The Blizzard That Never Was and the Social Media-rologists That Love 'em

Meteorology has become way more advanced and technologically superior to previous generations of what was used even 20 years ago. Supercomputers have taken on a much larger role of forecasting weather from a few hours to a month out. Forecast models can often give a broad idea of what could happen in a week or two, and has been used to forecast tracks of hurricanes (called a "spaghetti" model) to help coordinate evacuations and give people an idea what to prepare for if and when it should strike.

But oftentimes, models don't get it right.

Such is the case of this recent snowstorm across the US. As I type this, we are in the conclusion of this recent winter storm and setting in for a deep freeze. The week prior, Youtube and some weather channels were going completely crazy because at least one forecast model was predicting nearly 30" of snow for Knoxville along with up to 5" of ice mixed in as well. As you can imagine, people were a tad concerned. My phone started blowing up with people asking me what my "expert opinion" was.

While I am humbled to know that people trust me with giving them my opinion to help them plan for weather, I am not a meteorologist and I've been wrong many more times than those that have a college education.

So what actually occurred was that here in Knoxville we got a slight bit of ice and freezing rain, then some dustings of snow, followed by rain for almost the entire day on Sunday, then a deep freeze. It was NOT the 30" of snow atop 6" of ice that ONE model predicted a week prior.

What gets me are these "Social media-rologists" who take these opportunities when the worst-case scenario is even remotely possible to hype up the possibility that weather MIGHT get bad.

On the plus side, it's good that social media has made people more weather aware. On the flip side, these social media-rologists have a bigger responsibility to sponsors and their own wallets than to truly be doing a public service. They need clicks, views, subscribes, and likes to be sure to drive up the algorithms on Youtube and other platforms (Tiktok, X, etc) and get paid, and also get their sponsors exposure. So as the adage goes, "If it bleeds, it ledes", meaning that for these influencers to get more clicks and views, they have to bring terrorizing stories to the table with over-the-top thumbnails, AI-driven drivel or bombastic text wording that screams gloom and doom.

Because boring doesn't make money.

So people panic, click on these videos, get worked up and start hoarding bread and milk and toilet paper, and then get pissed off at their LOCAL media's weather folks or the local NWS because some shill for a weather product no one can afford who lives somewhere else and has really expensive software and fancy graphics said we MIGHT get an inch of ice, a foot of snow, or frozen bodies all over the landscape, when in fact nothing near that scenario occurred.

Forecast models are just fortune tellers when it comes to trying to predict what MIGHT happen in a week or two. They are NOT forecasts. At their best, meteorologists can often be accurate about 48-72 hours out when it comes to a severe weather, winter weather, or hurricane event. And even then, things change at the last minute. Hurricanes have often been shown to go right through a particular part of the coast, when it suddenly shifts due to a wobble in the eye, or an external push from a high pressure system, or something that was not seen in any model or map until the shift occurs. 

And yet, if it bleeds......

There are a lot of forecast models in use globally. Some centered on particular areas of the world, others on a more global scale. They are all different in some way or other, depending on the type of software, AI, and computational programming that is fed into the computer to "predict the future". For the most part, no two models are alike. Some are programmed to give the "worst-case scenario" so that they can allow local officials to prepare accordingly. And it's these predictions that the social media-rologists feed off of to scare the bejeezus out of the simpletons who don't grasp that seldom does this ever play out, and then these social media-rologists can simply offer "free shrugs" when it doesn't happen. Or they will play it off with the "I'm not a REAL meteorologist" mumbo-jumbo, or even delete the videos and pretend that nothing happened. After all, we agreed to the terms and conditions when we started watching them that it's "for entertainment purposes only", right? RIGHT???

So we need to just say "NO!" to social media-rology. We have to stop giving these so-called experts a reality check instead of a paycheck. All they are doing is hyping up the next big weather event to put cash in their pockets as you spend yours buying all the milk and bread you can find. They need to STOP creating events that do not happen or have the likelihood of occurring at <1%.

I posted the above video last week as we were approaching the Snowmageddon of 2026. I was frustrated more than anything at the complete lack of candor some of these Youtubers have that when they hype up these storms, they intentionally omit key pieces of data that would prevent people from blowing up my phone and others' when SHTF.

