Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays to All from the VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team!

Hello to all..

On behalf of the VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team, we would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays to all. Thanks to all of you for your support of the VoIP Hurricane Net during 2012.

The 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season was active and more active than expected due to several landfalling systems affecting the United States and portions of Central America/Mexico this year. The VoIP Hurricane Net activated several times over the course of 2012 including for Tropical Storm Beryl which was very close to hurricane status but fell just short of that status impacting northeast Florida, Hurricane Ernesto affecting portions of Mexico and Belize. The net activated for Hurricane Isaac and its impact on the northern US Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Mississippi including the New Orleans Metropolitan area. The Crescent City Amateur Radio Group (CCARG) and the N5OZG Repeater system along with several other repeater systems and Amateur Radio Groups in Louisiana were connected providing real-time reports of damage and meteorological data into WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center.

The VoIP Hurricane Net also activated for Hurricane Sandy. The Net was active for impact on Jamaica, Eastern Cuba and the Bahamas and then active for impact on the mid-Atlantic and Northeast United States coast where severe impacts were felt particularly in New Jersey and the New York City/Long Island area but also across portions of Southern New England. Several reports gathered in both Hurricane Isaac, affecting the Northern US Gulf Coast, and Hurricane Sandy and its impact on the mid-atlantic and Northeast US were utilized in National Hurricane Center advisories. In addition, the VoIP Hurricane Net received PR from Amateur Radio Newsline for its efforts during Hurricane Sandy’s impact on the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic US coastline.

Hello to all..

On behalf of the VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team, we would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays to all. Thanks to all of you for your support of the VoIP Hurricane Net during 2012.

The 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season was active and more active than expected due to several landfalling systems affecting the United States and portions of Central America/Mexico this year. The VoIP Hurricane Net activated several times over the course of 2012 including for Tropical Storm Beryl which was very close to hurricane status but fell just short of that status impacting northeast Florida, Hurricane Ernesto affecting portions of Mexico and Belize. The net activated for Hurricane Isaac and its impact on the northern US Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Mississippi including the New Orleans Metropolitan area. The Crescent City Amateur Radio Group (CCARG) and the N5OZG Repeater system along with several other repeater systems and Amateur Radio Groups in Louisiana were connected providing real-time reports of damage and meteorological data into WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center.

The VoIP Hurricane Net also activated for Hurricane Sandy. The Net was active for impact on Jamaica, Eastern Cuba and the Bahamas and then active for impact on the mid-Atlantic and Northeast United States coast where severe impacts were felt particularly in New Jersey and the New York City/Long Island area but also across portions of Southern New England. Several reports gathered in both Hurricane Isaac, affecting the Northern US Gulf Coast, and Hurricane Sandy and its impact on the mid-atlantic and Northeast US were utilized in National Hurricane Center advisories. In addition, the VoIP Hurricane Net received PR from Amateur Radio Newsline for its efforts during Hurricane Sandy’s impact on the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic US coastline.

WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center, monitored the net activations frequently and surface reports given to the station for use by the hurricane specialists. As our main client, we appreciate WX4NHC’s support of our net and thank WX4NHC Coordinators, Julio Ripoll-WD4R and John McHugh-K4AG for their support. They have been an incredible partner with the VoIP Hurricane Net dating back to the net’s inception in the 2003-2004 timeframe.

We also had another successful SKYWARN Recongition Day event on the home of the VoIP Hurricane Net, Echolink conference: *WX-TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP 9219. Many NWS offices rotated on the system making contacts with Amateur Radio Operators and SKYWARN Spotters from around the country thanking them for their support as well making contact with different NWS offices around the country.

As we move into next year, we will again have a presence at the 2013 National Hurricane Conference which will be in New Orleans, Louisiana. We will also look into continuing the NCO training that was done prior to Hurricane Isaac and look at boosting recruitment of net controls for the net as we move into the new year. We will also look at boosting more stations and contacts within the affected areas of hurricanes to provide critical surface reports to the WX4NHC.

We look forward to working with everyone again in 2013. Our first regular net of 2013 will be Saturday January 5th, 2013 at 8 PM ET/7 PM CT/6 PM MT/5 PM PT which also equates to 0100 UTC Sunday. The net will meet monthly through May and then become weekly during the Atlantic Hurricane Season. We again wish all of our reporting stations, net controls and supporting stations that listen to the VoIP Hurricane Net Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and a Happy Holiday season!

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

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