Subj : Re: Ham Radio Courtesy
To   : Daryl Stout
From : Vk3jed
Date : Fri Apr 21 2017 06:58 am

-=> Daryl Stout wrote to Vk3jed <=-

 DS>   On the Illinois D-Star Net one night, Net Control, Milt Forsberg,
 DS> K9QZI, said "I need to do these one at a time" (the DPlusReport wasn't
 DS> working right), so I figured "I can work on the BBS until the flood of
 DS> checkins eases off". I got to meet Milt at the Huntsville Hamfest last
 DS> year...but, that'll be the only chance I have to go to that one.

Yeah, it can be good "background music" for tinkering.

 DS>   The funny part is that he said "Ham Radio isn't our hobby...it's
 DS> eating!!". He noted that, literally every day during the week, they do
 DS> a "lunch net" on an area repeater, and decide where they're going to
 DS> graze...and everyone meets there for lunch!! One central Arkansas area
 DS> ham radio club does that on Saturdays, unless they're preoccupied with
 DS> providing communications for a public service event.

Interesting idea, though wouldn't work for me, I don't often eat out these
ays.

 DS>   Ah yes, "The Church Of The Big Red Truck". :) I had a station

That's one of the possibilities.  Alternatives include track training - I've
taken up track and field in recent years and can do a decent sprint.  Have even
scored a bronze medal at state level Masters competition, as well as having a
field day at the Police and Emergency Services Games. :)  Or in the summer
months, it could be our own brand of competition, with old fashioned hand drawn
hose reels, hoses, pumpers and ladders.  The two sports feed off each other
quite well.  The track gives me the speed (which is why I took it up in the
first place) for the fire competitions, and those competitions give me strength
and power for the acceleration phase of a sprint and into headwinds.  Dragging
150kg at high speed is good resistance training! :D

 DS> apologize to me in the Arklatex D-Star Group on Facebook, for not
 DS> checking into their weekly net...and he noted it was because of his job
 DS> schedule (he's an over the road truck driver). He said when I'm doing
 DS> checkins, he's in bed, asleep. I told him that "You HAVE to take care
 DS> of your health...because, if you don't have that, you have nothing".

Yes, gotta look after the most important things.

 V@> LOL, now that's an attention grabber! :D

 DS>   I wonder if he'd be open to a T-shirt in that regard?? (hi hi).

LOL

 DS>   That ham is Shane, WX0X (we call him "The Weather Ox"), and he's one
 DS> of our Arkansas Skywarn Net Control operators. He's also in the Air
 DS> Force, and weather is his niche. He was on the air that night when
 DS> the nearly EF-5 tornado (it was 190 mph EF-4 as it was), blasted much
 DS> of Vilonia...the same area hit by an EF-2 tornado just 3 years before.
 DS> He warned on the air "I do NOT want my spotters or chasers anywhere
 DS> near this one...it is a monster". There may be archived recordings of
 DS> that net somewhere...Debby Gray, WX9VOR, has said she has listened to
 DS> Shane during Skywarn severe weather operations.

Well, seems he attracts the bad weather.  Don't get that kind of weather here -
an EF2 went through this area in 2003 though.  But I could send a bushfire that
could do a similar demolition job, we have a good supply of those in the
summer.  But we're getting better at managing those all the time, between
prevention and rapid attack, often with aircraft first on the scene to knock it
down for the ground crews to clean up when they arrive, most fires these days
are dealt with surprisingly quickly.  Still, we have a fire danger scale that
must look insane to foreigners.  The levels are:

Low - Moderate  (speaks for itself)

High - no big deal, often the baseline during the season.  Still, it can catch
the unskilled doing burn offs out.

Very High - Still doesn't cause a lot of concern, very common

Severe - this is the level where fire bans usually kick in, and badly managed
jobs can go pear shaped quickly.

Extreme - Cause for concern, only get 1 or 2 of these days per year, but this
is not the top of the scale!  If anything gets going, it's likely to be out of
control very quickly.  That said, the last couple of extreme days we've had
have been remarkably quiet, any fires being dealt with surprisingly quickly. 
But the day after one of them, I did have to go down to the outskirts of
Melbourne for a night shift on one that did get away.

Code Red - Very rare here (haven't had one since "Black Saturday" - Feb 7,
2009).  These are the days you don't want to be anywhere near the bush.  A good
time for a trip to the city, or visit relatives interstate.  You're definitely
best to not be around if anything starts, because odds are it will be
unstoppable pretty much straight away.  A day I'll remember for the weather,
47.5C where I was in the western suburbs of Melbourne at the time.  

Notice how the higher end of risk is emphasised. :)

 DS> Daryl, WX1DER

 DS> ... Warning: Dates in calendar are closer than they appear.

LOL true.


.... I hit the CTRL key but I'm still not in control!
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