Kevin Myatt is The Roanoke Times' weather columnist.

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A pop song declares that "Video Killed the Radio Star," but neither Internet nor cellphones have killed the need for amateur radio in weather emergencies.

Amateur radio, often known as "ham" radio, is central to the SKYWARN network through which storm reports are communicated to the National Weather Service.

"A lot of people don't realize how much time they put into this," said Phil Hysell, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Blacksburg. He was referring to the spotters and amateur radio operators volunteering during bouts of severe weather.

The SKYWARN network in the 40-county Blacksburg warning area covers most of Southwest Virginia and parts of southeast West Virginia and northwest North Carolina. It includes more than 1,500 trained spotters. Much of their information is relayed to the weather service through amateur radio.

When a threat of severe weather develops, folks such as Phil Benchoff, Brian Squibb and Glen Sage drop what they're doing and work the amateur radio system.

Benchoff, the SKYWARN coordinator for the Blacksburg warning area, and Squibb, the assistant SKYWARN coordinator, often work the central control station at the weather service office. Sage supervises spotters in and around Galax, receiving reports from Carroll and Grayson counties and relaying them to the weather service.

Spotters report hail the size of pennies or larger, winds of 58 mph or higher, wind damage and flooding, plus snow and ice accumulation in winter. Spotters also are on the lookout for tornadoes, but many of the infrequent twisters that occur in our area are cloaked by rain and difficult to see. Much of this reporting is damage after the fact.

"The beauty of SKYWARN is that we provide ground truth data," Squibb said. "What they [weather service forecasters] see on radar or on models tells a lot, but it's not like someone reporting something they've actually observed."

The weather service also receives reports from spotters, law enforcement and the general public through phones and the Internet. But communication infrastructure can be taken out by high winds or an ice storm.

Amateur radios operate with a small amount of equipment that can be powered by batteries or a generator, so large-scale power outages don't inhibit radio operators' ability to communicate.

"The infrastructure required is minimal," Benchoff said.

And even in perfect conditions, cellphone coverage isn't total across a region of ridges and valleys ranging from more than 5,700 feet above sea level down to 800 feet.

"We can get out of any place in this area, as opposed to cellphones, that have a lot of holes," Squibb said.

Sage noted that activating the SKYWARN radio network in advance of expected severe weather provides an easy transition to radio communications that would be needed after a disaster.

"Ninety percent of our disasters are weather-related," Sage said. Flooding and severe winter storms are the most likely widespread weather disasters in our area, and amateur radio is often used to help with setting up shelters and locating stranded people.

Sage traveled to Hattiesburg, Miss., in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to help organize relief efforts via ham radio. Southwest Virginia is blessed in that extremely destructive weather events on the scale of Katrina or the Greensburg, Kan., tornado this past May are highly unlikely. But that doesn't eliminate the need for storm spotters and amateur radio.

"I've worked in five different [weather service] offices," Hysell said. "The dedication I've seen from our amateur radio operators is the same, if not better, than what I've seen out in the Plains."

Weather spotter classes are offered by the National Weather Service at various locations throughout the area, most often in late winter and early spring. Anyone can become trained to be a weather spotter, whether or not they are involved with amateur radio.

Amateur radio operators must be licensed by the Federal Communications Commission. Testing is conducted throughout the year at various sites.

Check the list of Web sites below for more information on SKYWARN, spotter classes and amateur radio.

It is a personal goal of mine to get my radio license within the next several months so I can better apply my years of severe-weather observation experience to this public service.

On the Net:

National Weather Service, Blacksburg: www.erh.noaa.gov/rnk/ Amateur Radio Relay League: www.arrl.com SKYWARN: www.skywarn.com