Hello to all…

Tropical Storm Alex has emerged into the very warm waters of the Bay of Campeche overnight after making landfall in Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Alex continues to strengthen and organize and is expected to reach hurricane strength later tonight or Tuesday. Alex has the potential to reach major hurricane strength later Tuesday or Wednesday if low shear conditions exist with the very warm Southwest Gulf of Mexico temperatures. A Hurricane Watch is now in effect for the Coast of Texas south of Baffin Bay to the mouth of the Rio Grande and the Coast of Mexico from the mouth of the Rio Grande to La Cruz. Remember, a Hurricane Watch is now issued 48 hours before the anticipated first occurrence of tropical storm force conditions.

Per latest prognostications, landfall of Alex could be anywhere in the current Hurricane Watch area though some models turn Alex even further north impacting areas north of the Hurricane Watch area. This will need to be monitored closely. VoIP Hurricane Net activation is likely starting some time Wednesday Morning lasting into Thursday Evening based on the current track. This timeframe could be adjusted depending on the forward speed of Alex as well as his eventual track. VoIP Hurricane Net Controls should be prepared to give potential availability for net control duties in this timeframe to net control scheduer Jim Palmer-KB1KQW and copy the VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team as this will likely be requested later this afternoon. We will also work contact with the affected area of Alex over the next 24-48 hours.

Advisories from the National Hurricane Center on Alex can be seen via the VoIP Hurricane Net web site off the Main Menu under Atlantic Tropical Products at the following link:

http://www.voipwx.net

The advisories can also be obtained from the National Hurricane Center via the following link:

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Hello to all…

Tropical Depression #1 has become better organized and is now Tropical Storm Alex in the Caribbean Sea. Alex will track across Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula as a tropical storm and will weaken to a tropical depression over land. Alex is then expected to emerge over the Bay of Campeche/Southwest Gulf of Mexico and potentially intensify to Category-1 Hurricane strength with a possible landfall somewhere in Eastern Mexico to perhaps the Southern Texas border as we move into the Wednesday/Thursday timeframe.

At this time, Alex is expected to remain sufficiently below hurricane strength where net activation for the first landfall is unlikely though the VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team will continue to closely monitor the progress of Alex. As we get into later this week, VoIP Hurricane Net activation will be possible for Alex’s potential to strengthen into a hurricane and make landfall in Eastern Mexico up to the southern border of Texas as we move into the Wednesday to Thursday timeframe.

Advisories from the National Hurricane Center can be see via the VoIP Hurricane Net web site off the Main Menu under Atlantic Tropical Products at the following link:

http://www.voipwx.net

The advisories can also be obtained from the National Hurricane Center via the following link:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team will closely monitor the progress of Alex. 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..

The WX4NHC Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center was featured in the updated National Hurricane Center’s Hurricane Preparedness Observations web page. The press release and link to the ARRL Web Page Article is listed below:

ARRL Web Page Article: http://www.arrl.org/news/wx4nhc-and-amateur-radio-featured-on-nhc-s-new-hurricane-preparedness-web-site 

PRESS RELEASE – JUNE 22, 2010

WX4NHC and Amateur Radio featured in the updated National Hurricane Center’s Hurricane Preparedness Observations web page.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/forecast/observations.shtml

VOLUNTEER HAM RADIO OPERATORS

“Formal Amateur Radio activity at the National Hurricane Center was initiated in 1980 and has been an important source of real-time weather observations before, during, and after hurricane landfalls. Dedicated HAM radio volunteers work at NHC during storm events to help provide NHC meteorologists with very important data that is used in the hurricane warning process.
Please visit http://www.wx4nhc.org/ for a more detailed history of the WX4NHC HAM radio service.”

We hope that this updated NHC web page will help promote public awareness about Amateur Radio and more activity from the Amateur Radio community during this hurricane season.

WX4NHC, a team of volunteer Amateur Radio operators, are very proud to have maintained
an active Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center for the past 30 years.

Our mission: To Help Save Lives.

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Hello to all…

An area of disturbed weather located 975 Miles Southwest of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands now has a 50% chance (Medium Chance) of development. While systems in this part of the Atlantic do not typically develop at this time of the year, 2010 is expected to be a particularly active season and there is potential for development of this system over the course of the next few days. Please see the tropical weather outlook that is available at the following links for details:

http://kamala.cod.edu/TPC/latest.abnt20.KNHC.html
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo_atl.shtml

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…

Please see the announcement below from Assistant WX4NHC Coordinator, Julio Ripoll-WD4R on the WX4NHC On-The-Air Station Test for Saturday May 29th, 2010 from 9 AM-5 PM ET (1300-2100UTC).  The VoIP Hurricane Net and the *WX_TALK* Echolink Conference Node: 7203/IRLP 9219 will be on the air from 1700-1900 UTC (1-3 PM ET) for this test. See announcement below:

Announcement from WX4NHC
Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center

WX4NHC Hurricane Season 2010 On-The-Air Station Test
Saturday, May 29th, 2010 from 9AM-5PM EST (1300z-2100z)

NHC Director Bill Read, KB5FYA is planning to attend and make some on-the-air contacts. The purpose of this annual Station Test is to test all of our radio equipment, computers and antennas using as many modes and frequencies as possible.

