4/10/79 Wichita Falls Skywarn Recording

[Chris Sokol]

Recording of the Skywarn net during the Wichita Falls tornado. 74 minutes long:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/storms/1979041...arnradionet.wma

 

[Morgan Palmer]

Thanks a ton for this link. I'm really into historical audio recordings of events, and just over the past 12 months, I've noticed a ton of great stuff coming online.

I suppose folks now have both the bandwidth and server space for things like this. It'll only get better.

I can use a mini tape recorder hooked up to my ham radio in my vehicle (though I've been unable to chase anything significant since '03), but when I armchair chase, I love to peruse radio stations that stream online, or the hundreds of ham radio repeaters online with Echolink.

I use TotalRecorder (company is HighCriteria, google search for it) to record all audio that is played by my computer's sound system.

I've built up a small archive of big events, and it sometimes does help alleviate SDS
mp

BTW, you can right click and save the SPS link, it's about 69MB WMA file.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Wow ... there is something so eerie about going back and listening to a recording like this after knowing the history of the storm. Almost gives you goosebumps to hear it play out like this -

 

[JHadorn]

You guys can actually understand the audio?

 

[David Drummond]

You guys can actually understand the audio?

It's hard, but if you've listened to ham radio long enough, you get used to that kind of audio. It gets better later in the recording.

 

[J Davidson]

Very interesting to say the least ! Thanks for posting this !
73's
Jim

 

[Thomas Loades]

If you've seen the film Terrible Tuesday, there's a good deal of audio that seems to have come from this tape (unless another one exists). It's somewhat of a long haul to get there — the tape starts with the Rocky Point tornado at about 1710 CDT — but the Wichita Falls tornado's touchdown and progression into the city is all on there. There's a very eerie moment about 10 minutes from the end when the tornado knocks out the power in Wichita Falls; the TV in the background, and about half the radio transmission, suddenly cut off.

 

[KMcCallister]

You guys can actually understand the audio?

Almost every word. However, I did grow up listening to these guys do this in Wichita County, TX. Plus, you do get used to it from being a ham and learning to listen through static anyway.

This recording does give me goosebumps. Really, really eerie. Not only Charlie (W5GPO) and the gang, but also hearing Bill Warren's voice coming from the TV in the background reminds me of this part of my childhood very vividly.

I certainly appreciate the life saving efforts of storm spotters. This file remind me of how important they were on "Terrible Tuesday".