Hello to all…

**VoIP Hurricane Net Activation for Hurricane Fiona & The Canadian Maritimes Will Be Secured on Saturday 9/24/22 at 3 PM EDT/1900 UTC**
**The Weekly VoIP Hurricane Prep Net for Saturday 9/24/22 remains canceled as we prepare for activation for Ian as we get into next week as it approaches the Cayman Islands, Western Cuba and Florida as we get into early to middle next week**
**A special net focusing on stations in the affected area of Ian could be called ahead of formal activation when it reaches the US Coast early this upcoming week**

The VoIP Hurricane Net activation for Hurricane Fiona and the Canadian Maritimes will be secured on Saturday 9/24/22 at 3 PM EDT/1900 UTC. The net handled many reports from Emil-VE1EP from the Halifax area relaying numerous reports of storm damage and providing measured meteorological data. We also handled many online weather station reports of sustained hurricane force conditions in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland Canada. Power outage information and relayed reports from various sources as well Amateur Operators who relayed information from contacts in the affected area comprised many of the reports received by our net. All of this data was sent to WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center, and the Canadian Hurricane Centre. Additional post storm damage reports, pictures and videos may be received post Fiona. A link to our report viewer featuring all the reports received from Fiona in the Canadian Maritimes, Bermuda, the Turks & Caicos Islands, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico can be seen here:

https://www.voipwx.net/qilan/nhcwx/list_VOIP_records1?auth=OK

The weekly VoIP Hurricane Prep Net for Saturday 9/24/22 will remain canceled as we prepare for activation for Ian as we get into next week. A special net may be called ahead of formal activation for Ian focusing on stations in the affected area of Ian or stations with relays into the affected area of Ian. Tropical Storm Ian is expected to rapidly intensify into a hurricane passing near the Cayman Islands, Western Cuba and potentially threaten Florida as we get into early to mid next week. More to follow as the track of Ian becomes better defined as we get into early next week.

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team will continue to closely monitor the tropics and particular Ian during this period. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

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

Hello to all..

**VoIP Hurricane Net will activate at 8 PM EDT Friday Evening and will remain active potentially through 11 PM EDT Saturday for Large Major Hurricane Fiona and its potentially significant impacts on the Canadian Maritimes supporting the National Hurricane Center in Miami Florida and the Canadian Hurricane Centre in Halifax Nova Scotia Canada**
**VoIP Hurricane Prep Net for Saturday 9/24/22 at 8 PM EDT Canceled**

Here are the VoIP Hurricane Net Plans for Fiona as of Friday Evening 5 PM EDT:

The VoIP Hurricane Net will activate at 8 PM EDT Friday Evening and will remain active potentially through 11 PM EDT Sunday Evening for Fiona and its potentially significant impacts on the Canadian Maritimes supporting the National Hurricane Center in Miami Florida and the Canadian Hurricane Centre in Halifax Nova Scotia Canada.

Any Amateur Radio Operators in the affected area of Fiona or with relays into the affected area of Fiona are asked to provide surface and damage reports into the VoIP Hurricane Net for relay into WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center. We appreciate any and all support from Amateur Operators in the affected area or Amateur Operators with relays into the affected area. We are looking for reports based on the National Weather Service SKYWARN Reporting criteria. This can be seen on the VoIP Hurricane Net web site at the following link:
https://voipwx.net/voip-hurricane-net-reporting-criteria

Any pictures or videos of wind damage, river/stream/urban/storm surge flooding etc. can be sent to our voipwxnet Facebook and Twitter feeds or the following email address: pics@nsradio.org and credit will be given to the Amateur Radio Operator, weather spotter or individual that took the photos and media and be shared with the Amateur Radio team at the National Hurricane Center and other agencies and outlets.

Advisories on Fiona can be seen off of the Atlantic Tropical Products menu selection on the voipwxnet web site, via our Facebook and Twitter feeds, and off the National Hurricane Center web site via the following link:
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov

Reports as obtained via the VoIP Hurricane Net from Amateur Radio Operators in the affected area, relays from the affected area or from APRS/CWOP Weather Station feeds and other social media outlets can be found at the following link:
https://www.voipwx.net/qilan/nhcwx/list_VOIP_records1?auth=OK

