Due to the inclement winter storm, the Fort Worth NWS office is postponing plans for visitors on SKYWARN Recognition Day, Saturday, December 7th.  We hope to reschedule a day for SKYWARN visitors another week. We will send another announcement, and post on wx5fwd.org and twitter.com/wx5fwd, when a new date is confirmed.

Announcing the new SKYWARN radio desk for the Fort Worth National Weather Service office. Equipment, time and sweat donated by the WX5FWD SKYWARN volunteer team. Most radios were moved under the raised floor, with control heads mounted on the desk wall. The old radio shelf has been removed, providing additional desk space. Three desktop computers with dual monitors have been installed with Windows 7, replacing two old Windows XP computers, to monitor nwschat, radar, video feeds and alerts. In case this is your first view of the desk, the NWS warning forecasters sit on the other side of the desk wall facing the radio operators.

Radio and Antenna in order from left to right:

1. new 20 ft dual band antenna on top of building - connected to a new Icom IC-2820H D-Star radio provided by the Emergency Management Office, City of Ft. Worth.
2. 30 foot (low) dual band antenna connected to another 732.
3. 30 foot (high) dual band antenna connected to a Kenwood TM V-71.
4. 50 foot dual band antenna connected to a Kenwood TM D-710. Actually a Tri-band antenna but 220 not in use.
5. 70 foot VHF antenna connected to a Kenwood TM V-71.
6. 100 foot VHF antenna connected to a Kenwood TM V-71.

Visit our WX5FWD Google+ page to view photos of our Field Day activity at the Fort Worth NWS Forecast Office. More photos are likely to be added to this album over the days following Field Day.

The Fort Worth NWS SKYWARN Radio Desk team will be active on several bands and modes during Field Day, June 22-23, from the Fort Worth National Weather Service Forecast Office. Please read and share our press release, titled "RADIO HAMS" FROM TARRANT COUNTY JOIN IN NATIONAL DEPLOYMENT - A Unique Look at Emergency Communications. We hope to talk to many of you, and add your call signs and information to our log. We'll try to publish the bands and frequencies we are working periodically during the event, on this wx5fwd.org web site and via our WX5FWD Twitter account.

ARRL Field Day is the single most popular on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada. On the fourth weekend of June of each year, more than 35,000 radio amateurs gather with their clubs, groups or simply with friends to operate from remote locations.

Field Day is a picnic, a campout, practice for emergencies, an informal contest and, most of all, FUN!

It is a time where many aspects of Amateur Radio come together to highlight our many roles. While some will treat it as a contest, other groups use the opportunity to practice their emergency response capabilities. It is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate Amateur Radio to the organizations that Amateur Radio might serve in an emergency, as well as the general public. For many clubs, ARRL Field Day is one of the highlights of their annual calendar.

National Weather Service In Fort Worth: Sounding The Alarm For North Texas by SHELLEY KOFLER and KERA News for North Texas

The story link above describes where members of our #SKYWARN radio desk team can be found during weather events in# North Texas. As events intensify and expand across north Texas, we may have up to four to six radio operators monitoring radio repeaters and IRLP or EchoLink linked radio systems for SKYWARN "ground truth" weather reports. We then relay the severe or significant information to NWS warning forecasters directly in front of us across the desk wall. Well trained public SKYWARN volunteers who observe, identify and report severe weather details are the source of our information, and vital to this warning process.