VoIP Hurricane Dean Net Activation Starting Sunday 8/19 8 AM EDT/1200 UTC

Hello to all….

…VoIP Hurricane Net Activation to Commence at 8 AM EDT/1200 UTC Sunday August 19th, 2007 for Hurricane Dean’s impact on Jamaica as there are EchoLink and IRLP nodes in the affected area….

The VoIP Hurricane Net in coordination with WX4NHC will be activating at 8 AM EDT/1200 UTC to support WX4NHC with surface/meterological reports from stations in the affected area on *WX-TALK* node: 7203/IRLP reflector 9219. Impact to Jamaica is expected Sunday with impact to the Cayman Islands on Monday.

As of 11am EDT / 15:00 UTC…Hurricane warnings have been issued for Jamaica. Hurricane warnings remain in effect for the south coast of the Dominican Republic and for the Southwestern peninsula of Haiti. Tropical Storm warnings are also in effect for other areas of the Caribbean. The center of Hurricane Dean was located near 15.7 North and 68.6 West or about 565 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. Dean is moving toward the west near 17mph and a west or west-northwest motion is expected to continue for the next 24 hours. This puts the core of the hurricane south of Hispaniola today and early Sunday. Maximum sustained winds remain near 150mph making Dean a major and extremely dangerous Category 4 Hurricane. Fluctuations in strength are possible and Dean could reach Category 5 strength prior to hitting Jamaica, however little overall change in strength is expected. Estimated minimum central pressure is 929mb or 27.43 inches. Complete information on Dean can be found at the National Hurricane Center Webpage www.nhc.noaa.gov.

We are currently making contact with Amateurs in Grand Cayman and Jamaica. Any stations with contacts in that area are urged to assist us by relaying reports from those contacts in the affected area wherever possible. It is possible we may have a few of these stations on our weekly net this evening if they are not too busy preparing for this dangerous hurricane.

The reporting criteria and activation policy for our net during hurricane net activations can be found on our web site at http://www.voipwx.net

Listen Only IRLP/EchoLink capability include the following systems:

IRLP:
Reflector 9508 Sydney Australia Reflector channel 8.
Reflector 9129 New England Reflector channel 9.

EchoLink:
*KC4QLP-C* Node: 290251
*VKEMCOMM* Node: 270177
*N5API* Node: 77433

Below is the WX4NHC Activation Announcement as provided by Julio Ripoll-WD4R, Assistant WX4NHC Coordinator:

WX4NHC ANNOUNCEMENT – HURRICANE DEAN OPERATIONS
Released August 18, 2007, 1 PM EDT

PLEASE RELAY TO STATIONS IN THE AFFECTED AREAS.

DEAN IS NOW A VERY STRONG CATEGORY-4 HURRICANE WITH SUSTAINED WINDS OF 150 MPH AND FORECAST TO TRACK OVER JAMAICA AND THE CAYMANS ISLANDS ON SUNDAY AND MONDAY.

WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center in Miami will reactivate operations sunday, AUGUST 19th at 8 AM EDT (1200z) and continue operations through Tuesday August 22nd as Dean is forecast to track over the Yucatan Peninsula.

We would appreciate weather data AND DAMAGE reports from land based stations and ships IN the affected area.

If you are in the affected area and normally stay on a local Net on VHF, 40 or 80 meters, we would appreciate your checking into the HWN NET or EchoLink/IRLP Net once per Hour TO RECEIVE THE LATEST HURRICANE ADVISORIES AND TO report your LOCAL conditions.

Please do not venture outside during the hurricane to gather weather data.

Your safety is the first priority.

There are many constantly changing atmospheric variables that affect the storm’s track and strength.

Please refer to the National Hurricane Center Advisories for official information. www.nhc.noaa.gov

WX4NHC will be monitoring the Hurricane Watch Net www.hwn.org on 14.325 MHz.

Secondary HF frequencies will be 7.268 MHz and 3.950 MHz +/- QRM, should we loose propagation on 20 meters.

EchoLink WX-Talk Conference Room and IRLP node 9219 will also be monitored. www.voipwx.net

WX4NHC will also monitor CWOP, APRS and MADIS/MESONET Automated weather stations in the affected area.

Surface Reports using our On-line Hurricane Report form will be monitored.

Amateur Weather Enthusiasts and ON-NHC Volunteers may report directly to WX4NHC on-line.

http://www.wx4nhc.org/WX-form1.html

ON-NHC Volunteers are both Ham Radio Operators and Non-Ham weather observers that use their own weather instruments to submit “Surface Reports” directly to NHC over the Internet via the WX4NHC on-line report form. These “Surface Reports” are very important as they give Hurricane Specialists at NHC a better idea of what is actually happening on the ground level during the storm.

The WX4NHC Group continues to expand its efforts to increase the quantity and quality of surface reports to include many different modes of reception and groups of people; including HF, VHF/UHF IRLP & EchoLink, VHF & HF APRS, CWOP NOAA Program and ON-NHC Weather Observers Network.

(see our web site for more information on these programs): www.wx4nhc.org

WX4NHC is very proud to have maintained an active Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center for the past 27 years.

We appreciate all of the volunteers who help with our efforts.

OUR MISSION: TO HELP SAVE LIVES.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Julio Ripoll Architect WD4R
WX4NHC Amateur Radio Asst. Coordinator
www.wx4nhc.org

National Hurricane Center
www.nhc.noaa.gov
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

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

Hello to all….

