Author: N0MRB - Ray Buettner

Santa Claus will be on the amateur radio airwaves again this year.

The 3.916 Santa Net will be on the air every night at 7:00 PM CST from November 29 through December 24. Reserve a spot with Santa by making a pre-net check in. You can check in each night starting at 6:30 PM CST online at www.CQSanta.com.

Santa and Mrs. Claus will also be on the air, together, thanks to special arrangements with the Cowley (KS) County Amateur Radio Club. They will be on the air on the 147.000 repeater and the Sunflower Net system, between 10 a.m. and noon on November 30 and beginning at 10 a.m. on December 14 and 21. In addition to the local repeater, the Sunflower Net offers connection options to Allstar, DMR, Dstar, Echolink, Fusion, Hamshack Hotline, M17, and P25. The club is also setting up a radio link at the local library to talk to Santa.

Also, for the 4th year, Santa has sent Elf Chucky and his team of amateur radio operators to northern Colorado, to help make sure children of all ages can talk to Santa on station NØP from the North Pole. Thanks to the Longmont Amateur Radio Club and the Northern Colorado Amateur Radio Club, children can get into the holiday spirit by talking to Santa on the radio. Both are ARRL Affiliated Clubs. Get the details on that operation at https://w0eno.org/santa/.

SKYWARN Recognition Day is December 7, 2024. The annual event is celebrating its 25th anniversary. SRD was established in 1999 by the National Weather Service and ARRL® to commemorate the contributions of SKYWARN volunteers. Using amateur radio and other means of communication, SKYWARN spotters provide real time ground truth to NWS offices. The ham-volunteers can also provide vital communications between NWS and local emergency management officials when other means go down.

In a video posted to the SRD web page, National Weather Service Director Ken Graham, WX4KEG, said the information ham radio operators and other SKYWARN volunteers provide is critical. “I, along with the entire National Weather Service, want to acknowledge and thank you for your invaluable service to the communities we serve.”

There will be a SRD special event from 0000 – 2359 UTC on the day. The objective is for all amateur stations to exchange QSO information with as many Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters and National Weather Service Stations as possible on the 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, 2-meter and 70-centimeter bands.

ARRL will be on the air during the event from the ARRL Radio Laboratory station, W1HQ, using the call sign WX1AW. ARRL Public Relations and Outreach Manager Sierra Harrop, W5DX, said SRD is a great opportunity to welcome non-ham SKYWARN volunteers to explore amateur radio. “Storm spotting was my original draw into ham radio. I watched a large tornado tear up my community on May 3, 1999, and was listening via my mom’s 2-meter mobile radio to spotter reports being relayed to the NWS Norman, Oklahoma, office. I knew I wanted to be a part of that and within months I was licensed. Amateur radio was my path into that community service and has been the hobby of a lifetime ever since,” she said.