APRS, Winlink, AllStar, Hamshack Hotline resources that can be monitored are as follows:
APRS kc5fm-9
Winlink KC5FM
Allstar 28848
Echolink KC5FM-R 906281
Hamshack Hotline 94032
DMR TGIF 31207
P25 31207
DSTAR XLXOKL C
Yaesu Fusion 31207
M17-SUN module A

Stations outside the affected area that do not have relays into the affected area who would like to listen into the VoIP Hurricane Net can use any of the following systems for listen-only purposes and can connect on either Echolink or IRLP:
*NEW-ENG3* Echolink conference node: 9123/IRLP 9123
*KC4QLP-C* Echolink conference node: 290251
*ARERT* Echolink conference node: 902723

These two streaming audio feeds should be available. Those streaming audio feeds are as follows:
Streaming feed 1: http://74.208.24.77:8000 -Provided by KC4QLP-Bob Carter
Streaming feed 2: http://audio.arert.net/ -Provided by the ARERT conference owners and sysops

Please note that there could be additional listen only nodes and streaming feeds. If time allows, this info will be updated via the voipwxnet web site and social media feeds.

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management team continues to closely watch Large Major Hurricane Fiona. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

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

Hello to all..

**VoIP Hurricane Net will activate at 9 AM EDT Sunday Morning and will remain active potentially through 11 PM EDT Sunday for Fiona and its expected strengthening to become a hurricane and its impacts to the Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and the US & British Virgin Islands**
**WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center, will also activate at 9 AM EDT Sunday Morning 9/18/22**

Here are the VoIP Hurricane Net and WX4NHC Activation Plans for Fiona as of Saturday Evening 1100 PM EDT:

The VoIP Hurricane Net will activate at 9 AM EDT Sunday Morning and will remain active active potentially through 11 PM EDT Sunday Evening for Fiona and its impacts to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Fiona is currently a tropical storm that is expected to intensify as a hurricane before making landfall in Puerto Rico.

Any Amateur Radio Operators in the affected area of Fiona or with relays into the affected area of Fiona are asked to provide surface and damage reports into the VoIP Hurricane Net for relay into WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center. We appreciate any and all support from Amateur Operators in the affected area or Amateur Operators with relays into the affected area. We are looking for reports based on the National Weather Service SKYWARN Reporting criteria. This can be seen on the VoIP Hurricane Net web site at the following link:
https://voipwx.net/voip-hurricane-net-reporting-criteria

Any pictures or videos of wind damage, river/stream/urban/storm surge flooding etc. can be sent to our voipwxnet Facebook and Twitter feeds or the following email address: pics@nsradio.org and credit will be given to the Amateur Radio Operator, weather spotter or individual that took the photos and media and be shared with the Amateur Radio team at the National Hurricane Center and other agencies and outlets.

Advisories on Fiona can be seen off of the Atlantic Tropical Products menu selection on the voipwxnet web site, via our Facebook and Twitter feeds, and off the National Hurricane Center web site via the following link:
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov

Reports as obtained via the VoIP Hurricane Net from Amateur Radio Operators in the affected area, relays from the affected area or from APRS/CWOP Weather Station feeds and other social media outlets can be found at the following link:
https://www.voipwx.net/qilan/nhcwx/list_VOIP_records1?auth=OK

APRS, Winlink, AllStar, Hamshack Hotline resources that can be monitored are as follows:
APRS kc5fm-9
Winlink KC5FM
Allstar 28848
Echolink KC5FM-R 906281
Hamshack Hotline 94032
DMR TGIF 31207
P25 31207
DSTAR XLXOKL C
Yaesu Fusion 31207
M17-SUN module A

Stations outside the affected area that do not have relays into the affected area who would like to listen into the VoIP Hurricane Net can use any of the following systems for listen-only purposes and can connect on either Echolink or IRLP:
*NEW-ENG3* Echolink conference node: 9123/IRLP 9123
*KC4QLP-C* Echolink conference node: 290251
*ARERT* Echolink conference node: 902723

These two streaming audio feeds should be available. Those streaming audio feeds are as follows:
Streaming feed 1: http://74.208.24.77:8000 -Provided by KC4QLP-Bob Carter
Streaming feed 2: http://audio.arert.net/ -Provided by the ARERT conference owners and sysops

Please note that there could be additional listen only nodes and streaming feeds. If time allows, this info will be updated via the voipwxnet web site and social media feeds.

