Oklahoma DMR Wx Talkgroup

[Drew Terril]

I don't know how many have DMR capabilities with some of their other amateur radio related things like I do, but I'm pleased to pass along news from ARRL Oklahoma Section Manager Mark Kleine. Brandmeister TG 31408 is now designated the Oklahoma Weather talkgroup, and will be monitored during severe weather events in the state. This is something I've been pushing for a while now after seeing DMR leveraged successfully in other CWAs, to supplement more traditional repeater systems during severe weather.

All that is asked is to use Time Slot 1 when programming it into your code plug, as most of the in state DMR repeaters have it set up as a static TG on that time slot. There is also a weekly weather net on Saturday mornings at 0830 Central, and of course the weekly Oklahoma ARES DMR net is every Monday at 2015 Central.

 

[J Keith]

Drew... glad to see you posted the information about the Oklahoma WX 31408 DMR talk-group. I am part of the team that started the weekly nets and we provide and disseminate significant, hazardous and severe weather information along with radar updates as needed throughout the rest of the week.. I have been in contact with the hams at the Norman NWS Office and we are working to get them set up on DMR as well...however, since it involves installing radio gear in a federal office with some 1,700 servers, computers, and other critical electronic devices at the National Weather Center, it takes time to ensure the radio will not interfere with any of those devices. At this time we do not operate a "spotter" net simply because of the wide area covered.. Oklahoma, plus the 8 counties in western north Texas that is part of the Norman NWS CWA and the 7 counties in NW Arkansas that is part of the Tulsa NWS CWA is a huge undertaking. We need to keep the spotter nets at the local city / county level anyway and maybe have someone from those nets serve as a liaison to Oklahoma WX to relay info to and from the local nets.

We also have our own online chat group called WEATHER CHAT on Telegram Messenger that we use in conjunction with activities on Oklahoma WX 31408. We will often post weather graphics or radar images and discuss those on the air. As you can imagine, this is quiet an undertaking and we are still working on ways that we can improve the overall operation. Our Saturday Morning weather briefings are at 8:00 AM CDT on Oklahoma WX 31408. I usually do the Norman NWS Hazardous Weather Outlook... Julia, KI5SYE does the Tulsa NWS outlooks and Dan, WX5WX does the regional aviation weather discussions. This is not a "net".. we don't ask for check in's... but, we do ask for comments or questions after the briefing... Hams wishing to "check in" can simply kerchunk 31408 at some point during the briefing and we can look at the Brandmeister LAST HEARD page for 31408 to see who "checked in". We also have a Facebook group where we post and share info about the talk-group and things relating to weather events .. but we don't post warnings or active weather info on that site.. Oklahoma WX 31408

 

[Drew Terril]

I think the way it's done in the Memphis CWA should be a good model on how to utilize DMR, not as a substitute, but as a supplement. There are still local nets where available, but there's a DMR talkgroup set for that CWA that's actively monitored during events. Southwest Missouri also has a similar set up. I don't know if those offices have a DMR radio in the office itself, and I don't think they do formal nets like a traditional Skywarn net, but I do know that there is someone monitoring those talkgroups who can relay a report to where it needs to go.

Aside from the linked system in SW Oklahoma, and the two OKC Metro repeaters that are active during events, it's difficult at best to find what repeaters in the CWA serve as Skywarn repeaters during events. The Tulsa area has a great linked system that's well documented and easy to find information on. But if you're not near one of those, and you're near a DMR repeater, you wouldn't be SOL.

I chase multiple CWAs, so I've tried as best as I can to pre-program all the repeaters I can find info on. That's simply not practical with a radio designed for hams (unless one never leaves the CWA), as there's no provision to divide everything into zones, so I have commercial radios set up for that purpose. But there are gaps in my information where either I haven't been able to find a repeater or it's not used for Skywarn despite Repeaterbook listing it as such. When I started talking to Mark 3 or 4 years ago about using DMR as a supplement, that's ultimately what I had in mind.

