHL Martin County’s Skywarn Coordinator at autopilot9999@yahoo.com  or call (772) 485-9677 and leave a message.

Training will be held at the Martin County Emergency Operations Holt Center, in Room 225, 800 SE Monterey Road, Stuart, Florida, 34994.

 https://www.facebook.com/mcskywarn/

 http://www.mcaraweb.com/skywarn.html Martin County Amateur Radio Association

 http://www.wx4mc.org Martin County Amateur Radio Emergency Service / (ARES/RACES)

 http://www.stuarthamfest.com Stuart’s 45^th Annual Hamfest March 21,2020

2008 Martin County Amateur Radio Emergency Service. Inc.—All rights reserved.

Martin County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (MCARES) is a 501©(3) public charity that recruits and trains volunteers to serve their community in emergency and backup communications, and also promotes all aspects of ‘ham’ radio.

Well another Stuart Hamfest is in the books. As the Chairman for this year I feel it was a rousing success! We had a great crowd lots of vendors,awesome forums and great food! The prize ticket prizes were extremely well received and we had more than enough hourly prizes too! Thank you to Everyone who attended! Thank you to all the companies who graciously donated prizes! I’d like to thank each Martin County Amateur Radio Association (MCARA) member for all the time, effort and dedication you gave to make it a success!

I’m looking forward to making next year even better!

Thank you again!

Eric D

K4EJD 

#ARRL

#DXEngineering

#Retevis

#BaoFengTech

#Mastrant

#EasyWayHamBooks

In case you missed the February Basic and Advanced classes in Stuart, Florida you can always register for another NWS Melbourne, FL sponsored class in the area to stay current. Remember you should get recertified every 24-36 months to stay on the NWS list of current Spotters. If you moved out of the area or changed your phone number please let NWS know about it. Visit this easy to use registration website to find a class near you: www.weather.gov/mlb/skywarn.  The February, March and April months could see an unusual amount of hail and severe cold front storms. 

As of this moment, the Basic and Advanced Skywarn Spotter Classes are still "on" for February 2nd, 2019 here in Stuart, Florida. If interested in attending these classes please register for one or both at https://weather.gov/media/mlb/skywarnclasses.pdf  

https://www.weather.gov/mlb/srd2018

During the first weekend of December, the National Weather Service Office in Melbourne, Florida supported SKYWARN™ Recognition Day for the 20th consecutive year.  The event for Amateur Radio (ham) operators was held from 7pm Friday, November 30th through 7 pm Saturday, December 1st and is co-sponsored by the NWS (www.weather.gov) and the American Radio Relay League (ARRL; www.arrl.org).  Local amateur radio operators and their family members attended a SKYWARN™ Open House from 10 AM to 4 PM on Saturday, December 1st, for tours of event operations and of the National Weather Service office. SKYWARN™ Recognition Day (SRD) provides a venue for National Weather Service (NWS) offices to recognize Amateur ("ham") Radio operators for their commitment in helping keep their communities weather-safe. During every tropical weather threat, and many other major weather events, Amateur Radio operators staff local NWS and American Red Cross shelters, standing ready to provide emergency communications should standard services fail or become overloaded. Many Amateur Radio operators are also trained as SKYWARN™ weather spotters by local NWS offices, to provide valuable information during hazardous weather situations. Often, these spotter reports allow NWS meteorologists to issue severe weather warnings with greater advance notice and confidence than would otherwise be possible. During the 24-hour event, Amateur Radio operators throughout the country visited their local NWS office, set up portable radio stations to simulate emergency conditions, and worked in teams to exchange weather reports with other hams across the nation and the globe. 2018 SRD results:  Total Contacts:   558  States Contacted:  46  NWS Stations Contacted:  43  Countries Contacted:  1  Bands: 2, 20, 40, 80 meters    Modes: SSB, FM, Echolink   Radio Operators & Assistance Provided by: Dave Allen - N4ESI Brevard County - PCARS Walter Aucoin - WB5ZGA Brevard County - PCARS Rodger Boogren - AK4MI Brevard County - PCARS Gregory Bowman - N4EN Brevard County - PCARS Alan Dixon - N3HOE Brevard County - PCARS Jan Ferguson - W4REN Brevard County - TARC Ken Hendrickson - N8KH Brevard County - PCARS John Hudacek - KJ4VQF Brevard County - PCARS Gordon Johnson - KA4JRY Brevard County - PCARS Debra Markley - WD8JPX Brevard County - PCARS Jerry Phelps - KJ4IMP Brevard County - RACES Stephanie Phillips - K4MVO Brevard County - TARC Donald Purnhagen - KN4ILG Brevard County - PCARS Spencer Rich - KM4KFG Brevard County Dana Smith - KM4TIX Brevard County - PCARS Eric Smitt - K9ES Brevard County - PCARS Dennis Tokarzewski - AJ4DT Brevard County  Glen Vinke - KX4CQ Brevard County - PCARS Don Winn - AF4Z Brevard County - PCARS Wayne Burkett, Sr. - KA1VRF Indian River County - TCWN Carm Miranda - K4CRM Indian River County - VBARC/ARES Dave Roy - K1EUS Indian River County - VBARC Sandy Roy - KA1HUG Indian River County - VBARC Ray Jaworski - KI4RHL Martin County - ARES/RACES Ron Tagg- KD4PQQ Martin County - ARES/RACES Ellory Buehl - W2DNR Volusia County - DBARA/ARES Warren Greenburg - AE4WG Volusia County - ARES   Karl Martin - KG4HBN Volusia County - ARRL NFL Pete Blottman - N2RFW NWS Melbourne Don Burkhardt NWS Melbourne Fred Johnson NWS Melbourne Jessie Smith - WX4JRS NWS Melbourne Scott Spratt - KT4PD NWS Melbourne Roddey Stevenson NWS Melbourne Derrick Weitlich - W1DKW NWS Melbourne   For questions, comments, feedback, please email Derrick Weitlich or Jessie Smith.  To receive a QSL card from WX4MLB after the event, please send your card along with an SASE to: NWS Melbourne 421 Croton Road Melbourne, FL  32935. Electronic QSLs can be exchanged via EQSL (www.eqsl.cc).    Annual Statistics from WFO Melbourne (local records) YEAR Total Contacts NWS Contacts States DX Countries Contacts nation-wide 1999 279 20 38   7   2000 489 38 43 12   2001 276 33 48   3   2002 388 35 44 29   2003 538 42 43 20   2004 1524 68 49 57 1st Place 2005 778 71 49 20  3rd Place 2006 921 70 50 24  2nd Place 2007 930 64 47 17 1st Place 2008 1192 74 50 40 2nd Place 2009 1373 77 50 43 1st Place 2010  292 35   43     6  15th Place  2011 1604 81 50 43 1st Place 2012 978 74 50 25 1st Place 2013 1024 54 47 21 1st Place 2014 1294 63 50 38 1st Place 2015 1407 65 50 32 - 2016 1209 65 50 21 2nd Place 2017 182 27 33 6   2018 558 43 46 1

