Subj : Arkansas Section News
To   : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Sun Jun 18 2023 17:36:00

Hello all:

The National Weather Service has been busy the last few days!

As everyone knows (including the general public and our served agencies),
one of the best things we do is SkyWarn (R). In an effort to improve our
ability to cover the entire Little Rock County Warning Area (CWA)
(https://www.weather.gov/lzk/cwatxt.htm), we have a proposal for
repeater owners and trustees.

We propose to link any interested repeater via Allstar in order to cover
a particular area.

Joshua Carroll, AA5JC, the Section ASEC for SkyWarn (R), has a number of
small-form computers, which could be used for this purpose, that he is
donating to this cause. The computer would be connected to the internet,
and in a location where a radio can reach the local repeater (the radio
is of the local ham's choice - Baofengs work fine).

The interface between the radio and the computer
(https://github.com/skuep/AIOC/tree/master) is extremely low cost and
might prove to be a club project. Perhaps a club or an individual would
be willing to assemble the interface for those folks that would choose
that route.

All computer setup will be done before the computer is delivered. Hooking
up the interface to the radio and the computer will be largely plug and
play and will be the responsibility of the local hams.

In this arrangement, not all repeaters need to be linked at any one time.
Smaller areas, even a single repeater, can be interfaced as the situation
demands.

If you are in an area that is not currently served by a SkyWarn (R) net,
have a reliable internet connection, and a spare radio - please consider
becoming a part of this solution. If this proposal works, we will be
the leading SkyWarn (R) operation in the nation in terms of coverage. We
think that is a worthy goal. Please join this effort to build a Next
Level SkyWarn (R) service with us. 

If you are interested in helping with this project, please contact AA5JC
by email at joshua.carroll@adem.arkansas.gov.

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ARRL Arkansas Section
Section Manager: James D Ferguson Jr, N5LKE
n5lke@arrl.org
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--- SBBSecho 3.20-Win32
 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (618:250/33)

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