Hello to all..

On behalf of the entire VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team and Net Control Stations, we would like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

After dropping below hurricane strength during the day Wednesday, Otto reintensified significantly overnight and is now a Category-2 hurricane with winds of 105 MPH. Otto is expected to make landfall in Southern Nicaragua around Midday or Early Afternoon today. It is noted that the strongest winds from Otto may strike a very rural area but the heavy rainfall and flood threat is significant and could affect more populated areas. A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Limon Costa Rica to Bluefields Nicaragua. A Hurricane Watch is in effect for North of Bluefields to Sandy Bay Sirpi Nicaragua and South of Limon to the Costa Rica/Panama border. A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for North of Bluefields to Sandy Bay Sirpi Nicaragua and Puntarenas Costa Rica to Puerto Sandino Nicaragua. Interests elsewhere in Costa Rica and Nicaragua are to closely monitor the progress of Otto.

There are no Echolink or IRLP nodes or stations in Nicaragua or Costa Rica. There are a few online weather stations in the area and few posters from storm blogging sites and social media. There will be no formal VoIP Hurricane Net activation for Otto due to limited path ways to gather information though a few net management team members will monitor the *WX_TALK* Echolink conference node: 7203/IRLP 9219 reflector system over the course of Thanksgiving in case there are any relayed reports from the affected area of Otto.

On HF, the Hurricane Watch Net is planning to activate at 9 AM today. Their activation plans as noted by KB5HAV-Bobby Graves – HWN Net Manager can be seen at the following link:

http://www.hwn.org/policies/activationplans.html
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Hello to all..

SKYWARN Recognition Day is December 3rd, 2016 from 0000-2400 UTC (Friday Evening 12/2/16 from 700 PM ET-Saturday Evening 12/3/16 at 7 PM ET) and Echolink and IRLP will be playing a role in SRD as it has in past years. SKYWARN Recognition Day is an opportunity for National Weather Service Forecast Offices across the United States to thank SKYWARN Spotters for their efforts in obtaining timely severe weather reporting for the protection of life and property. This is the SKYWARN program’s main mission.

EchoLink and IRLP are just a couple of modes people can utilize to contact NWS offices during SKYWARN Recognition Day. Many NWS offices will be on 2 Meters, 440 MHz, HF and other VHF/UHF bands. Additional details on SKYWARN Recognition Day can be found via the following link:

http://hamradio.noaa.gov

The ARRL has also published a web story for SRD. That web story can be seen via the following link:
http://www.arrl.org/news/skywarn-recognition-day-on-the-air-event-is-saturday-december-3

As in past years, the EchoLink *WX_TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP reflector 9219 system will be scheduling time for NWS offices in 1-2 hour time slots to act as a net control to make contacts with spotters that are on the system. If a NWS office runs out of contacts and there are other NWS offices on the system, the NWS office acting as net control can turn it over to a different NWS office to act as a net control on the system at their discretion.

We’d like to ask NWS offices to do their best to adhere to the schedule. Sometimes this is difficult due to the number of contacts received by NWS offices. We ask for everyone’s patience and working cooperatively to respect the time slot schedule.

Below is the latest 2016 SRD Schedule with numerous updates from NWS offices that have confirmed their time slot for this year. We would like to know if the remaining NWS offices would like to keep their time slot or change time slots. See the list of NWS offices below:

Time in UTC NWS Office Call-Sign
0000-0100: WX0GLD (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0100-0200: WX1GYX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0200-0300: WX4MLB (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0300-0400: WX1BOX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0400-0500: WX9GRB (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0500-0600: KL7FWX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0600-0700: WX4HUN (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0700-0800: KL7FWX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0800-0900: WX9LOT (Confirmed time slot for this year)
0900-1000: Open
1000-1100: Open
1100-1200: Open
1200-1300: W7NWS (New Time Slot for this year)
1300-1400: WX2PHI (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1400-1500: W1AW (New time slot for this year)
1500-1600: WX1BOX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1600-1700: WX4NC (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1700-1800: WX2PHI (Confirmed time slot for this year)
1800-1900: WX6MTR (Time slot for last year)
1900-2000: K0MPX (Confirmed time slot for this year)
2000-2100: WX4MLB (Confirmed time slot for this year)
2100-2300: WX4NHC (Confirmed time slot for this year)
2300-2400: WX6NWS (Confirmed time slot for this year)

There will be other conference systems utilized for SKYWARN Recognition Day. They are as follows:

The New England Reflector Gateway System will be utilized by the NWS Taunton, Mass. and NWS Gray, Maine offices from 0000-0500 UTC and 1200-2400 UTC. The New England Gateway system is on EchoLink Conference server *NEW-ENG3* Node: 9123, IRLP reflector 9123. If other NWS offices would like to join the system, they are welcome to do so and participants in SKYWARN Recognition Day can also use that system to make contact with various NWS offices. This is a great place to move off the *WX_TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP 9219 system after your scheduled time if other Amateurs or NWS offices whish to make contact with you.

