From the conception of the Sullivan Committee, the notion of local control of local repeater nets holds true today as it did several years ago. Local amateur radio repeater groups may operate their own severe weather nets, structured to meet individual local needs. A local repeater's severe weather net is activated and de-activated at the discretion of local officials, not of the Sullivan Committee. Local nets can have up to three officials managing the net-- the Net Control Station (NCS) and two Relay Stations moving information to and from the Backbone. The NCS regulates the local net and sets the tone for the hams covering the weather event for the local area. The two relay stations work closely with the Backbone. One relay station listens on the Backbone for traffic to send to the local net, such as NWS official statements, or requests to collect data from a certain area. The other relay listens to the local net and forwards reports meeting acceptable criteria to the Backbone.
As shown above, the flow of information between the nets is the responsibility of the Relay Stations and Sullivan Weather, on the Backbone. Relay 1 should only forward weather information to the Backbone Net that meets the Severe Criteria. Relay 2 should be monitoring the Backbone, gathering any outbound information, and possible requests for local information.
Suggested Duties of the Local Team Net Control Station: 1. Maintain the local net discipline and tone, according to local specification 2. Acknowledge and respond to all calls as soon as possible 3. Assign net duties -- backup NCS, Relay 1 station, Relay 2 station 4. Maintain an accurate log of all check-ins, check-outs, and net traffic
RELAY STATIONS and the NCS should be operating at a station with adequate signal emission, and backup emergency power.
Relay Stations Relay stations provide a vital service to the communication system -- they route traffic between the two nets. Ideally, there should be two Relay stations from each Local Net to the Backbone Net. One Relay monitors for severe weather traffic on the Local Net to forward to the Backbone Net, and the other Relay monitors the Backbone Net to transmit watch and warning information as well as other requested information to the local nets. It is the responsibility of the Relay station to recognize the severe weather criteria list and relay immediately those reports which satisfy that list. Relay stations should be equipped with emergency power.