Now, I am all about preparing for the worst case scenario. I'm not exactly a "prepper" but I do have supplies at the ready when SHTF. I have water, propane and propane accessories, plenty of radios, and adequate supplies for most scenarios that I can think of. But it's always the scenarios you DON'T THINK OF that get you. On the one hand, yes, making people aware of what COULD happen is not a bad thing as long as you explain that to your audience. Honesty builds trust, and that's more important than likes or views, and in the end, trust builds the likes and views and makes your content reputable, not laughable.

Simplex Saturday / Parks on the Air for 12/20/2025

 I took another trip up to the Foothills Parkway for Simplex Saturday. After a 1-week hiatus I trekked back up the parkway in gorgeous weather conditions to make a few contacts. I made 15 contacts total, 14 for POTA, one while mobile on my way to the Parkway.

The weather was fantastic and clear. I installed my Yaesu FT-8900 Quad-band radio onto the battery box to help with portability. It did really well.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

I really dislike Youtube for content creation

Over the last few years, Youtube has become the standard for content creation, with people making interesting, entertaining, and informative videos on a wide variety of subjects.

I've been trying to create some informative ham radio and weather-related content but my choice in using intro/outro music is a problem for Youtube. I've been creating videos off and on for Youtube since 2006 and these issues just get worse.

I have been using bensound.com for music that's ROYALTY-FREE for a few years when I made my drone videos and other content. One song in particular ("Dreams" by Benjamin Tissot) was one song I enjoyed and more or le made it my "theme" as it set a good tone for the video and a positive vibe.

However, nowadays when I use it...and remember, it's allegedly ROYALTY-FREE to use...I get copyright-struck by Youtube despite playing by both Youtube's and bensound's rules!

First off, I'm officially and technically monetized now with Youtube, but I have not employed any of the features to monetize. It's a headache and hassle for me and my content is not exactly setting records for views, likes, and subscribes. Second, if I actually earned any money, it would probably cost more for the stamp than whatever amount is on the check! My dozens of views aren't paying the bills!

I do these videos to pass the time, make things fun, or interesting (to me) content that others might enjoy. I don't have a common theme, it's whatever I'm in the mood to discuss, from drone videos of snow, to doing Simplex Saturdays in the mountains, to discussing radio quirks, and reporting This Week in Amateur Radio podcasts via RSS feed. 

For the last God-knows how many years, Youtube's algorithm has been finding and striking videos for music no matter how brief and how awful sounding it is...if you make an hours-long video, and use 5 seconds of intro music, they will de-monetize the 99.9% of the content YOU create because you chose to use someone else's content for "mood".

I understand if someone used music for background effect across an entire video. I've done it on my drone videos. It helps to add a dramatic effect to a video. And I can understand profit-sharing for that aspect. If it's my video and someone else's audio, split the monetization 50/50. If I use 5 seconds of an intro song for a 60-minute video with no other music, then profit-share those 5 seconds and be done with it.

But Youtube and the music industry don't work that way.

In my latest video, I used about 30 seconds of ROYALTY-FREE music (10 seconds at the front, 20 at the end credits) and once again, the 33 minutes of content I worked on can now be demonetized should the copyright holder deem it so. So the (as of this writing) 200 views could be demonetized for <1% of music. Royalty...free.......music....

And to beat all, I play by their rules. I now have to download and use a different attribution license code for every video I use the music in, and give credit and attribution in the description of the video and even in the video itself I credit the site. I try to cover all my bases. And yet still I deal with headaches like this.

I contacted bensound and simply asked what I could do to permanently use the music and not have to dispute every time I want to use it. I offered to pay them a one-time fee to use it and whitelist my channel. And their response was to dispute the claim with the attribution info. But the disputes don't happen immediately. When uploading the videos, Youtube checks to see that all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed. It always passes the copyright check on the initial upload. But sometime later, it hits. And I have to file a dispute, and go through the headache of filling out the dispute form. 

So now I am in search of other music, despite my REALLY wanting to use "Dreams" but it's becoming a nightmare to deal with.

This certainly isn't the first time I've had headache's with Youtube. Many years ago my daughter was doing a karate demonstration and the group played "Eye of the Tiger" over the gym's PA system. It got hundreds of views (mostly from parents of other kids I assume) and did particularly well. Then, 3 weeks later, Youtube strikes it. Basically saying "You're using music that is owned by these people and they don't like it so F*** YOU!". 

