The National Weather Service in Raleigh will participate in the 19th annual SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) with members of Central Carolina SKYWARN on Saturday December 2, 2017. SKYWARN Recognition Day was developed in 1999 by the National Weather Service (NWS) and the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and celebrates the contributions that volunteer SKYWARN radio operators make to the NWS.

During this event, amateur radio operators will visit the NWS Raleigh office and contact other radio operators across the world and radio operators at other NWS offices. This event also serves as an opportunity for the testing of amateur radios and antennas and all other forms of backup communications.

What makes this year’s SKYWARN Recognition Day event special is that Wake County Emergency Management will be participating with NWS Raleigh and will have their mobile command post trailer set up adjacent to the weather office. In addition to radio stations at the National Weather Service, several radio stations will be set up in the command post. This setup will provide an opportunity to not only showcase SKYWARN and amateur radio, but the partnership between the National Weather Service and its emergency management partners.

The 24- hour amateur radio event, which is based on Universal Coordinated Time, will run from 7 PM EST Friday, December 1, 2017, through 7 PM EST Saturday, December 2, 2017. Members of Central Carolina SKYWARN will begin preparing for the event Friday afternoon, setting up antennas and radios at the NWS Raleigh office. Numerous radio contacts will be made at the start of the event Friday evening, with the bulk of the contacts made during the period starting early Saturday morning through the end of the event Saturday evening. In addition to making radio contacts, during the day Saturday the NWS Raleigh will provide tours of the NWS Raleigh weather operations facility to its trained SKYWARN volunteers. Look for us on 80, 40 and 20 meters and the Central Carolina SKYWARN primary and back up repeaters; we will be using the callsign WX4NC.