** WINTER FIELD DAY: FROM SIMULATION TO ACTIVATION

Eddie Misiewicz, KB3YRU, was with a group of fellow hams for Winter Field Day on Sunday, January 25th, when he was notified by the Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the Pittsburgh Weather Forecast Office to activate SKYWARN for Winter Storm reports.

Eddie, who is a SKYWARN coordinator and volunteer, told Newsline that stations from 35 counties across the region got on the air, averaging 150 snowfall and condition reports from each of the counties. Amateur participation came from Central Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, as well as the Northern and Northern Panhandle of West Virginia.

Of course, this is why drills like Winter Field Day exist. The activation went QRT on Monday evening, January 26th, after 15 continuous hours of being on the air.