…VoIP Hurricane Net Activation to Commence at 8 AM EDT/1200 UTC Sunday August 19th, 2007 for Hurricane Dean’s impact on Jamaica as there are EchoLink and IRLP nodes in the affected area….

The VoIP Hurricane Net in coordination with WX4NHC will be activating at 8 AM EDT/1200 UTC to support WX4NHC with surface/meterological reports from stations in the affected area on *WX-TALK* node: 7203/IRLP reflector 9219. Impact to Jamaica is expected Sunday with impact to the Cayman Islands on Monday.

As of 11am EDT / 15:00 UTC…Hurricane warnings have been issued for Jamaica. Hurricane warnings remain in effect for the south coast of the Dominican Republic and for the Southwestern peninsula of Haiti. Tropical Storm warnings are also in effect for other areas of the Caribbean. The center of Hurricane Dean was located near 15.7 North and 68.6 West or about 565 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. Dean is moving toward the west near 17mph and a west or west-northwest motion is expected to continue for the next 24 hours. This puts the core of the hurricane south of Hispaniola today and early Sunday. Maximum sustained winds remain near 150mph making Dean a major and extremely dangerous Category 4 Hurricane. Fluctuations in strength are possible and Dean could reach Category 5 strength prior to hitting Jamaica, however little overall change in strength is expected. Estimated minimum central pressure is 929mb or 27.43 inches. Complete information on Dean can be found at the National Hurricane Center Webpage www.nhc.noaa.gov.

We are currently making contact with Amateurs in Grand Cayman and Jamaica. Any stations with contacts in that area are urged to assist us by relaying reports from those contacts in the affected area wherever possible. It is possible we may have a few of these stations on our weekly net this evening if they are not too busy preparing for this dangerous hurricane.

The reporting criteria and activation policy for our net during hurricane net activations can be found on our web site at http://www.voipwx.net

Listen Only IRLP/EchoLink capability include the following systems:

IRLP:
Reflector 9508 Sydney Australia Reflector channel 8.
Reflector 9129 New England Reflector channel 9.

EchoLink:
*KC4QLP-C* Node: 290251
*VKEMCOMM* Node: 270177
*N5API* Node: 77433

Below is the WX4NHC Activation Announcement as provided by Julio Ripoll-WD4R, Assistant WX4NHC Coordinator:

WX4NHC ANNOUNCEMENT – HURRICANE DEAN OPERATIONS
Released August 18, 2007, 1 PM EDT

PLEASE RELAY TO STATIONS IN THE AFFECTED AREAS.

DEAN IS NOW A VERY STRONG CATEGORY-4 HURRICANE WITH SUSTAINED WINDS OF 150 MPH AND FORECAST TO TRACK OVER JAMAICA AND THE CAYMANS ISLANDS ON SUNDAY AND MONDAY.

WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center in Miami will reactivate operations sunday, AUGUST 19th at 8 AM EDT (1200z) and continue operations through Tuesday August 22nd as Dean is forecast to track over the Yucatan Peninsula.

We would appreciate weather data AND DAMAGE reports from land based stations and ships IN the affected area.

If you are in the affected area and normally stay on a local Net on VHF, 40 or 80 meters, we would appreciate your checking into the HWN NET or EchoLink/IRLP Net once per Hour TO RECEIVE THE LATEST HURRICANE ADVISORIES AND TO report your LOCAL conditions.

Please do not venture outside during the hurricane to gather weather data.

Your safety is the first priority.

There are many constantly changing atmospheric variables that affect the storm’s track and strength.

Please refer to the National Hurricane Center Advisories for official information. www.nhc.noaa.gov

WX4NHC will be monitoring the Hurricane Watch Net www.hwn.org on 14.325 MHz.

Secondary HF frequencies will be 7.268 MHz and 3.950 MHz +/- QRM, should we loose propagation on 20 meters.

EchoLink WX-Talk Conference Room and IRLP node 9219 will also be monitored. www.voipwx.net

WX4NHC will also monitor CWOP, APRS and MADIS/MESONET Automated weather stations in the affected area.

Surface Reports using our On-line Hurricane Report form will be monitored.

Amateur Weather Enthusiasts and ON-NHC Volunteers may report directly to WX4NHC on-line.

http://www.wx4nhc.org/WX-form1.html

ON-NHC Volunteers are both Ham Radio Operators and Non-Ham weather observers that use their own weather instruments to submit “Surface Reports” directly to NHC over the Internet via the WX4NHC on-line report form. These “Surface Reports” are very important as they give Hurricane Specialists at NHC a better idea of what is actually happening on the ground level during the storm.

The WX4NHC Group continues to expand its efforts to increase the quantity and quality of surface reports to include many different modes of reception and groups of people; including HF, VHF/UHF IRLP & EchoLink, VHF & HF APRS, CWOP NOAA Program and ON-NHC Weather Observers Network.

(see our web site for more information on these programs): www.wx4nhc.org

WX4NHC is very proud to have maintained an active Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center for the past 27 years.

We appreciate all of the volunteers who help with our efforts.

OUR MISSION: TO HELP SAVE LIVES.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Julio Ripoll Architect WD4R
WX4NHC Amateur Radio Asst. Coordinator
www.wx4nhc.org

National Hurricane Center
www.nhc.noaa.gov
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

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