KIH20
 | |
| City | Huntsville, Alabama |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | North Alabama |
| Branding | NOAA All Hazards Radio |
| Frequency | 162.400 MHz |
| Format | Weather/Civil Emergency |
| Language(s) | English |
| Power | 1000 watts |
| HAAT | 200 meters (660 ft) |
| Class | C |
| Transmitter coordinates | 34°44′20″N 86°31′58″W / 34.73889°N 86.53278°WCoordinates: 34°44′20″N 86°31′58″W / 34.73889°N 86.53278°W |
| Owner | NOAA/National Weather Service |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | srh.noaa.gov/hun/ |
KIH20 (162.400 MHz, sometimes referred to as Huntsville All Hazards) is a NOAA Weather Radio station that serves the greater Huntsville, Alabama, area. It broadcasts weather forecasts and hazard information for Jackson, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, and Morgan Counties in Alabama plus Giles and Lincoln Counties in Tennessee.
History
KIH20 was first aired on January 12th, 1976, making it the 2nd NOAA Weather Radio station in the State of Alabama. It was also one of the first Weather Radio stations in the country that were away from the coastal areas of the U.S. The antenna was originally on the WYUR-TV48 (now WAFF) tower on the south side of Monte Sano Mountain. Around 1980 it was moved to the APT/WHIQ-TV25 tower as APT began to cooperate with the National Weather Service on locating transmitters statewide. When Birmingham took over forecasting duties in 1997 the voice on this transmitter was changed to a computer-generated voice, in part to speed up the warning transmission process. This older transmitter began to malfunction and not activate alarms consistently around 1998 and was finally replaced with a new transmitter in 2003 when WHIQ's transmitter building on Read Drive was gutted by a fire.
Controversy
As a cost-cutting measure, the National Weather Service attempted to close the Huntsville weather office and transfer broadcasting, forecasting, and warning duties to the Birmingham, Alabama, office in the mid-1990s.[1][2][3][4] Forecasting was shifted to Birmingham in 1997 but efforts by Congressman Bud Cramer kept the NWS from completely dismantling the Huntsville office[5] and eventually resulted in the office being once again full-staffed and equipped with modern Doppler weather radar gear.[6] In November 2002, the National Weather Service announced that weather broadcast, warning, and forecast responsibilities for North Alabama as well as river forecast and flood warning duties would be returned to the re-opened Huntsville office on January 14, 2003.[7]
Awards
In July 2007, the National Weather Service presented Lary Burgett, observation program leader for the Weather Forecast Office in Huntsville, with the Isaac M. Cline Award.[8] The Cline Award "honors individual and team employees for operational excellence in the delivery of products and services in support of the National Weather Service mission".[9] Burgett was recognized for "providing the office with critical administrative and management support while maintaining an extraordinary level of work in his other responsibilities."[10]
Coverage map
Station identification
A recording of the KIH-20 station identification: 
References
- ↑ Associated Press (December 2, 1997). "Alabama Briefs". Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. p. B6.
Years of wrangling over the fate of Huntsville's weather service office ends today when the agency shifts most of its north Alabama operations to Birmingham.
- ↑ Pace, David (April 29, 1994). "Weather hearing planned". The Tuscaloosa News. The Associated Press. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
- ↑ Associated Press (August 27, 1998). "Meteorologist Ordered Transferred". Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. p. B2.
Veteran meteorologist Gary Petti was ordered transferred from Alabama after U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer complained to the National Weather Service about his published comments on the possible closing of the Huntsville weather office. Cramer, D-Ala., said he was angry that Petti was quoted in a newspaper saying plans appear on track to close the Huntsville office after a test period measuring Birmingham's ability to monitor the area. The test ends next year.
- ↑ Pace, David (September 3, 1998). "Forecaster transfer meets resistance". The Tuscaloosa News. The Associated Press. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
Four Alabama Republicans asked the Commerce secretary on Thursday not to transfer a National Weather Service forecaster who was ordered out of Alabama after commenting on the possible closing of the Huntsville weather office.
- ↑ Schmitt, Eric; Joseph Kahn (May 24, 2000). "The China Trade Wrangle: The Overview; The House Opens A Spirited Debate Over China Trade". The New York Times.
Representative Robert E. Cramer of Alabama, another Democrat, said he would favor the bill after he held discussions with Commerce Secretary William M. Daley over the fate of a National Weather Service monitoring station in Huntsville. The weather service, which is part of the Commerce Department, had indicated that it planned to close the weather tower. Mr. Cramer had been protesting the planned closure because his district often has tornadoes and relies on the weather stations for early warnings.
- ↑ Potok, Mark (June 29, 1999). "Huntsville learns to live with tornadoes". USA Today.
The National Weather Service, after a four-year battle by Cramer, has dropped plans to eliminate radar in Huntsville once Doppler radar is installed in Birmingham and elsewhere. Not only will Huntsville keep its radar, but Doppler will be added.
- ↑ NOAA (November 14, 2002). "Service Change Notice 02-56". National Weather Service.
NOAA WEATHER RADIO: THE NOAA WEATHER RADIO BROADCAST RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE HUNTSVILLE /NWR STATION KIH20/... FLORENCE /NWR STATION KIH57/ AND FT. PAYNE /NWR STATION WWF44/ TRANSMITTERS WILL BE TRANSFERRED FROM BIRMINGHAM TO HUNTSVILLE.
- ↑ Peck, Emily (July 25, 2007). "Weather service honors area man with Cline Award". Decatur Daily.
- ↑ SRH News (August 14, 2007). "Southern Region Specialists Honored With National Isaac M. Cline Award". National Weather Service - Southern Region Headquarters. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
- ↑ SRH News (July 24, 2007). "WFO Huntsville's Lary Burgett Receives National Isaac M. Cline Award". National Weather Service - Southern Region Headquarters. Retrieved March 20, 2010.