The 2017 license classes have been announced and will take place every consecutive Saturday from Saturday February 4th, 2017 through Saturday Marth 11th, 2017. 

The classes will focus on review material with the goal of training up individuals wishing to take the Technician license class or the General license class.

Seating will be limited and participants are encouraged to sign up for the class they wish to participate in.

To signup for a class please use the form below.

WCARES Severe Weather Procedures

Severe weather in Middle Tennessee can come in many forms to include severe thunderstorms, tornados, snow, sleet and ice.  The local commercial broadcast radio and TV stations do an excellent job in warning residents about possible severe weather conditions.  For WCARES members the important thing to remember is that whenever a severe weather watch or warning is issued for Williamson County you should monitor the repeater system.  Remember, if we activate the weather net, we do not take check-ins.  We know you are there.  We will monitor and send out updates immediately from NWS, etc.  If you wish to monitor online, the Nashville NWS information can be found at http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ohx/.  Please only send reports that meet standard reporting criteria, shown below. The WCARES EC and members of the Planning Committee are routinely included in severe weather webinars with the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Old Hickory.  The EC and Planning Committee have procedures in place to deal with severe weather events that might affect not only our county but the entire Middle Tennessee area.  The normal day to day status for everyone is “Normal”.  When severe weather is approaching we may shift to the “Stand-By” mode which means we are at a higher level of awareness.  You may still use the repeater system but keep your transmissions short and leave some extra time between your transmissions so the Net Control operator can break in if necessary.  Net Control operators will make regular announcements on the repeater concerning the weather threat and the anticipated time that Williamson County might be affected.  A liaison link between the county and the NWS office will already be established and a plan is in place to address the specific weather threat.  If the weather threat is serious enough to warrant, the Net Control operator will announce that our weather net is now “Active”.  When this happens, formal net procedures apply and you should not use the repeater to make any calls without getting permission from the Net Control operator.  The Net Control will normally not take check-ins but he will take reports of the specific conditions that need to be reported to the NWS.

Reporting Severe Weather
Spotters provide an invaluable service to their communities and to the National Weather Service.
Spotter reports help your community by assisting local public safety officials in making critical decisions to protect lives – when to sound sirens, activate safety plans, etc.
Spotter reports also help the NWS in the warning process. Your report becomes part of the warning decision making process, and is combined with radar data and other information and used by NWS forecasters to decide whether or not to:

• Issue a new warning
• Cancel an existing warning
• Continue a warning
• Issue a warning for the next county
• Change the warning type (from severe thunderstorm to tornado, for example)

For your reports to be the most useful, they should be as detailed, accurate and timely as possible.  Use the guidelines below to help you make your report:

WHAT TO REPORT
Although reporting criteria may vary slightly depending on the spotter network and local needs, these are the events the National Weather Service would like to know about as soon as possible:

• TORNADO
• FUNNEL CLOUD, if organized, persistent, sustained rotation
• WALL CLOUD, if organized, persistent, sustained rotation
• HAIL, quarter size or larger, report the largest size hailstone
• WIND GUSTS, 58 mph or higher, specify estimate or measurement
• FLOODING, flooding that impacts roads, homes or businesses.
• STORM DAMAGE
  Damage to structures (roof, siding, windows, etc.)
  Damage to vehicles (from hail or wind)
  Trees or large limbs down
  Power/telephone poles or lines down
  Damage to farm equipment, machinery, etc.

Again, reports should provide as much detail as possible to describe the where, when, how, etc. of the event.
Some commonly used hail sizes
Pea .25 inch
Half-inch .50 inch
Dime .75 inch
Nickel .88 inch
Quarter 1.00 inch
Half Dollar 1.25 inch
Ping Pong Ball 1.50 inch
Golf Ball 1.75 inch
Hen Egg 2.00 inch
Tennis Ball 2.50 inch
Baseball 2.75 inch
Tea Cup 3.00 inch
Grapefruit 4.00 inch
Softball 4.50 inch

General Guidelines for Estimating Wind Speeds
30-44 mph (26-39 kt) Whole trees in motion. Inconvenient walking into the wind. Light-weight loose objects (e.g., lawn furniture) tossed or toppled.
45-57 mph (39-49 kt) Large trees bend; twigs, small limbs break and a few larger dead or weak branches may break. Old/weak structures (e.g., sheds, barns) may sustain minor damage (roof, doors). Buildings partially under construction may be damaged. A few loose shingles removed from houses.
58-74 mph (50-64 kt) Large limbs break; shallow rooted trees pushed over. Semi-trucks overturned. More significant damage to old/weak structures. Shingles, awnings removed from houses; damage to chimneys and antennas.
75-89 mph (65-77 kt) Widespread damage to trees with large limbs down or trees broken/uprooted. Mobile homes may be pushed off foundation or overturned. Roof may be partially peeled off industrial/commercial/ warehouse buildings. Some minor roof damage to homes. Weak structures (e.g., farm buildings, airplane hangars) may be severely damaged.
90+ mph (78+ kt) Many large trees broken and uprooted. Mobile homes damaged. Roofs partially peeled off homes and buildings. Moving automobiles pushed off the road. Barns, sheds demolished.

HOW TO REPORT
Your severe weather report should be detailed but concise, and should address the following questions:
WHAT did you see?
WHERE did you see it?   Report the location/approximate location of the event. Be sure to distinguish clearly between where you are and where the event is thought to be happening (“I’m 5 miles north of Mayberry. The tornado looks to be about 5 miles to my northwest”).
WHEN did you see it?   Be sure that reports that are relayed through multiple sources carry the time of the event, NOT the report time.
Any other details that are important – How long did it last? Direction of travel? Was there damage? etc.

You are invited to Amateur Radio Roundtable, a new series of W5KUB.com live weekly webcasts. The webcast is every Tuesday night at 8:00 PM CDT (0100 UTC Wednesdays) at http://www.W5KUB.com.

Amateur Radio Roundtable is an informal discussion of all aspects of ham radio with the intent of allowing viewers to watch this live webcast at W5KUB.com. A question and answer session with viewers will follow each topic.

The show covers all aspects of ham radio; such as, balloon launches, satellite, go-kits, emergency communications, SDR, digital modes, DXing, home brewing, and much more.

To watch Amateur Radio Roundtable go to W5KUB.com, click on Live Events and sign in with your existing User Name and Password. If you don’t have a user name and password, just enter your call or name, leave the password blank and hit sign in.

During the last half of the roundtable, viewers are invited to be a guest and make a virtual appearance on the show. Guests will need a Google+ account, microphone, and camera. A link allowing you to join will be provided during the show. This part of the show is very informal; you can just pop in to say hello, or stay a while and join in on a wide range of topics. Google Hangout will allow up to 10 people at a time.

We need your help with topics. If you have a specific subject that you would like to present in a future show, send an email to tom@W5KUB.com.

Join us for fun and interesting ham radio discussions. We’ll see you on the webcast!

Tom Medlin, W5KUB

On March 14, 2015, Jim Fergusson (KC9VKV) reached out to the WCARES repeater system via Echolink from his home in New Albany, IN. Some of you who were listening that day may have heard his story as a man who spent his whole life fulfilling his childhood dream to become a radio broadcaster.

Jim documents 50 years of his life as a broadcaster with actual audio recordings from 1956 (when he was 12 years old and had a 5-watt pirate broadcasting station) onward, culminating in his becoming the production director for a major 50 Kilowatt AM broadcast facility.

He has spent several years putting this extensive documentary together, which can be accessed here.
Thank you, Jim, for reaching out to the WCARES repeater system and letting us in on your story.