Hams Help Forecasters with Real-Time Data on Northeast Blizzard

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Hams Help Forecasters with Real-Time Data on Northeast Blizzard

A historic blizzard paralysed much of the Northeast in late February, and amateur radio operators were on the air to help forecasters keep track of the storm’s impact. Southeastern New England was one of the hardest-hit areas.

A severe blizzard left its mark on Southeast New England with massive amounts of snow, vehicles and even plows getting stuck, damaging winds gusts to hurricane force causing ~350,000 customers to lose power in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and some coastal flooding issues at high tide. The blizzard broke Rhode Island’s state record for snowfall with 37.8 inches of snow in Providence. ARES-SKYWARN Nets across southern New England were activated with the WX1BOX amateur radio team to support the National Weather Service (NWS) Boston/Norton office, as well as local and state emergency management and broadcast media, with timely updates on the storm.

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Hamclock Users Get Free Backend Server

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Good news for HamClock users and fans: A free community backend server has become available. The website, hamclock.com, make HamClock's continued functions available for free following a successful reconfiguration of the clock to the new server. The functions include, among other things, weather pressure maps, aurora map generation, ham news headlines, realtime PSK Reporter spot data, VOACAP propagation reports and Kp index from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The functions are made possible through the work of Bruce Edrich, W4BAE, who built the project upon the open-hamclock-back-end. Updating can be done via two simple text changes - either to the hosts file or to the command that starts HamClock. The project is independent of the feeds from the original site, clearskyinstitute.com.

It is one of several developments as forks of the open HamClock back-end created by Brian Wilkins, KO4AQF, and Austin Parsons, KN4LNB. Brian told Newsline that installation instructions and other information can be found on GitHub. The link is in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org.

The popular shack accessory was left in limbo after the recent death of its creator, Elwood Downey, WBØOEW. Without a new backend service, its varied functions were scheduled to stop working in June.

Drone Video Captures East Texas Hot Air Balloon Rescue at 1,100 Feet

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Drone Video Captures East Texas Hot Air Balloon Rescue at 1,100 Feet

Longview firefighters saved two passengers after a balloon struck a radio tower

Saturday morning brought a heroic rescue in Longview, Texas, of two hot air balloonists who struck the tower for 105.7 KYKX(FM).

Longview Fire Department members responded to the intersection of Farm to Market Road 1844 and Texas Route 300 in northern Gregg County after receiving reports of a hot air balloon striking the tower. The balloon was left suspended in place.

The department provided us with amazing drone footage.

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