Mothers Day Morning Storm Monitoring

Thankfully, Savannah and Chatham County were spared the worst of the storms and Tornados that moved through southeast Georgia on Mother's Day morning. Compared to the Tornados that struck to the south and northwest of Savannah, I only heard a few dispatches for lightning strike fires and some downed power lines.

As the thunderstorms moved in, I disconnected all of my outside antennas and monitored using portable scanners only. I used the BC396 to monitor CEMA 1 (TG 6224) on the Chatham-Effingham TRS. CEMA 1 was an excellent way to keep apprised of what was going on; the CEMA staff were using it pass reports on what was going on within Chatham County. With one radio locked on CEMA 1, the old BC250 was used to scan Chatham County public safety.

No formal Skywarn Nets were established in the area, but amateur radio operators were on the 146.970 repeater in Savannah and the 146.745 repeater in Springfield passing weather observations and other storm information. As mentioned above, the outside antennas were disconnected, so I used crossband repeat and portables to monitor the repeaters. A Yaesu FT-50 was used to crossband through the Yaesu FT-8800 for the Springfield repeater because it is out of portable range at home. The Yaesu VX-150 was sufficient for getting into the 146.970.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net