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The National Weather
Service office in Morristown, Tennessee
(KMRX) is the facility that issues all warnings
for severe weather in the area. Besides East Tennessee, KMRX also serves
Southwest Virginia, Extreme Western North Carolina, and Extreme Northern
Georgia.
The dome-shaped object in
the above image houses the
Doppler Radar used by the National Weather
Service.

This is the Amateur
Radio Station WX4MRX manned by amateur radio volunteers who
have been authorized to be there by the National Weather Service.
Along with a
computer with internet access (foreground), a packet radio station (background)
is also used to pass weather information to amateurs using APRS.
Underneath the monitor are 4 different amateur radios, two of which are dual
band (2m/440) and one that is capable of transmitting on the 220 MHz band.
On the window in
the background is a Weather Radio with SAME capability. The National
Weather Service will sometimes use this radio to test their signal being
transmitted from one of 3 transmitters in the area in case they receive reports
of a transmitter malfunctioning. Also, they can verify that their SAME
codes are being properly issued by monitoring its output display.
Tucked underneath
one of the radios is an ARRL amateur radio repeater directory, so that they can
find repeaters for airing weather bulletins on.
The yellow paper
atop the monitor in the foreground reads: "THIS IS WX4MRX SKYWARN STATION
MORRISTOWN, TN".
The station in in
the corner of the main weather facility opposite the meteorologists' radar
console. It is close enough for the volunteer(s) to have quick access to a
meteorologist while at the same time being far enough away to not interfere with
their work, both by presence and by noise.
The antennas are
outside on a tower and are installed according to NOAA and federal government
guidelines, which are more stringent that normal guidelines for amateur radio
tower construction.
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