I dispute it under fair use, and background music, I cannot control what other people play over a loudspeaker. If I were at a hockey game, and a fight happens, I cannot control the DJ using "Hit me with your best shot" by Pat Benatar...and even with that argument, it got struck, I got a mark against me, and if any money were to be made, it goes to everyone but. So I hid the video. It's private and no one can see it except me. Because I refuse to let Youtube and the copyright claimants have a shot at whatever little money they could get. Youtube would run ads (for non-Premium members) and the copyright holders get their share. Not on my watch. So piss off Frank Sullivan, Survivor, and "Rude Music".

I made a video to vent my frustrations, it's listed above. 

Prepare for winter NOW!

Here's a video I made on what you should have in your vehicle, home, and farm for preparing for winter weather.  

Ham radio and Techno combine in a song spanning multiple languages

I would like to share this song I heard by a German ham (Hartmut, DK4BE) who created this upbeat song with a lot of jargon we should know quite well. YLs, field day, moonbounce, QO-100, etc.

The video is insanely over the top. Some original video of actual ham radio activity, mixed with completely unrelated Adobe Stock/AI generated goofiness that makes no sense. Look for the woman holding a "73" flag whose arms do a weird morph as she pulls a beer out of nowhere. 

If you want to hear just the song first, you can listen to it here on Dropbox. If you want to see the AI awesomeness, they're on Youtube in several languages with some of the language versions having a different beat / rhythm (not sure the musical terms) to match more with the culture I assume:

• English
• Spanish
• Portuguese (my personal favorite)
• German/Amateurfunk
• Nederland/Dutch
• French

So grab your glow sticks and rave on!

vy 73 de K4HSM

K4HSM Vlog: 25 November 2025

 

Thought I would submit a video to discuss various ham radio topics including echolink, repeaters, the power of a telescopic HT antenna, and Thanksgiving. 

Don't know if I'll make a habit of this but it gave me something to do while sitting in my hotel room bored. I rerecorded about four times to try and get it right, and I'm still unhappy with it because of all the "uhhhhhs" and "errrrrrrs" I uttered during the recording. Even when trying to catch myself I found myself doing it more. You certainly won't see me being a toastmaster anytime soon... 

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and looking forward to a Merry Christmas. 73 de K4HSM 

Simplex Saturday: Week 6 - Taking a commanding lead (that I know of)

 For the 6th week in a row I made an appearance for Simplex Saturdays, sponsored by TARA. For all but one of those weeks I went up to the Foothills Parkway in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to operate. The over 2000' elevation certainly is advantageous when trying to get a large footprint on VHF/UHF simplex.

This week I had company as three other hams came up to operate and to converse about the event.

Michael, KQ4MKV and Darrin KQ4RAY were up on the parkway with me to try and get a few more contacts under their belt than what might have been if they'd stayed at their home QTH.

I found out about 3 weeks ago I could be using POTA (Parks On The Air) for dual event QSOs as the Foothills Parkway is part of the GSMNP which has the POTA designator of US-0034.

On the way up I ran in to a ham on another pulloff who was operating CW for POTA. I was so excited I forgot to ask him his name/callsign!!!

I got up to the #8 parking area and made a slight change in operating. Over the last few operations, I was operating from the back of the vehicle (mine or my wife's) and was basically operating out of the trunk space. This time I ran the coax from the quad-band Comet antenna I had into my Durango and temporarily placed the Yaesu Quad-band 8900 on the center console connected to the battery box instead of to the vehicle. This helped as it was a tad chilly due to the shift in time to an hour earlier last Sunday morning.

I also put word out on a few nets, Facebook, and even on a livestream I tested during a weather net Friday evening about Simplex Saturdays. I think it paid off as I started off strong with a few contacts and using POTA as a duel event brought out the park chasers.

I brought my GoPro to film but due to hectic activity with all the operators I contacted and spoke to in person I wasn't able to set up the cameras.

Unofficially, I made 48 contacts across 5 bands (10m, 6m, 2m, 1.25m, 70cm) but the contest did not include 10m initially, however I'm trying to convince them to use 10m, and I think they've counted my previous 10m contacts already.

Speaking of...I was trying to make local contacts on 10m and the 10m band was wide open on 29.600. I heard a station in Nevade (he couldn't hear me) and another somewhere in Mexico!

So far for now, I'm in the lead on the Simplex Saturdays contest log with 74 QSOs and Darrin has 2nd place with 20. These numbers do NOT include today's numbers, so I can't wait to see how it changes going into next weekend.

There's only 3 of us that have submitted logs thus far, and I've been encouraging others to submit. If they make just one contact, they can submit the log to be entered for a prize drawing in April 2026. So please join the fun. I've been having a blast going up to the mountains to operate!

