MPX Metro Skywarn Net Meltdown

[MattKaskavitch]

On June 17th, 2010 --- Storms rocked the twin cities metro. I wrote a blog post after listening to the traffic that night on the METRO SKYWARN net because I was so surprised by what I was hearing. I think it's a worthy read for those in the spotter community and I appreciate any comments you want to add to the post. Has this happened in your area? How widespread are problems like this? How can the spotter community mitigate this from happening again?

Read Blog Here

 

[Zachary Lassiter]

I enjoyed the read, and even passed it on to our local SKYWARN net dude so he could enjoy a laugh too

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Matt,

You aren't the only one I had heard about this from. One of my friends lives in Woodbury and had mentioned the net meltdown to me.

While I think you have valid points, you also need to realize these are all volunteers, most likely doing their best. If you haven't offered to volunteer to help out, you should consider it.

I ran almost every Skywarn net here in the Lansing area in 2006 and 2007, and have to say, I was pretty burned out by the time August 07 rolled around. I was net control during the Potterville EF-3 tornado event which was also my third day in a row working a full day at work then running a net starting in the afternoon. The previous 2 nights I had run nets quite late, and had to be to work at 7am.

A lot of people criticized me after the tornado net, and I basically gave up. I don't think I've run a single net since that day. Was my net that day a mess? Somewhat. I lost power multiple times during the net due to the fact a tornado was ripping up the neighborhoods a mile or two north of me, and I had to run to my vehicle to grab my handheld to continue the net. I also made multiple phone calls to the city 911 center and was relaying reports through nwschat as well as acting net control all from my house.

I also had gone to bed when I got home from work that day as it appeared the storms were garbage. I woke up to the weather radio going off.

The bottom line is that I didn't run things as well as they probably should have been, but I was the only one volunteering to help out with my time. Criticism, no matter how valid, is what ultimately made me never want to be acting net control again if I didn't have to be. Instead of writing a huge critical blog, maybe your time would be better spent offering help?

Just a thought

 

[Jason Foster]

Any online recordings of all this?

 

[Zachary Lassiter]

Matt,

You aren't the only one I had heard about this from. One of my friends lives in Woodbury and had mentioned the net meltdown to me.

While I think you have valid points, you also need to realize these are all volunteers, most likely doing their best. If you haven't offered to volunteer to help out, you should consider it.

I ran almost every Skywarn net here in the Lansing area in 2006 and 2007, and have to say, I was pretty burned out by the time August 07 rolled around. I was net control during the Potterville EF-3 tornado event which was also my third day in a row working a full day at work then running a net starting in the afternoon. The previous 2 nights I had run nets quite late, and had to be to work at 7am.

A lot of people criticized me after the tornado net, and I basically gave up. I don't think I've run a single net since that day. Was my net that day a mess? Somewhat. I lost power multiple times during the net due to the fact a tornado was ripping up the neighborhoods a mile or two north of me, and I had to run to my vehicle to grab my handheld to continue the net. I also made multiple phone calls to the city 911 center and was relaying reports through nwschat as well as acting net control all from my house.

I also had gone to bed when I got home from work that day as it appeared the storms were garbage. I woke up to the weather radio going off.

The bottom line is that I didn't run things as well as they probably should have been, but I was the only one volunteering to help out with my time. Criticism, no matter how valid, is what ultimately made me never want to be acting net control again if I didn't have to be. Instead of writing a huge critical blog, maybe your time would be better spent offering help?

Just a thought

Back like 7 or 8 years ago during the summer months I acted as net control in Allegan County most of the time. This duty landed on me because I was young (16) and not wise enough to turn it down, and I had no life in the summer without school.

First net control was just running the net, then it began running the net and calling the central dispatch and NWS with reports as well as helping spotters in the field position themselves and interpeting radar, then I had to document everything said on the net on official forms and get them to someone in 72 hours, then they added welfare checks for field spotters every 10 minutes. It was just TO MUCH. I have respect for SKYWARN net controls.

There was however an incident today that was not with a volunteer in my area that I have no respect for.

 

[Tim Shriver]

To often too many duties fall on the NCO (Net Control Operator) and they
are on their 12th hour and getting brain dead. Been there and done that.

We have the duties broken down and during large events when folks
are around the positions, for the most part, are filled. Spreading the load.

But many times it's one person or two doing it all. So I understand that
it is not easy. I hope that who ever it was does not feel that we are demonizing
them. But rather asking the questions that I am sure they and others are asking.

Are our nets affective?

Is there any uniformity?



Tim

 

[Zachary Lassiter]

This is a bit OT but as someone who has been an NCO im going to say something.

Nothing made me feel better after a long activation or waking my butt up at 3AM then to know what I did was appreciated. Send an email or a letter to the person volunteering as the NCO operator in the net you checked into letting them know you appreciate their work. This will help fight burn out, and when an NCO is not fighting burnout they tend to be a lot less irritable and much more open to suggestions on how to run a smoother and more efficient net.

