The Fairhaven Repeater Weather Net operates daily, Monday through Friday at 8:00 PM on the KA1WBF repeater at 145.49 MHz. It is one of the few Wx nets in Massachusetts to operate five days a week and has done so continuously for about three years and is still growing.
Although not an original founder, Louis Whitlow, WA1GDE, pretty much single handedly revived the net and is responsible for having each night a designated control operator. This exceptional dedication is the secret to our net's smooth and reliable operation. Louie does not have email capability, so his name and callsign might be unfamiliar to those of you outside the range of the repeater, but the net members owe him a debt of gratitude for his perserverance, tireless dedication, and unfailing generosity.
Louie also conceived and arranged for our first meeting, held in a little restaurant in New Bedford called Cronin's North, which was attended by about eight people. That humble beginning was in the fall of 1995. Since then we've had two big meetings in 1996, and are now looking forward to the spring 1997 meeting which will showcase a spectacular slide show from the Mount Washington Observatory.
Who are our members? Well, they're radio amateurs with a special interest in, and curiosity about, the weather. Special focuses of interest range from making and recording detailed observations, maintaining long term observational wx data records, working with state and national climate data organizations, using modern computer-based home wx stations, interfacing with the National Weather Service (NWS) through Skywarn, integrating wx topics and technology in the classroom, and using and designing wx related computer software and hardware. Chances are if the subject has to do with weather, at least one of our members will have some expertise and knowledge, yet no one special interest preoccupies our members.
In this age of the Information Superhighway and the ascendancy of the Internet, a brief mention of that world is due. Internet access is one of the key components of access to the country-wide data collection might of the NWS, and many of the net members actively tap into that database of weather conditions and forecasts for the US and beyond. Many text, graphic, and image products are now accessible with a home computer--information which was formerly in the exclusive domain of the weather professional. We also have a net email list (FRWN Email List) which was started about 1 1/2 years ago for the exchange of messages, bulletins, and notices among the net members. From the beginning the list was multidirectional and decentralized, meaning that all the list members can freely contribute. Several members also maintain excellent world-wide web pages which are partially or wholly devoted to weather.
Above all, there is one activity that binds us and is the heart and soul of our group, and that is the daily net. With the strength of the repeater, our radio range spans an area from Plymouth and Norton to the north, to the Cape to the east, to the Islands (including Nantucket) to the south, and to Providence to the west. The net comprises the simple exchange of our locally observed wx data, supplemented by distant noteworthy reports garnered from HF nets, news media, and Internet resources. Then there are the personal comments, which are wide-ranging and often surprisingly interesting, informative, and entertaining, and make up this writer's favorite part of the net.
I hope that this has provided an insight into the origin, evolution, and purpose of our group.
hr/n1ltv: 11/15/96