Hello to all…

Well, unfortunately, those of us in Southern New England will not escape the 2021-2022 Winter without a Blizzard! New England Blizzard Operations will occur on Echolink/IRLP on the *NEW-ENG* Node: 9123/IRLP 9123 system. The *WX_TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP 9219 system will be linked in as a listen only reflector system to the operations late tonight or first thing Saturday Morning. SKYWARN Activation will start no later than 5 AM ET Saturday Morning lasting through Sunday Morning. Further details are available at:

http://www.wx1box.org
http://ares.ema.arrl.org (Updates to be posted here later today)

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

Hello to all..

SKYWARN Recognition Day is Saturday December 4th, 2021 from 0000-2400 UTC (Friday Evening 12/3/21 from 700 PM ET-Saturday Evening 12/4/21 at 700 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 including registration for all stations can be found via the following links:

http://www.weather.gov/crh/skywarnrecognition

Due to COVID19, volunteer Amateur Radio Operators are not allowed to be at NWS Forecast Offices. Forecast offices will be represented by Amateur Radio Operators at home and possibly by some NWS employees from actual NWS offices.

As in past years, the EchoLink *WX_TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP reflector 9219 system will be scheduling time for NWS offices and due to COVID, Amateur Operators who typically are at weather service hours, 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/SKYWARN NWS Operator runs out of contacts and there are other NWS offices on the system, the NWS office/SKYWARN Operator 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. Also, for this year, we will have the following modes connected in through the efforts of KC5FM-Lloyd Colston and VK3JED-Tony Langdon. They are as follows:

Allstar 28848
Hamshack Hotline 94032
IRLP 9550
AllStar 27154
DMR BM TG 5053029
P25 TG 50535
YSF reflector 50535 (narrow mode only)
D-STAR XLX432 D (DCS432 D)

We’d like to ask NWS offices and/or coordinators who are operating from homw who operate at NWS offices do their best to adhere to the schedule. Sometimes this is difficult due to the number of contacts received by each net control. We ask for everyone’s patience and working cooperatively to respect the time slot schedule.

Below is the 2021 SRD Schedule with the time slots confirmed so far for 2021 and those time slots relinquished by NWS offices. See the list of NWS offices below:

Time in UTC NWS Office Call-Sign
0000-0100: N0NWS (Time slot confirmed for this year)
0100-0200: WX1GYX (Time slot confirmed for this year)
0200-0300: WX7SLC/KJ7MEB (Time slot confirmed for this year)
0300-0400: Open
0400-0500: WX1BOX (Time slot confirmed for this year)
0500-0600: WX9LOT (Confirmed time slot from last year)
0600-0700: WX4HUN (Time slot confirmed for this year)
0700-0800: WX8APX (Time slot confirmed for this year)
0800-0900: WX8APX (Time slot confirmed for this year)
0900-1000: Open
1000-1100: WX7SLC/AD7LO (Time slot confirmed for this year)
1100-1200: WX1GYX (New time slot this year for existing NWS Office)
1200-1300: W7NWS (Confirmed time slot from last year)
1300-1400: WX7SLC/W1YMI (Time slot confirmed for this year)
1400-1500: WX1AW (Confirmed time slot from last year)
1500-1600: WX1BOX (Time slot confirmed for this year)
1600-1700: WX4NC (Time slot confirmed for this year)
1700-1800: WX4JKL (Time slot confirmed for this year – NEW office)
1800-1900: WX6LOX (Time slot confirmed for this year)
1900-2000: K0MPX (Confirmed time slot from last year)
2000-2100: WX4JKL (Time slot confirmed for this year – NEW office)
2100-2300: WX4NHC (Time slot confirmed for this year)
2300-2400: Open

The New England Reflector Gateway System will be utilized by SKYWARN Coordinators from New England 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 SKYWARN Coordinators and 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 wish 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. It is possible we will have DMR/D-STAR and other modes directly linked on the system. This will be updated in the next few days regarding that aspect.

-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 Boston/Norton Massachusetts
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator

Hello to all…

The 2021 Virtual National Hurricane Conference Amateur Radio Workshop that was held on Tuesday June 15th, 2021 is posted on Youtube. It can be seen at the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ecZRKVgIG0

In the interest of time to get this posted on Youtube since it has been several months since the conference, it is one long workshop video of 4 hours and 8 minutes but in the description of the video, we provide the rough start time for each of the workshop topics. We hope this will be useful to anyone in the coastal areas that are threatened by tropical systems each year.