 

[John Wetter]

I agree with the call that if there is a problem, become part of the solution. While it does sound like there were problems, they were getting information to MPX. Just to clarify, the Metro Skywarn Net actually has nothing to do with MPX other than they forward information to MPX. So, I understand the intent of the thread, but it is a misleading title. The MPX radio operators get information from local nets such as Metro Skywarn, and from the 23 other radio groups they work with.There was a full staff of 6 radio operators for the event at MPX, it sounds like Metro Skywarn had many fewer people involved.

These are all good notes but as has been stated, be sure you have walked in the shoes before talking about how they should fit...

 

[Paul Racine]

The report of the UFO was probably the best that night.

 

[MattKaskavitch]

Another person importantly noted that it should not feel like an attack on the NCO, but rather a harshly-toned summary of an event to spark discussion and debate. I felt my points were valid, and yes I was a bit disappointed to hear it going on via the Metro Skywarn group. The blog did its job, it got some people thinking and analyzing their own net operations. This mishap illustrates something I feel is rather widespread in these type of operations. It puzzles me that it is such a problem in any geographic area, and it frustrates me to no end. I have my hunches, logic and experience as to what variables cause these types of situations, but every situation is dynamic and leaves many unknowns.

I heard from another operator in the TC Metro that the NCO that night self-admitted on-air she was "inexperienced". You have to get your experience some time, but maybe a moderate risk day is not the best choice.

There is no doubt in my mind it takes a special person to be an NCO or public safety dispatcher. Both positions share many parallels. It's not easy and in response to the "walking in those shoes", I have. I come from a public safety background as an EMT-I with mid-level NIMS certification. I've dealt with large disaster situations that have high stress and lots of information both in the field, and from behind a radio. I currently help out portions of SE Nebraska, NW Missouri and SW Iowa acting as a net control station for severe weather via Echolink. I've done the late night marathons well into 4 a.m. and had to analyze a millions things at once and try to keep my brain on track. Not everyone is wired to handle an NCO type position, especially when things get real hairy.

Again, the purpose of the blog was to get people talking, thinking, analyzing and correcting potential bottle necks in their current SOP's and using a bad situation towards the good. Hopefully not having it happen again in the Twin Cities metro, and also avoided in other regions of the country.

Ben painted a sketch of me in a previous post as a soapbox blogger with no solutions and a rant stick shaking at the Twin Cities Metro Skywarn group. While I may have gently poked my rant stick at them, it's hard to ignore the elephant sitting in the corner of the room after hearing what I heard. Someone had to say something other than "Good net tonight", and hopefully there is something positive that comes of it.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

I wasn't trying to paint you as a soapbox blogger, but was more trying to point out in general terms that people can say a lot of things about someone, but don't offer to be part of the solution. I personally think a better approach would have been to contact privately the person in charge (whoever it may be) of Metro Skywarn and offer solutions privately and constructively. It sounds like you have a lot of experience running nets.

I don't have any sort of idea what kind of volunteer manpower Metro Skywarn has, but it sounds to me like she was the only one who stood up and volunteered. I just find it very hard to give criticism to someone who is basically being setup to fail as a volunteer. If they were being paid it's a whole other world, but they are volunteering their time. It just sounds like she needs someone to mentor her or needed someone to step in and offer help. I can definitely understand that feeling. Once a net is out of control, it is very hard to take control again.

 

[Tim Shriver]

I don't have any sort of idea what kind of volunteer manpower Metro Skywarn has, but it sounds to me like she was the only one who stood up and volunteered. I just find it very hard to give criticism to someone who is basically being setup to fail as a volunteer. If they were being paid it's a whole other world, but they are volunteering their time. It just sounds like she needs someone to mentor her or needed someone to step in and offer help. I can definitely understand that feeling. Once a net is out of control, it is very hard to take control again.

Agreed...

One thing that does help get a net under control is having
the NCO be or have a Repeater Control Operator.

I can shut off the input to the repeater(s) and come in from a different
source. Then when it settles down I can put the repeater back on the air.
Also having had some issues with spotters being pushed to the point of having to do something we have banned folks from the repeater. 1 or 2 I think in 5 years or so. But we are blessed with a good group of people.

So having someone with "the juice" to bring the hammer down
on offenders does help. The FCC recognizes that a repeater is a privately
owned system and the control operators rule, within FCC guidelines and their
own set of rules. Don't let them pull the "emergency traffic" stuff. The FCC has ruled several times in favor of the repeater owner. The can use any frequency but using someones privately owned equipment is another matter.
This all has to be within reason and defensible. This can be a two edge sword so be careful and document/record offenders.

Weekly checkin/training net also help both sides of the radio as well
as having laid out protocols for folks to fall back on when their tired.