This is not a Contest or simulated Hurricane Exercise.

New equipment and software will be tested and we may be trying multiple frequencies and modes at any give time. Some operator training will also be conducted.

WX4NHC will be On-The-Air on HF, VHF, UHF and 2 & 30 meter APRS.

We plan on testing on the following voice frequencies +/- QRM
3.950 MHz, 7.268MHz, 14.325MHz, 21.325MHz, 28.425MHz.
We will try to stay on 14.325 MHz most of the time and announce when we QSY.

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 1pm-3pm EDT (1700z-1900z) (IRLP node 9219 / EchoLink WX-TALK Conference node 7203).
http://www.voipwx.net/

South Florida area VHF & UHF Repeaters will be contacted.

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Hello to all…

A reminder that the VoIP Hurricane Prep Net for April is Saturday Evening 4/3/10. With the time change, the net is now at 8 PM EDT/7 PM CDT/6 PM MDT/5 PM PDT. There will be no training for the April net due to the Passover and Easter holidays and my return travel from Florida from the National Hurricane Conference. I will provide some comments on the National Hurricane Conference for this month’s net. For next month’s net, we’ll have 1 to 2 training topics to make up for no training on this week’s net including a thorough review on the National Hurricane Conference.

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…

ARRL Southeast Division Director Greg Sarratt-W4OZK was gracious enough to put together this PR for the 2010 National Hurricane Conference in Orlando. Please see the press release below:

Please distribute this to the local clubs, ARES and other emcom groups.

2010 National Hurricane Conference Activities

The National Hurricane Conference will be held March 29-April 2, at the Hilton Orlando in Orlando Florida.  There will be several amateur radio activities going on during the week.

On Tuesday March 30th, from 1:30 to 5:00pm all hams are invited at no cost to attend the Amateur Radio, “Disaster Communications Before, During and After Hurricanes” session in room Orange C.

On Wednesday March 31st, from 8:30 to 10:00am there will be an amateur radio session designed for Emergency Management attendees called “Amateur Radio: The Emergency Manager’s Hidden Resource”.

On Wednesday evening at 7:00pm, The Orange County EMA will host a special meeting for ARES and all amateur radio emergency communications folks.  You are invited to come tour the EOC, meet the conference presenters and learn what is happening at the 2010 National Hurricane Conference!  The Orange County EOC is located at 6590 Amory Court, Winter Park, FL 32792.  It is just 2 south of a Sonny’s BBQ which is at the SW corner of University Blvd and Forsyth Road.

On Thursday evening at 7:30pm, The Lake Monroe Amateur Radio Society, holds their general meeting at the Winter Springs Civic Center, 400 North Edgemon Avenue, Winter Springs, FL 32708.   http://www.lmars.org/

The Hurricane Conference presenters are,

Julio Ripoll WD4R
WX4NHC Amateur Radio Asst. Coordinator
www.wx4nhc.org
National Hurricane Center

John McHugh, K4AG
National Hurricane Center

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Hello to all..

The following VoIP Hurricane Prep Net presentations and recordings are now available. Below is a brief description and links to the presentations and recordings and this is also available under the VoIP WX Net Presentations Archive under the Main Menu of the voipwx.net web site:

The March 2010 VoIP Hurricane Prep Net featured a presentation from Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net, Rob Macedo-KD1CY, on the 2010 National Hurricane Conference and the VoIP Hurricane Net’s participation in the conference and the February 25th-26th 2010 Major Nor’easter ARES and SKYWARN Activation. The conference overview was provided to give net participants an idea of the net’s role in the National Hurricane Conference and to tell folks about a trip/visit to the National Hurricane Center Amateur Radio Station, WX4NHC, to visit with the coordinators and team members. The major nor’easter presentation described how this nor’easter that affected New England on February 25th-26th packed the equivalent punch of a minimal category-1 hurricane. The presentation and recording links are listed below with the recording starting approximately 19 minutes 34 seconds (19:34) into the presentation.  The presentation and recording links are listed below:

VoIP Hurricane Net Recording (Approximately 8 Meg in Size): http://www.voipwx.net/files/March_2010_National_Hurricane_Conference_and_noreaster_presentation.mp3

VoIP Hurricane Net Overview of National Hurricane Conference Presentations: http://www.voipwx.net/files/Overview_of_National_Hurricane_Conference_Presentations_2010.ppt

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Hello to all..

Here are the March 2010 VoIP Hurricane Prep Net Power Point presentations. The recording will be uploaded to the web site upon net completion.

http://www.voipwx.net/files/Overview_of_National_Hurricane_Conference_Presentations_2010.ppt

http://www.voipwx.net/files/February_25th_26th_Major_Nor’easter_ARES_SKYWARN_activation.ppt

For best results, please download the presentations on to your computer 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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