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management team continues to closely watch Fiona. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

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

Hello to all…

Tropical Storm Fiona is showing signs of organization per the NHC 11 AM EDT Saturday 9/17/22 advisory and a Hurricane Warning has now been issued for Puerto Rico. It is likely that the VoIP Hurricane Net will activate on Sunday for Fiona and impacts to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and potentially the US Virgin Islands.

Tonight’s VoIP Hurricane Prep Net will take place as planned but we will be looking to line up stations in the affected area of Fiona or stations with relays into the affected area of Fiona to prepare for Sunday’s VoIP Hurricane Net. We will take these stations first followed by Net Management with comments from those stations as well as the latest advisory information on Fiona. We will then take check-ins from all other areas but skip comments for tonight’s net from stations outside of the affected area.

The latest NHC advisory information on Fiona can be seen off the VoIP Hurricane Net web site under Atlantic Tropical Products or via the National Hurricane Center web site at the following link:
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

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

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

Hello to all…

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management team is continuing to monitor the progress of Tropical Storm Fiona which is expected to impact portions of the Leeward Islands, the US and British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and possibly Dominica with tropical storm conditions Friday Night into Saturday Night. At this time, Fiona is not expected to reach hurricane strength as it gets near these islands but this aspect will be monitored closely. The latest National Hurricane Center advisory information including watches and warnings are available on the voipwx.net web site under Atlantic Tropical Products or on the National Hurricane Center web site at the following link:

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov

The long-term outlook on Fiona is highly uncertain so it is too soon to say what impacts, if any, Fiona will have beyond the islands listed above and Hispaniola. The VoIP Hurricane Net Management team will continue to monitor the progress of Fiona. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

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

Hello to all…

Given Amateur Radio Field Day weekend next weekend affecting the Saturday 6/25/22 net and the proximity of the Saturday 7/2/22 net near the July 4th US Independence Day holiday, we will cancel these nets and resume the weekly VoIP Hurricane Prep Net on Saturday 7/9/22 at the 8 PM EDT/7 PM CDT/0000 UTC. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net.

73,Rob-KD1CY.

Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net

 

WD4R-Julio Ripoll, Assistant WX4NHC Coordinator writes:

WX4NHC Annual Station Test 2022 Report:

After 2 years of our dedicated volunteer Ham Radio Operators working remotely from our home stations due to Covid, we operate from inside NHC for our annual test event on May 28th. (All our Ops were fully Covid vaccinated.) This is our 42nd year of volunteer communication services for the National Hurricane Center. The Test event was successful as all our radios and antennas performed well. In 8 hours, we made 289 contacts nationwide and international using HF, VHF, UHF radios and digital communications modes. Thanks to all our volunteer Ops for their continued efforts and for all the stations worldwide that help during hurricanes.

WX4NHC Annual Communication Test
Saturday May 28th, 2022

9am-11am: WD4R Julio (NHC)
11am-1pm: N4JLK Lloyd (NHC)
1pm-3pm: WX2L Susie & WB4L Alan (NHC)
3pm-5pm: KG4USN Ken (Remote)

Happy Memorial Day and thank you to all who served and sacrificed for our freedom!

73, Julio – WX4NHC/WD4R

Hello to all..

Wednesday June 1st, 2022 marks the start of the 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season. The 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season is expected to be above normal per the NOAA/National Hurricane Center, Colorado State University and Penn State University outlooks among others. To mark the start of Atlantic Hurricane Season, the National Hurricane Center/Tropical Prediction Center in Miami FL will issue advisories on named systems, Tropical Storm and Hurricane Watches and Warnings when a system threatens a land area, Tropical Cyclone Updates on named systems and Tropical Weather Outlooks for potential areas of tropical cyclone development. Their suite of products and tropical system names are listed in their first couple of tropical weather outlooks and the link from 8 AM EDT – Wednesday June 1st Tropical Weather Outlook is listed below:

https://voipwx.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/nhc_hurricane_season_start_tropical_weather_outlook_2022.pdf

The VoIP Hurricane Prep Net will shift to weekly beginning Saturday June 4th, 2022 at 8 PM EDT/7 PM CDT/0000 UTC. We welcome all those who wish to participate in the net and we are looking for net controls both for the weekly net as well as net activations for landfalling hurricanes. If you are interested, contact Rob-KD1CY at kd1cy@voipwx.net for more information.

