7 CS airmen keep weather radar up and running

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Charles V. Rivezzo
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Thousands of people, located in 84 counties throughout Texas and Oklahoma, have the ability to turn on their television sets each day and see a live update of the local weather. However, little do they know, this is made possible due to a handful of airmen from the 7th Communications Squadron.

"We have a Memorandum of Agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Weather Service to maintain their radar equipment that provides weather data for a 250-mile radius around Abilene," said Senior Airman Keith Ammons, 7 CS.

In addition to helping the local community plan their day, this radar site is crucial for Dyess airmen when it comes to flight plans and scheduling.

The Dyess AFB Next-Generation Radar is located approximately 45-miles away from base in Moran, Texas, and is only one of 21 Department of Defense NEXRADS in the United States.

Although the radar is owned and operated by the National Weather Service, 7 CS airmen provide routine maintenance to ensure the accuracy of the data collected.

"We visit the NEXRAD site at least two to three times a week, and the average total maintenance time per week is at least 10 hours," Ammons said.

"We have a number of different types of scheduled maintenance that we conduct on the NEXRAD, such as preventative maintenance inspections and time-compliant technical orders," Ammons said. "However, the majority of our time is spent on unscheduled maintenance, which is when something happens to the radar and it's not mission capable or in a degraded mission capable status."

Furthermore, outside of maintenance, these airmen are constantly training to ensure mission readiness.

Recently, the radar shop has been working many modification upgrades, all in conjunction to the overall upgrade from a Conventional Radar to a Dual Polarization Radar. The DP radar will provide performance improvements in many areas including rainfall estimates, and hydrometeor classification; which is the ability to distinguish between rain and hail, as well as improving general data quality.

"This is a great example of how 7th Communications Squadron airmen impact Abilene on a daily basis," said Maj. Robert Mammenga, 7 CS commander. Our airmen make real-time weather updates possible, and make Dyess and Abilene safer when severe weather strikes."