Thanks for all their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

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

Hello to all…

Tropical Storm Nicholas has formed in the Southwest Gulf of Mexico. While the current NHC official forecast is to keep it below a hurricane strength, it will not take much deviation in the forecast intensity for Nicholas to attain hurricane strength. This could occur if Nicholas stays over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico longer and tracks a little further east to avoid stronger shear in the atmosphere that could keep it weaker. These aspects will be monitored closely by the VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team. Advisories from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) on Nicholas can be found off the main menu of the voipwx.net web site under Atlantic Tropical Products, via our Social Media Facebook and Twitter feeds and via the NHC web site at the following link:

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

As mentioned on the VoIP Hurricane Prep Net last night, there are several other areas of disturbed weather in the Atlantic basin being monitored in the Atlantic basin. We are at the peak of hurricane season. All Amateur Radio Operators, spotters and residents in coastal areas should monitor the developments in the Atlantic Tropics, review and have in place their hurricane plans. 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 Activation for Hurricane Larry was secured at 230 AM EDT – Saturday 9/11/21 supporting both WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center in Miami Florida and the Canadian Hurricane Centre in Halifax Nova Scotia Canada. Through the exemplary efforts of VO1IV-Aaron Abbott and a number of Amateur Radio Operators across Newfoundland Canada and one Amateur Operator in Ontario who relayed a report from a non-Amateur Radio CANWARN Spotter in St Johns Newfoundland, reports of damage to trees, power lines, power outages including roof damage to a school and a home were relayed off from Amateurs in the region. Additional information was captured via public safety feeds from the St Johns and Conception Bay areas of Newfoundland Canada as well as online weather stations including one report from Cape St Mary Lighthouse which was used in the Friday Evening 1100 PM EDT National Hurricane Center Advisory crediting Amateur Radio. The complete set of reports can be seen on the following link:

http://report.voipwx.net/qilan/nhcwx/list_VOIP_records?auth=OK

We are very grateful to VO1IV-Aaron and all Amateurs who supported the respective hurricane centers and our net. We wish them well in their storm recovery efforts!

We will have our regular VoIP Hurricane Prep Net this Saturday Evening at 800 PM EDT. While there are no named systems in the Atlantic basin, there are several areas of disturbed weather and we will discuss them on tonight’s net. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

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

Hello to all..

**VoIP Hurricane Net will activate at 8 PM EDT Friday evening and will remain active potentially through 2 AM EDT Saturday Morning for Hurricane Larry and its impacts to Southeast Newfoundland Canada**

Here are the VoIP Hurricane Net Activation Plans for Hurricane Larry as of Friday Morning 1130 AM EDT:

The VoIP Hurricane Net will activate at 8 PM EDT Friday evening and will remain active potentially through 2 AM EDT Saturday Morning for Hurricane Larry and its impacts to Southeast Newfoundland Canada.

Any Amateur Radio Operators in the affected area of Larry or with relays into the affected area of Hurricane Larry 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/Canadian Weather Service SKYWARN/CANWARN Reporting criteria. This can be seen on the VoIP Hurricane Net web site at the following link:

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 Larry 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:
http://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:
http://report.voipwx.net/qilan/nhcwx/list_VOIP_records?auth=OK

APRS, Winlink, AllStar, Hamshack Hotline resources that can be monitored are as follows:
APRS KC5FM-9
Winlink: KC5FM@winlink.org
Allstar 28848
Hamshack Hotline 94032

The VK3JED Megalink system will be connected to the VoIP Hurricane Net throughout the VoIP Hurricane Net offering the following modes of connectivity for stations in the affected area of Larry or stations with relays in the affected area of Larry:
DMR BM 50535
YSF. 50535. AU_VK_Multi_Link
P25 50535
M17 M17-432 D
D-STAR XLX432 D
IRLP 9550
AllStar 27154

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

The KC5FM All-Star Node will be connected to the VoIP Hurricane Net and can be connected to via Echolink by doing *328848.

