Hello to all….

The VoIP Hurricane Net will activate starting at 5 PM EDT to monitor the progress of Tropical Storm Ernesto. Ernesto is a strong tropical storm with sustained winds of 70 MPH. It is possible that Ernesto could reach minimal Category-1 hurricane strength by the time of landfall late tonight. Err’ing on the side of caution we will activate the net in an informal mode.

We anticipate this to be an activation lasting through early Friday Morning before the net will secure. All stations in Southeast North Carolina and Northern South Carolina area that have EchoLink/IRLP capability are asked to monitor our net on IRLP 9219 and EchoLink *WX-TALK*, Node #: 7203.

The reporting criteria is posted on the Main Menu of the web site. We appreciate everyone’s support of the VoIP Hurricane Net.

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net 1 1
Read more

Hello to all….

Ernesto regained tropical storm strength overnight and is continuing to strengthen. Maximum sustained winds are now near 55 MPH with higher gusts. Ernesto is still expected to remain below hurricane strength, however, the VoIP Hurricane Net Management team is closely monitoring the situation.

We have been in contact with John Welton-N4SJW from Charleston, South Carolina. He is an ARES DEC there. If required we will be making contact with him for any reports from the South Carolina region if Ernesto intensifies further than expected. We may also informally monitor *WX-TALK*/IRLP 9219 as well if our resources allow it.

Situation Reports on the situation from South Carolina Emergency Management can be seen at the following link:
http://www.scemd.org

The link to that information was provided from the ARES SEC Email list by Charlie Miller-AE4UX, South Carolina ARES Section Emergency Coordinator and State RACES Officer.

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team will continue to closely monitor the situation. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net
1
Read more

Hello to all….

At 11 AM EDT, Ernesto was downgraded to a tropical depression with maximum sustained winds of 35 MPH. Ernesto is expected to emerge off the Northeast Florida coast and reintensify into a tropical storm. Ernesto is currently not expected to reintensify into a hurricane as it approaches the Carolinas as previously predicted and Hurricane Watches were discontinued for that area.

At this time, it does not appear that a VoIP Hurricane Net activation will occur for the second landfall for the Carolinas, however, there can be large errors in the intensity guidance so the VoIP Hurricane Net Management team will monitor Ernesto carefully for any unexpected increase in strength. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net 1
Read more

Hello to all….

The VoIP Hurricane Net was secured at 10 PM EDT Tuesday August 29th, 2006. The threat of Ernesto intensifying into a hurricane near Florida has diminished. This has allowed us to secure the VoIP Hurricane Net at this time. A few Amateurs on our Net Control team may monitor during the overnight hours informally.

Since Ernesto stayed in a weakened state, no reports were received but it served to make our net more prepared for future, more serious activations. Some of the preparations and work completed during this activation included:

1.) Fransisco-NP3OD did his first turn as a primary net control and did a fine job. Congratulations to Fransisco!

2.) We worked out minor issues on the administration of the integrated conference system.

3.) We had several informal contacts with Amateurs in the affected area of South Florida. Special thanks to Lu-KA4EPS, long-time IRLP contact for getting Lou-W4EYE on from Key West, Florida via EchoLink. Lou will be another important contact for us for the Hurricane Season if more systems affect Florida.

4.) We were able to talk with John-N4SJW, an ARES DEC from South Carolina and do additional planning on potential landfall in the Carolinas of Ernesto on Thursday, where Ernesto may still be able to intensify into a hurricane.

5.) We have established IRLP 9129 as a permanent listen-only channel. This listen-only channel is being provided by the New England Reflector/Network system (http://new-eng.com) and special thanks to the New England Sysop Team for providing the access. This was established late this evening as the activation was winding down. This can be utilized for stations that are outside the affected area who just want to listen. Special thanks to VoIP Hurricane Net Technical Coordinator, Tony Langdon-VK3JED for assisting in the setup. Remember stations IN the affected area, should connect directly to IRLP 9219 or *WX-TALK* Node: 7203.

6.) EchoLink conference systems *KC4QLP-C* and *N5API* are available as listen-only conferences. *ENGLAND* can also be pulled in as listen-only. *NEW-ENG* can also be pulled in and has the added benefit of being an integrated conference with IRLP reflector 9123 on the New England Network/Reflector system. Special thanks here as well to Tony Langdon-VK3JED for the setup of these conferences to be allowed on the system.

7.) Terry Green-VE3NSV has setup a streaming audio feed to our net at http://icecast.livescanneraudio.com:8000/Hurricane.m3u that will be utilized if activation is required later Wednesday or Thursday.

We have made a lot of progress but much more work is needed and we will continue to execute those plans. Remember, we need many stations from the affected area to give surface reports based on the reporting crtieria of the main menu of this web site (http://www.voipwx.net/) for the net to be a success and a strong supporter of WX4NHC’s mission to help save lives and property. Secondarily, we need our listen-only capability for those outside of the affected area and we are closer now to providing those permanent resources.