Also, the Western Reflector will be having NWS offices calling CQ as in past years and have multiple reflector channels and Echolink conferences available. There is reflector 9250/Echolink Conference *HI-GATE* node: 357564, IRLP 9251 and the *WORLD* Echolink Conference node: 479886, IRLP 9257/*DCF-ARC* Echolink Conference node: 336037 and IRLP 9258/EchoLink Conference *NV-GATE* Node: 152566 open for NWS offices. Please contact Kent-W7AOR for additional information on the Western Reflector.

A few technical reminders for folks interested in making contacts with the NWS Forecast Offices on the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP 9219 and New England Reflector Gateway IRLP 9123/*NEW-ENG3* Echolink Node: 9123 systems:

-The system allows both EchoLink and IRLP connections. For EchoLink users, you connect to the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203 conference system. For IRLP users, you would connect to IRLP reflector 9219.

-If you are using EchoLink, the RF node or PC that you’re using must have EchoLink conferencing disabled. If it is not disabled, the system will automatically kick the node or PC off of the system. The reason this occurs is to prevent unintentional interference from a conferencing station that may not know the node is connected somewhere else. This will keep traffic moving on the net and reduce interference considerably.

For more information on VoIP Technical Configuration Tips, please go to our web site at http://www.voipwx.net where we have a link to that information on the main menu of the web site. This announcement will also be on the web site.

We are looking forward to another fun SKYWARN Recognition Day on the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP reflector 9219 system, New England Reflector Gateway system and Western Reflector system. Thanks to all for their support!

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator for NWS Taunton Massachusetts
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator

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Hello to all…

Tropical Storm Otto has intensified into Hurricane Otto as of the 4 PM EST 11/22/16 National Hurricane Center (NHC) advisory. A Hurricane Watch is in effect for the Costa Rica/Panama border to south of Bluefields. A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Nargana to Colon including San Andres. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for West of Colon to the Costa Rica/Panama border and the Bluefields to Sandy Bay Sirpi. Hurricane Warnings are likely for portions of the Hurricane Watch area tonight or early tomorrow morning. On the current forecast track, Otto will make landfall in Southern Nicaragua on Thanksgiving Day.

Regarding VoIP Hurricane Net Activation status, there are no known Echolink or IRLP nodes in the affected area and few online personal weather stations in the area. If Amateurs within the email groups know of stations in the affected area of Costa Rica and Nicaragua who can connect via Echolink or IRLP or have relays to Amateurs in the affected area, we can look at a potential activation. If there are no known paths to the affected area, we will not activate for Hurricane Otto. We will provide an update on activation status by late Wednesday Afternoon.

Advisories on Otto can be seen off the main menu of the voipwx.net web site, via the voipwxnet Facebook and Twitter feeds and off the National Hurricane Center web site via the following link:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

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

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

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Hello to all…

Tropical Depression (TD) 16 has intensified and become Tropical Storm Otto in the Southwest Caribbean Sea and its movement continues to be stationary. Gradual strengthening is expected to continue and Otto has the potential of becoming a Category-1 Hurricane and begin a westward motion making landfall in Nicaragua later this week. VoIP Hurricane Net activation status if that were to occur would be determined by the level of ability in gathering reports from the affected area. Advisories on TD 16 can be seen off the main menu of the voipwx.net web site, via the voipwxnet Facebook and Twitter feeds and off the National Hurricane Center web site via the following link:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

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

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

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Hello to all…

Tropical Depression (TD) 16 has formed in the Southwest Caribbean Sea and its movement is stationary. Gradual strengthening is expected and TD 16 is expected to become a tropical storm and if that occurs as forecasted, TD 16 would be named Otto. Otto does have the potential of becoming a Category-1 Hurricane and begin a westward motion making landfall in Nicaragua later this week. VoIP Hurricane Net activation status if that were to occur would be determined by the level of ability in gathering reports from the affected area. Advisories on TD 16 can be seen off the main menu of the voipwx.net web site, via the voipwxnet Facebook and Twitter feeds and off the National Hurricane Center web site via the following link:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

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

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

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