Wichita County officials met with local members of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and Texas Amateur Radio Emergency Service (TARES) to hash out some regulations about control of radio networks during emergency weather situations.
County Judge Woody Gossom said ARRL regional members decided to realign the system to have SKYWARN be the parent network of a controlled network rather than a closed one.
Local ARRL member Charlie Byars said in a previous article that a repeater is normally open to all ham radios, but is closed to unauthorized users during severe weather events. He explained that they would take a emergency report, such as a tornado sighting, and refer the information to the National Weather Service.
The issue arose earlier this spring when a HAM operator who was not a member of the group tried to talk on its repeater during a severe weather event.