We are continually working to make things better. Thanks to all of you for your support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net 1
Read more

Hello to all….

After coordination with WX4NHC Coordinators Julio Ripoll-WD4R and John McHugh-K4AG, the VoIP Hurricane Net will most likely activate any time between Noon-3 PM EDT Tuesday. This is subject to change depending on the strength, speed of movement and track of Tropical Storm Ernesto which is expected to get near or at hurricane strength as it approaches Southern Florida.

The VoIP Hurricane Net requests all affected area EchoLink PC users, links and nodes and all affected area IRLP nodes to connect to the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203 conference server/IRLP reflector 9219 VoIP integrated conference system. Stations that are not in the affected area via EchoLink can connect to the *KC4QLP-C* conference server, Node #: 290251. Additional EchoLink Listen-Only Conference Servers and listen only IRLP reflector channels will be announced later as needed.

The reporting criteria can be seen on the VoIPWXNet web site. You can go to http://www.voipwx.net and click on Reporting Criteria from the Main Menu. We have also added graphics on Ernesto to include Satellite Imagery. Radar graphics may be added if time allows as the system moves closer to Florida. This can be found under Atlantic Tropical Products from the Main Menu of the web site.

This announcement maybe updated with an announcement from WX4NHC coordinators if new information is received and time allows either later tonight or tomorrow morning. Our sincere thanks to all stations in the affected area and our listeners for their support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net 1
Read more

Hello to all….

Ernesto has gone through a lot of land interaction over Haiti and has weakened to a tropical storm, thus, the VoIP Informal Activation is secured at this time. WX4NHC may activate Monday Morning at 9 AM assuming Ernesto is near or at Hurricane strength.

Much more to follow via the email list and web site later today. Thanks to all who monitored the VoIP Hurricane Net!

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net

Read more

Hello to all…

The VoIP Hurricane Net will activate informally at 12 PM EDT for Tropical Storm Ernesto which will most likely become Hurricane Ernesto and have the potential to intensify rapidly today. We will attempt to see if any stations from Southern Haiti, Cuba, and Jamaica are available for our net and we are reaching out to them. With the informal activation, we will be on the air monitoring for stations and keeping an eye on the situation. If we get stations giving reports, we will move up to formal activation and if we receive no stations over the course of the afternoon, we will secure the net until contact can be obtained or until Ernesto makes landfall in the US.

The track guidance has changed. The track guidance is now implying a landfall in Central Florida in the Thursday to Friday timeframe. While there is interaction with land over Cuba that will weaken Ernesto, the potential exists for Ernesto to be a major hurricane as it hits Florida. After that, some of the guidance indicates a possible threat up the US East Coast all the way to New England depending on how much land it covers when it makes landfall. Its very early to tell what will happen and the guidance could shift further east or back to the west over the next couple of days so all folks in the Southeast US on both the Gulf and East Coast Atlantic areas should closely monitor the progress of Ernesto.

Reporting crtieria information can be found on the Main Menu of our web site at http://www.voipwx.net

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net
1
Read more

Hello to all….

Tropical Depression #5 has intensified into Tropical Storm Ernesto, the fifth Tropical Storm of the season. Ernesto is expected to continue to intensify passing through Jamaica as a strong tropical storm in about 48 hours followed by a track towards Western Cuba and then out into North-Central Gulf of Mexico.

With the potential of Ernesto reaching hurricane strength over Western Cuba and Ernesto potentially passing over Jamaica as a strong tropical storm, the VoIP Hurricane Net Management team will watch Ernesto carefully to see if intensification process happens sooner than expected as it approaches Jamaica.

Further updates will be posted as required. Thanks for your continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net
1
Read more

Hello to all….

Tropical Depression #4 has intensified into Tropical Storm Debby, the fourth tropical storm of the 2006 Hurricane Season. At this time, this system is expected to be over open Atlantic waters for the next several days and pose no threat to land areas. The VoIP Hurricane Net Management team will monitor the progress of Tropical Storm Debby.

The Main Menu of the web page under Atlantic Tropical Products has been updated to reflect that TD 4 is now Debby.

It is noted that an additional tropical wave is becoming better organized 725 miles east of the Central and Lesser Antilles and could become a tropical depression in the next day or two if it continues to show signs of organization. This information is from the NHC Tropical Weather Outlook.

The Tropics are coming alive with activity and the VoIP Hurricane Net Management team is monitoring this activity. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net 1 1
Read more

Please join us for the Weekly VoIP Hurricane Preparation Net at 0000 UTC Sunday which is Saturday Evening or late afternoon for most of North America. If there are special topics or training being held, they will be announced separately over the email list. Please note we are on now on the primary system of IRLP Reflector 9219/VoIP EchoLink Conference Node: 7203 which is *WX-TALK*. Thanks for your continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of VoIP Hurricane Net Operations

Click here for more information
Read more