Just some thoughts....

Tim

 

[Randy Bowers]

A couple of points I would like to make:

The campground manager should not be getting his information from ham radio operators. There's no excuse for them to not have a NOAA weather radio or some other means of receiving the weather information rather than from someone who passed a test and earned a ham radio license. If I were you, I would strongly consider contacting that campground manager and encouraging him to work closely with his local emergency management agency to devise a more effective plan for handling threats of severe weather and receiving warning information. Anyone responsible for the safety of 100+ people during a severe weather event should have a better means of receiving weather information than via ham radio operators.

As for radar interpretation, I personally don't care to see ham radio operators interpreting radar other than for spatial and temporal purposes, and even then it makes me quite nervous. I would rather see them focus on emphasizing the text of the warnings and statements and leave the radar interpretation for the skilled and well-trained meteorologists.

 

[Tim Shriver]

A couple of points I would like to make:

The campground manager should not be getting his information from ham radio operators. There's no excuse for them to not have a NOAA weather radio or some other means of receiving the weather information rather than from someone who passed a test and earned a ham radio license. If I were you, I would strongly consider contacting that campground manager and encouraging him to work closely with his local emergency management agency to devise a more effective plan for handling threats of severe weather and receiving warning information. Anyone responsible for the safety of 100+ people during a severe weather event should have a better means of receiving weather information than via ham radio operators.

I would of helped the person then redirected them elsewhere. Informing
them of the nets purpose and rules.
Seems to work well.

As far radar interpretation, I personally don't care to see ham radio operators interpreting radar other than for spatial and temporal purposes, and even then it makes me quite nervous. I would rather see them focus on emphasizing the text of the warnings and statements and leave the radar interpretation for the skilled and well-trained meteorologists.

This depends on how your group operates also.
We do place mobile spotters thus we have "radar Ops" that
can pop in and give updates of cell position and direction/speed.
We also receive requests from the county EOC for spotters
to check out storms that are crossing into our area as well
as having the local WFO asking us to check out a cell.
Without radar you could have someone drive into something
they shouldn't be or viewing the wrong cell.


It does take some training but with the way we work it is a must have.
Having one or two "Mets" helping with the training helps also.

Tim

PS, this is a good discussion. I am getting to hear how different nets/groups
do things. Making a person think is a good thing, although sometimes painful.

 

[JIM SELLARS]

Hi to all...after reading the posts and comments I must say that I'm glad to see the well thought out ideas...I've run a Regional SKYWARN Net for almost 15 years....the net covers 37 counties in 2 states (over 22,000 square miles)...My nets have never been "PERFECT" and I've taken my share of "BLUE SKY/LIGHT RAIN" reports...But my local SKYWARN groups in SW Missouri/SE Kansas pass accurate reports in general...I was first trained on Doppler Radar in the early 1990's and pass radar interpretations on a regular basis via the SKYWARN net...some of the instructors were named Burgess, Lemon, Kloesel among others so I may be able to pass the interpreted radar information effectively...all nets "RUN AGROUND" from time to time...Maybe this was the anomaly and not the norm....Here is a recorded example of one of our SKYWARN nets that lasted about 9 hours during an overnight...the recording was activated by traffic so most pauses/dead air are limited...

http://www.stormtube.org/play_audio.php?audio=8

 

[ngjere]

I too was monitoring the net traffic that evening and felt really frustrated by what I heard. More importantly, my wife who is a newly minted member of Skywarn, was listening in too. Her response?

"Why did we go through all that training?"

It's really no secret that this organization has been in a state of "flux" for a couple of years now. With any volunteer organization, you have very passionate individuals that want to guide the organization into the future.

The changes that occurred as a result, ran afoul of some of the long standing volunteer members and I have a feeling may have had an effect on present participation.

And I think the result is what we all heard that evening. An NCO that was clearly in over her head, with little if any apparent support, and multiple lines of storms moving through the area.

And then, the UFO report.

The NCO seemed to be more interested in answering peoples requests for information and at times, clearly did not disseminate information accurately.

And I point the finger squarely at the leaders of the organization for that. The NCO is the most "visible" member of the Skywarn net once it's activated for they "direct" the net activities. Unfortunately, even in a volunteer capacity you need to expect that the NCO has had appropriate training when they accept the position and responsibility.

I guess my wife said it best:

"Why make a report if she's just going to get it wrong?"


Pretty much says it all.

 

[John Wetter]

Sounds almost like you're volunteering to help them Neil...

 

[ngjere]

Hmmm, Could be John.

Was any of my assessment incorrect?

 

[John Wetter]

Was any of my assessment incorrect?

Nope. It does sound like an organization the needs help though.

 

[Jason Foster]

I wonder if the hamsexy folks have picked up on the meltdown yet? I still wish there was a recording online somewhere.