 

[J Keith]

Thank you Drew.. some good points to bring up. Unfortunately in Oklahoma ham radio "spotter" nets are few and far between and the few that do exist are in the OKC and Tulsa metro areas. Emergency management in other areas of the state have their own spotters on public safety radio systems and took what few ham volunteer spotters that we had.. gave them public safety radios which left dozens of good ham repeaters sitting idle... especially in the more rural areas of the state. The link system that you mentioned still exists, but the system has degraded over the years...plus, it never covered parts of SE Oklahoma where the recent tornado in Kingston OK occurred. We have a DMR repeater in Durant that DOES cover Marshall County where the tornado occurred and Bryan County, where a tornado killed 2 people just a couple of years ago. I can't say if DMR will ever replace the analog repeaters... but since many of the analog repeaters have little or no activity on them, and DMR is growing in popularity, and can be used with "hot spots" in areas where there are no repeaters... I would say chances are good that we will see more hams migrate to using DMR. Until recently the Oklahoma WX 31408 talkgroup was sitting idle just like the analog repeaters... and to my understanding was in jeopardy of being removed from Brandmeister. Myself and a couple of other hams decided to start doing weekly weather "briefings" on it and disseminating the significant weather statements, advisories, watches and warnings from the Norman and Tulsa NWS offices that we receive on NWS Chat (which is why we were approved for those accounts in the first place)..and after a couple of months, more and more DMR repeater owners put Oklahoma WX 31408 on timeslice 1 "static" with more repeaters on the way. I have been in contact with the National Weather Service in Norman and we are working with them on getting set up on DMR... How they choose to use it (or not use it) is up to them. As a volunteer Weather Ready Nation Ambassador, my main concern is "weather messaging" and getting significant and severe weather information out using whatever resources and methods are available that will reach the greatest number of hams (especially in the rural areas) in the shortest amount of time. As hams, we have to offer something new that will attract hams and make them want to return to using ham radio as opposed to using their cell phones and mobile devices on social media, if that is possible. I am sure as time goes on, new ideas and new ways of using DMR will emerge.

 

[Ken Perrin]

Thank you Drew.. some good points to bring up. Unfortunately in Oklahoma ham radio "spotter" nets are few and far between and the few that do exist are in the OKC and Tulsa metro areas. Emergency management in other areas of the state have their own spotters on public safety radio systems and took what few ham volunteer spotters that we had.. gave them public safety radios which left dozens of good ham repeaters sitting idle... especially in the more rural areas of the state. The link system that you mentioned still exists, but the system has degraded over the years...plus, it never covered parts of SE Oklahoma where the recent tornado in Kingston OK occurred. We have a DMR repeater in Durant that DOES cover Marshall County where the tornado occurred and Bryan County, where a tornado killed 2 people just a couple of years ago. I can't say if DMR will ever replace the analog repeaters... but since many of the analog repeaters have little or no activity on them, and DMR is growing in popularity, and can be used with "hot spots" in areas where there are no repeaters... I would say chances are good that we will see more hams migrate to using DMR. Until recently the Oklahoma WX 31408 talkgroup was sitting idle just like the analog repeaters... and to my understanding was in jeopardy of being removed from Brandmeister. Myself and a couple of other hams decided to start doing weekly weather "briefings" on it and disseminating the significant weather statements, advisories, watches and warnings from the Norman and Tulsa NWS offices that we receive on NWS Chat (which is why we were approved for those accounts in the first place)..and after a couple of months, more and more DMR repeater owners put Oklahoma WX 31408 on timeslice 1 "static" with more repeaters on the way. I have been in contact with the National Weather Service in Norman and we are working with them on getting set up on DMR... How they choose to use it (or not use it) is up to them. As a volunteer Weather Ready Nation Ambassador, my main concern is "weather messaging" and getting significant and severe weather information out using whatever resources and methods are available that will reach the greatest number of hams (especially in the rural areas) in the shortest amount of time. As hams, we have to offer something new that will attract hams and make them want to return to using ham radio as opposed to using their cell phones and mobile devices on social media, if that is possible. I am sure as time goes on, new ideas and new ways of using DMR will emerge.

Is there a directory for SWListeners, like myself? I'll admit that I need to get off of the line, not spend so much time on SM, and obtain my ham license.

 

[J Keith]

There is a site that you can go to and monitor any of the hundreds of talk-groups on the Brandmeister Network... including our Oklahoma WX 31408. You can set up and monitor multiple talk-groups at the same time... but the stream player will only play one at a time... The link to the site is Hoseline .. I have video on my YouTube Channel

where I talk about how it works and how to set up and monitor Oklahoma WX 31408. .. You can monitor it on your phone as well.

