Beyond the Basics

Skywarn

Skywarn jumps directly to the last channel in memory from any mode. The scanner pauses any active scans and starts receiving transmissions in the last channel. If no frequency is programmed in the last channel, No Prog appears and the scanner sounds an error tone.

During inclement weather, reports made by Skywarn observers include information about:

pea-sized and larger hail

wind and wind gusts 40 MPH and greater

heavy rainfall

lightning (cloud-to-cloud and especially cloud-to-ground)

wall clouds (which can spawn tornadoes)

severe lowering of a wall cloud

turbulence in a wall cloud

funnel clouds

tornadoes

high water areas

downed power lines

other emergency conditions that affect life or property

Skywarn broadcasts can help you prepare for inclement weather conditions in your immediate area, even before your local NOAA weather broadcast and local TV or radio station can announce them. Enter the local Skywarn frequency for your area into Channel 1000 on your scanner. Then, listen to Skywarn first when severe weather threatens. Listen to NOAA for weather alerts and warnings, watch box notices, and weather-forecasts. Listen to Skywarn to hear trained observers in your vicinity call in official reports to a net control station which relays those reports to NOAA and other emergency agencies.

If you tune to a Skywarn frequency when the Skywarn NOTE net is not active, you may hear nothing, or you may

hear amateur radio operators talking on a local repeater system.

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Radio Shack PRO-433 quick start Beyond the Basics Skywarn