Preaching the gospel of SKYWARN to Scouts at 2025 Scoutfest

I made an appearance at Scoutfest in Monroe County on 25 October representing East Tennessee SKYWARN. Hundreds of scouts from around the region came out for a weekend of camping and learning about various trades, skills, and ideas that may help them become better people tomorrow than they already were today.

The Smoky Mountain Amateur Radio Club, RACK, and Monroe Co. ARES were in attendance at a couple of sites next to the airstrip where planes took off and landed all morning and afternoon. Helicopters from the US Army and Lifestar flew in for the event as well.

Scouts and their families stopped by and were informed on what amateur radio was, how it could be useful in hiking, emergencies, and of course, severe weather.

A portable station was set up to allow scouts to talk on the radio. Some were shy, and others very outgoing. They talked to hams on the 146.940 repeater throughout the day and were impressed by how far away some of the stations were located.

The morning started off chilly, but by midday the sun came out, the skies cleared, and it turned into a pleasant afternoon. RACK had an HF setup and scouts could listen to 10meters being active with stations in Italy, Costa Rica, and many others across the US and Europe coming in and out as the band conditions allowed.

I attended on behalf of SKYWARN and provided spotter guides to anyone who was interested in weather, showing what to looks for and what is considered severe. Many scoutmasters and family members in attendance were ham operators and stopped by for eyeball QSLs.

Held every 3 years, Scoutfest is an event where the entire Great Smoky Mountains Council is invited to attend. This year, Axiom Space Astronaut John Shoffner was the guest speaker for the event.

It was a beautiful day and an exciting event. All the volunteers are looking forward to the next Scoutfest!

Is your club a 501(c)3? You may have a GoFundMe set up and not even know it!

GoFundMe is being used by many for recovering from disasters, helping to pay for unexpected expenses, or to assist with costs from a life-threatening accident. Some even use it to help pay for trips and vacations. Whatever the need, it has been a great way for people around the world to help those in need.

But apparently GoFundMe wants to expand their reach and not let those affected know about it until people start donating or asking questions.

According to this ABC7 article, one ham who is the President of his local radio club as well as Treasurer for his local library’s organization was contacted about a GoFundMe page for the library and whether or not it was legit. He looked on GoFundMe’s site to find his library’s group listed. The only problem was he didn’t set the page up. GoFundMe did it!

GoFundMe has created a list of pages for various 501(c)3 organizations based on information from public records.

GoFundMe has taken upon itself to create “nonprofit pages” for 1.4 million 501(c)3 organizations using public IRS data along with information from trusted partners like the PayPal Giving Fund.GoFundMe has taken upon itself to create “nonprofit pages” for 1.4 million 501(c)3 organizations using public IRS data along with information from trusted partners like the PayPal Giving Fund.

If your ham radio club is 501(c)3, then search for it on GoFundMe and investigate whether you need to take action on the site!

Ham Radio Helping to Pass the Emergency Preparedness Act

The ARRL has teamed up with Texas HAM PAC to allow ham operators to send a message to their US Congresspeople to encourage passage of  H.R.1094 (US House of Representatives) and S.459 (US Senate) which would make Homeowner Associations (HOAs) relax restrictions on antennas and towers in communities to allow for emergency communications. 

All across the US, HOAs have restrictions in place to prevent outside antennas and supporting structures from being set up as they concern themselves with preserving property values and keeping aesthetics uniform across the community. While there is no true gauge on whether antennas affect property values or aesthetic quality (as it is ultimately just a matter of opinion) HOAs ban antennas and in some communities, do not even allow antennas that are stealthy (flagpole antennas, wires in trees, and even antennas in attics INSIDE A HOME) and even go so far as to no allow antennas on homeowners' vehicles!

By using the form, it's a 1-minute activity to enter your callsign, confirm the info, and click the "Send" button. 

However, I would also encourage everyone to take it one additional step further by sending physical letters and emails that are personalized to your situation so that it carries more weight to your Congressional representatives in Washington.

I used the form to find my representatives, then I used Google to pull up their contact information for their Washington offices as well as their satellite office in my city (Knoxville). Fortunately for me, all three of my reps were in the same building in Knoxville. 

I used SKYWARN and the impact of Hurricane Helene in nearby North Carolina as examples of why HOAs should allow residents to install antennas—when done respectfully and safely. Weather-related emergencies are the most common type of communications crisis in this region, and trained spotters play a crucial role, especially as some National Weather Service offices face staffing shortages.