 

[Ken Perrin]

There is a site that you can go to and monitor any of the hundreds of talk-groups on the Brandmeister Network... including our Oklahoma WX 31408. You can set up and monitor multiple talk-groups at the same time... but the stream player will only play one at a time... The link to the site is Hoseline .. I have video on my YouTube Channel

where I talk about how it works and how to set up and monitor Oklahoma WX 31408. .. You can monitor it on your phone as well.

Thankyou!

 

[Ken Perrin]

There is a site that you can go to and monitor any of the hundreds of talk-groups on the Brandmeister Network... including our Oklahoma WX 31408. You can set up and monitor multiple talk-groups at the same time... but the stream player will only play one at a time... The link to the site is Hoseline .. I have video on my YouTube Channel

where I talk about how it works and how to set up and monitor Oklahoma WX 31408. .. You can monitor it on your phone as well.

Just followed both YouTube and Twitter

 

[Drew Terril]

Thank you Drew.. some good points to bring up. Unfortunately in Oklahoma ham radio "spotter" nets are few and far between and the few that do exist are in the OKC and Tulsa metro areas. Emergency management in other areas of the state have their own spotters on public safety radio systems and took what few ham volunteer spotters that we had.. gave them public safety radios which left dozens of good ham repeaters sitting idle... especially in the more rural areas of the state. The link system that you mentioned still exists, but the system has degraded over the years...plus, it never covered parts of SE Oklahoma where the recent tornado in Kingston OK occurred. We have a DMR repeater in Durant that DOES cover Marshall County where the tornado occurred and Bryan County, where a tornado killed 2 people just a couple of years ago. I can't say if DMR will ever replace the analog repeaters... but since many of the analog repeaters have little or no activity on them, and DMR is growing in popularity, and can be used with "hot spots" in areas where there are no repeaters... I would say chances are good that we will see more hams migrate to using DMR. Until recently the Oklahoma WX 31408 talkgroup was sitting idle just like the analog repeaters... and to my understanding was in jeopardy of being removed from Brandmeister. Myself and a couple of other hams decided to start doing weekly weather "briefings" on it and disseminating the significant weather statements, advisories, watches and warnings from the Norman and Tulsa NWS offices that we receive on NWS Chat (which is why we were approved for those accounts in the first place)..and after a couple of months, more and more DMR repeater owners put Oklahoma WX 31408 on timeslice 1 "static" with more repeaters on the way. I have been in contact with the National Weather Service in Norman and we are working with them on getting set up on DMR... How they choose to use it (or not use it) is up to them. As a volunteer Weather Ready Nation Ambassador, my main concern is "weather messaging" and getting significant and severe weather information out using whatever resources and methods are available that will reach the greatest number of hams (especially in the rural areas) in the shortest amount of time. As hams, we have to offer something new that will attract hams and make them want to return to using ham radio as opposed to using their cell phones and mobile devices on social media, if that is possible. I am sure as time goes on, new ideas and new ways of using DMR will emerge.

While I am partial to DMR, I'm a fan of utilizing whatever is most used in a given area. I know YSF and P25 are being used in a supplementary manner in other parts of the country, but as you've mentioned, we have a pretty solid DMR network in the state, and as I see it, we could do a far better job of utilizing it than we have to this point. That's why I've been talking to Mark Kleine (and anyone else who would listen) about this since long before Mark was in his current position as ARRL section manager. I'm glad to see some traction being made in that direction.

 

[Aaron Pyzik]

I don't know how many have DMR capabilities with some of their other amateur radio related things like I do, but I'm pleased to pass along news from ARRL Oklahoma Section Manager Mark Kleine. Brandmeister TG 31408 is now designated the Oklahoma Weather talkgroup, and will be monitored during severe weather events in the state. This is something I've been pushing for a while now after seeing DMR leveraged successfully in other CWAs, to supplement more traditional repeater systems during severe weather.

All that is asked is to use Time Slot 1 when programming it into your code plug, as most of the in state DMR repeaters have it set up as a static TG on that time slot. There is also a weekly weather net on Saturday mornings at 0830 Central, and of course the weekly Oklahoma ARES DMR net is every Monday at 2015 Central.

Great to see that Oklahoma has adopted a statwide DMR Wx talkgroup. Would be excellent to see other states begin to follow suit. Here in Kentucky, we have a statewide simplex frequency, and in my county, a county simplex. I see ARES being a prominent feature of many weather prone areas, especially around Wichita Falls, Amarillo, etc, but they usually do not hold a DMR system, only 2m/70cm analog (which works still, just fine).