2018 SKYWARN Recognition Day Official Website

On October 10th, 2018 Hurricane Michael made landfall near Mexico Beach in the Florida panhandle with wind-speeds measured at 155 mph.  It was the strongest storm on record to strike the Florida panhandle, and was responsible for at least 45 deaths in the United States, and an estimated $15 billion dollars in damages.

ARES groups from around the state were deployed to provide emergency communications for local and state government, and the American Red Cross.  Our own Dave Morris, K4AW assumed the role of American Red Cross Communications Manager for Hurricane Michael DR 748-19.  He finally returned home to Stuart on Wednesday, October 31st, after a three-week deployment.  Dave issued the following letter of thanks on behalf of the American Red Cross:

"I wish to acknowledge and congratulate each of you and the many amateurs who manned the stations at the Red Cross shelters and District Operations during Hurricane Michael. As the Amateur Radio leadership team on DR 748-19 I hope you will pass along to your associates our heartfelt appreciation for an outstanding job. The professionalism and dedication by each operator was truly inspiring.

"I wish to give special recognition to Sal Martocci, K4YFW, who was by my side throughout the first three weeks. He has become the voice of the American Red Cross in North Florida. Special thanks to Randy Pierce, AG4UU, whose vision and hard work in support of Florida SARNET demonstrated what a phenomenal emergency communications system we are so fortunate to have in our state, and to Pat Lightcap, K4NRD who tirelessly served as Net Control for more hours than one can imagine.

"Special recognition to Karl Martin, KG4HBN, who pulled the ARES team together and maintained a full staff at all locations throughout the entire critical period.

"Beside SARNET we were fortunate to have the North Florida ARES net on 80 meters run by Terry Webb, N0TW, and Paul Eakin, KJ4G. With the 80 meter net we had virtually 100% coverage. Their team provided a much needed service day and night.

"Supporting this outstanding leadership team were a group of phenomenal amateur operators who are the unsung heroes spending countless hours in the field to help alleviate human suffering. On behalf of the American Red Cross we hope you will give your team the recognition they richly deserve and express our sincere appreciation.

 

"God bless each of you." -- David Morris, K4AW, Communications Manager, October 10 - 31, 2018, Hurricane Michael DR 748-19, American Red Cross, Tallahassee, Florida.

Well done Dave!  Thank you, once again, for your tireless service!

Martin County ARES/RACES & Martin County Amateur Radio Association

 

None of it would have have happened without your help!  Well done, to all those who participated!

   

Click on any of the pics to view a larger image.

73,
Martin County Amateur Radio Association

Stuart's Sandsprit Park became the epicenter of Amateur Radio in Martin County on Friday morning with the setup of our stations for Field Day 2018.  While we deployed our new 106-foot tower trailer for the first time, several others worked to locate and capture two 70 cm foxes hiding in the foliage around the park.  The setup went flawlessly, with many hands making light the work.

Our stations went On-The-Air on Saturday afternoon at 2 PM, joining thousands of others in the largest Amateur Radio event of the year!

A few hours later, a massive smorgasboard of BBQ showed up, and the party was officially in full swing!  Combine the sounds of SSB and CW, four kinds of BBQ, and the fellowship of good friends, add you have a recipe for an unforgettable event.  Thanks to all who participated!