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team will closely monitor developments in the Atlantic Tropics. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

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

Hello to all…

The annual WX4NHC On Air Communications Test has been set for Saturday May 28th, 2022 and WX4NHC will be on the air on the VoIP Hurricane Net system Echolink conference node: 7203/IRLP 9219 from 4-5 PM EDT (2000-2100z). Other Amateur Radio modes will be utilized and those details are listed in the announcement below from WD4R-Julio Ripoll, Assistant WX4NHC Coordinator:

Announcement from WX4NHC
Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center, Miami Florida
WX4NHC will be On-The-Air for the Annual Communications Test
Saturday May 28th, 2022 from 9AM – 5 PM EDT (1300z-2100z)

This is our 42nd year of public service at NHC.

The purpose of this event is to test WX4NHC Amateur Radio Equipment and Antennas at NHC as well as Operator’s home equipment, antennas and computers prior to this year’s Hurricane Season, which starts June 1st and runs through November 30th.

This event is good practice for Ham Radio Operators world-wide to practice Amateur Radio communications available during times of severe weather.

We will be making brief contacts on many frequencies and modes, exchanging signal reports and basic weather data exchange (Sunny, Rain, Temperature, etc.) with any station in any location.

WX4NHC will be On-The-Air on HF, VHF, UHF , 2 & 30 meter APRS and WinLink wx4nhc@winlink.org subject must contain //WL2K.

We will try to stay on the Hurricane Watch Net frequency 14.325 MHz most of the time. Also 7.268 MHz depending on propagation.

However, we will be operating different frequencies depending on QRM.

You may be able to find us on HF by using one of the DX Spotting Networks,
Such as the DX Summit Web Site: http://www.dxsummit.fi/Search.aspx

We will also be on VoIP Hurricane Net 4pm-5pm EDT (2000-2100z)
(IRLP node 9219 / EchoLink WX-TALK Conference node 7203). http://www.voipwx.net/

WX4NHC will also make a few contacts on local VHF and UHF repeaters as well as Florida Statewide SARNET system to test our station equipment.

QSL Cards are available via WD4R.
Please send your card with a S.A.S.E.

Please do NOT send QSLs directly to the Hurricane Center address, as it will get delayed.

Due to security measures and COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic:
NO VISITORS will be allowed entry to NHC.

For more information about WX4NHC, please visit our website
www.wx4nhc.org

Thank you for your participation in the WX4NHC Annual Station Test event.

73, Julio – WX4NHC/WD4R

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Julio Ripoll Architect WD4R
WX4NHC Amateur Radio Asst. Coordinator
www.wx4nhc.org
Celebrating 42 years at the
National Hurricane Center
www.nhc.noaa.gov
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

We hope many can join the WX4NHC Annual On-Air Test for this year. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

73,Rob-KD1CY.

Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net

Hello to all…

The following is a complete 4 hour and 33 minute recording of the 2022 National Hurricane Conference Virtual Amateur Radio Workshop from Monday April 11th, 2022 uploaded via Youtube:

2022 Virtual Amateur Radio Workshop – National Hurricane Conference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTKJz9FpSAs

As listed in the YouTube listing, here are the start timeframes for each of the workshop topics:

00:05: Opening remarks
05:10: Canadian Hurricane Center and Hurricane Meteorological Topics – VE1MBR-Bob Robichaud
44:00: WX4NHC Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center Overview -WD4R-Julio Ripoll
1:45:40: VoIP Hurricane Net Overview & Best Practices in SKYWARN for Tropical Systems – KD1CY-Rob Macedo
2:17:55: HWN Overview – KB5HAV-Bobby Graves
2:56:00: SATERN Presentation – WB8BZH-Bill Feist
3:23:35: ARRL Update and First Part of Q&A session – K1FUG-Ken Bailey
4:03:50: Importance of Amateur Radio Surface Reports with Q&A – WX4KEG-Ken Graham
4:21:03: Remaining Q&A/Panel Discussion – All

Please note that Ken Graham-WX4KEG, NHC Director, had to join by phone due to an issue with his IPad and Zoom with Audio so during that portion of the presentation the visual portion may either be blank or show the last person that spoke to Ken or posed a question to him.

We appreciate everyone who attended the workshop live (it was between 85-95 people which was higher than last year) and we hope many more will view the video presentation recording via YouTube.

Thanks to all for their continued support of the Amateur Radio Hurricane program led by WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Watch Net, VoIP Hurricane Net, SATERN, ARRL, National Hurricane Center and Canadian Hurricane Center as well as all the local regional SKYWARN/CANWARN programs in the United States and Canada and the various local groups that support us internationally.

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