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 Hurricane Larry. 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 activation for Hurricane Ida completed on Monday 8/30/21 at 1 AM EDT/1200 AM CDT. The net handled dozens of reports from stations in the affected area of Hurricane Ida as well as stations with relays into the affected area of Hurricane Ida. A Davis online weather station in Grand Isle, LA recorded a wind gust of 146 MPH before the instrument malfunctioned as Ira roared ashore. The Police Chief in Grand Isle stated a 148 MPH gust occurred which was likely from the same weather station and just wasn’t captured in the online feed from the station. Reports from this weather station as well as another Davis Weather Station oil platform “Dredge Illinois” near Pilottown, LA with a wind gust of 119 MPH were sent into WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center.

Amateur Radio Operators from the N5OZG Repeater system provided constant ground truth from areas in and around the New Orleans area. Joe-N5OZG relayed numerous damage reports to trees, power poles and structures including flood reports. KA5EZQ-Rick in Belle Chasse, Louisiana provided numerous updates from his community during Ida. KI5NMF-Ryan, while working as a firefighter in Hammond, Louisiana, relayed numerous reports of storm damage and storm surge flooding calls that both he and fellow firefighters responded to before conditions were unsafe to respond to such calls. Many other Amateurs on the N5OZG Repeater system provided ground truth into the VoIP Hurricane Net despite dealing with direct and significant impacts to their communities and property and we are forever grateful for their support and the continued partnership we have had with their team since 2008 and Hurricane Gustav. All of these reports were also sent to WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center as well.

Our Amateur Radio Net Controls from across the United States also assisted with reporting and monitoring of weather stations, social media outlets, public safety outlets and reached out to contacts in the affected area to provide reports of storm damage to WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center. Our net controls included KC5FM-Lloyd, K2DCD-Dennis, WX9VOR-Debby, who also assisted with net control scheduling for the operation, K3CFG-Carl, KC8TCQ-Keith, WX0NET-Billy, who despite significant work commitments helped where possible during net operations, N4YKS-Joe (a new Net Control Operator) and KD4CLJ-David. The team did a tremendous job providing a constant data flow for situational awareness.

Reports were sent via our VoIP Hurricane Net web-based reporting form and database system. You can view the reports sent into WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center at the following link:
http://report.voipwx.net/qilan/nhcwx/list_VOIP_records?auth=OK

We appreciate everyone who supported the VoIP Hurricane Net operation for Hurricane Ida. If there are further updates on Hurricane Ida from the affected area or any way we can support the area during Hurricane Ida, we will keep everyone posted. The peak of the Atlantic Hurricane Season is not until mid-September. The VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team will continue to monitor all developments in the 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..

**VoIP Hurricane Net will activate at 8 AM EDT/7 AM CDT Sunday Morning and will remain active potentially through 12 PM EDT/11 AM CDT Monday for Hurricane Ida and its impacts to the Northern US Gulf Coast states of Louisiana and Mississippi**
**WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center, will also be active with the VoIP Hurricane Net during Hurricane Ida**

Here are the VoIP Hurricane Net and WX4NHC Activation Plans for Ida as of Saturday Morning 930 AM EDT:

The VoIP Hurricane Net will activate at 8 AM EDT Sunday Morning and will remain active active potentially through 12 PM EDT Monday Afternoon for Hurricane Ida and its impacts to the Northern US Gulf Coast states of Louisiana and Mississippi.

Any Amateur Radio Operators in the affected area of Ida or with relays into the affected area of Hurricane Ida 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 Ida 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:
http://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:
http://report.voipwx.net/qilan/nhcwx/list_VOIP_records?auth=OK

APRS, Winlink, AllStar, Hamshack Hotline resources that can be monitored are as follows:
APRS KC5FM
Winlink: KC5FM@winlink.org
Allstar 28848
Hamshack Hotline 94032

The VK3JED Megalink system will be connected to the VoIP Hurricane Net throughout the VoIP Hurricane Net offering the following modes of connectivity for stations in the affected area of Ida or stations with relays in the affected area of Ida:
DMR BM 50535
YSF. 50535. AU_VK_Multi_Link
P25 50535
M17 M17-432 D
D-STAR XLX432 D
IRLP 9550
AllStar 27154

Through the efforts of N4YKS-Joe, we have TGIF DMR 3198 linked to the VoIP Hurricane Net as well.

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

The KC5FM All-Star Node will be connected to the VoIP Hurricane Net and can be connected to via Echolink by doing *328848.

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 Hurricane Ida. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

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