In fact, an HOA community could benefit from having an amateur radio station as a reliable means of communication during disasters. When hurricanes strike, entire towns can become isolated from the outside world—as we saw with Helene in the Carolina mountains, and previously with Hurricane Ian’s devastation on Pine Island in 2022, where my late father lived. His HOA community struggled to get supplies after Ian made landfall. He also lived through Hurricane Charley in 2004, which hit his neighborhood directly as it tore through Punta Gorda. In both cases, a ham radio station could have been a vital link to emergency resources and information.

I expressed these concerns to my representatives and felt this was important to convey.

In some instances, I employed AI to help clarify my thoughts and put them in a concise and sensible letter. I did not copy/paste verbatim, but rather grabbed key elements to insert into my letters and make them make sense. 

Since these letters were sent, I received correspondence from 2 of my representatives (so far). I feel this makes an important impact to getting this bill passed.

So please consider reaching out to your reps, especially if you're in an HOA and want to put up antennas to talk to emergency officials, or to the world!

Simplex Saturday: Week 1

The Tennessee Amateur Radio Association started up a special event that began last Saturday (4 October) where Tennessee stations can make contacts on VHF and up simplex frequencies (6m, 2m, 23cm. and 70cm):

Participants can download the log sheet (as an .xlsx) and then log their contacts, then upload them here to become eligible for prize drawings (prizes TBD) in April. 

I decided to head up to the Foothills Parkway to get a little altitude for making contacts. Even with ideal weather, I’ve never seen the parkway as busy as it was when I arrived as a flood of cars from a nearby car show in Sevierville all made for quite the scene.

Because of other commitments, I couldn’t make it to the overlook until after 7 p.m., technically after the “event” had ended. The listing showed “5 p.m. to 7 p.m. local time,” but I wasn’t sure how official that schedule really was as I had heard conflicting info on the times to operate. So I went ahead and continued up to the overlook anyway. Worst case, I’d still get to make a few QSOs from atop a mountain—and catch the sunset while I was at it. Still a win in my book.

When I finally reached the overlook, it was completely packed—cars, bikes, and muscle cars everywhere, many from the “Slammedenuff” show in Sevierville (more on that in a bit).

I managed to snag the last parking spot and backed in. Out came my folding chair, battery box, and my Yaesu 8900 quad-band mobile. I set up my mag-mount quad-band antenna (10m/6m/2m/70cm) and tried to tune out the steady parade of muscle cars roaring up and down the parkway, each seemingly in a contest to prove who had the loudest exhaust. One driver even treated everyone to a performance of "jake braking" down the hill, letting the exhaust backfire twice, re-accelerating briefly, and then repeating all the way down the road.

There were park rangers stationed nearby, though not directly at the overlook, which I thought would’ve been the better spot to have crowd control. Still, it looked like they had their hands full. It may be that due to the overwhelming numbers of cars, they didn't want to escalate a tense situation with their presence.

Back to the radio bit. My first contact with with John in Southeast Tennessee, and despite the mountains in between us, I had him at an S5 signal. We talked for a few minutes and I started hearing another station attempting to contact me. Being up on the top of a mountain does incur a lot of stations who can hear me but not the stations I'm talking to. Kinda like 10 meters!

I got to enjoy the sunset and although I only talked to 3 people, we went across all four bands of my radio for 8 contacts total. We even did 10 meters FM to try it out and two of the hams were able to reach me with no issue (again, other than the mountain!). I packed up after about an hour as I needed to get back home.

So now my mind is stirring on how to actually incorporate the quad-bander into the battery box! I want to mount the quad-bander on either the side of the box or even on the top. I'm thinking the side would work better, but I may look at building a completely different box entirely for this radio. 

A postscript to this, the cars that were part of the car show apparently were not getting the approval of the City of Sevierville, as they cancelled the 2nd day of the 2-day event. It looks as though the cars on the parkway weren't the only hooligans out of control, as incidents all across Sevier Co were overwhelming authorities. The event was not sanctioned by the city and there were warnings for participants to behave prior to the show. I'm sure the ones that were respectful were disappointed, but unfortunately those that think they are above the law decided to discover what the "Find Out" part was all about.

I'm just glad everyone at the overlook were (for the most part) behaved. A couple of visitors were asking about my radio setup. They were amazed I was talking to Chattanooga and thought I was on CB. If they only knew...