SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) took place Saturday, December 5, 2015, from 0000-2400 UTC. Created in 1999 by the National Weather Service and the American Radio Relay League, the event celebrated the contributions that SKYWARN radio operators make to the National Weather Service to help keep their communities safe. During the event, SKYWARN operators contacted other NWS offices and spotters across the nation. Radio operators exchanged names, call signs, locations, signal reports, and a 1 or 2-word weather report. Over 90 NWS offices across the country participated in this annual event.

Central Carolina SKYWARN (CCS) enthusiastically teamed up with the Raleigh National Weather Service for the 16^th annual SKYWARN Recognition Day, operating under the call sign WX4NC.

On the air from 7-10:30pm on Friday and 8am-7pm on Saturday at the NWS office on Centennial Campus in Raleigh, the WX4NC team consisted of NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist Nick Petro WX3H, former NWS Meteorologist-in-Charge Darin Figurskey KC2IPY, CCS Emergency Coordinator Virginia Enzor NC4VA, CCS Assistant Emergency Coordinator Bob Woodson WX4MMM, CCS Assistant Emergency Coordinator Scott Lewis KJ4BPV, Statewide Deputy AUXCOMM Coordinator Frank Pleshe N3FRP, Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator – Central Branch Steve Misel K4WEB, Wake County Assistant Emergency Director Steve Newton KJ4TTU, Jackson Newton, Lauren Petro KF7RCU, John Stone K3RHJ, Pam Lewis KB4PAM, Ken Stark W4KJS, Randy Stark WN4RSS, and Jose Guzman KD4JWF.

For VHF/UHF, we used two permanently installed dual band Kenwood TMD7 radios with Diamond dual band vertical antennas and a temporary ICOM 208 with magmount antenna.

There were 3 HF radios – the NWS’ Kenwood TS 570S, Scott Lewis’ Kenwood TS 120, and Virginia Enzor’s IC-7000. Antennas included a Buckmaster and inverted dipoles for 20 and 40 meters.

Good propagation and teamwork favored us to earn the F1 Tornado certificate by contacting 51 NWS offices. We also contacted 44 out of 50 states and accumulated at total of 352 contacts. Our most distant contacts were 2E0LUN in Kempston Rural, England and OE3CHC in Vienna, Austria! To see the scores of all participating offices, please visit http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mtr/hamradio/.

The goal for 2016 will be the highest certification: Category 5 Hurricane!

We wish to thank to all spotters who made contacts with us, and we hope to get you in the log again next year on SRD. And most importantly, thanks for your service and reports to SKYWARN and the NWS throughout the year.