Hello to all….

Extratropical Noel slammed Eastern New England Saturday and continues to slam Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Canada. Hurricane force wind gusts occurred on Cape Cod and Nantucket island with an 89 MPH measured wind gust reported in Barnstable, Massachusetts by Frank-WQ1O before the wind instrument was blown off the tower and destroyed. A 92 MPH measured gust was recorded on Nantucket Island. SKYWARN was active with Operations at NWS Taunton Amateur Radio Station, WX1BOX, from 7 AM EDT through 11 PM EDT, which was a total of 16 hours. Cape Cod ARES had a call-up at 8 PM Friday Evening and was active from 930 AM Saturday through 1230 AM Sunday. Wind damage was recorded as far west as Northeast Connecticut and through much of Southeast Massachusetts through the Boston area and North Shore of Massachusetts. Links to the Storm Reports are listed below:

NWS Taunton Local Storm Report
NWS Taunton Public Information Statement

CHC Complete Hurricane Information Statement

CHC Intermediate Hurricane Information Statement

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net 1 1 1
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Hello to all….

Noel intensified into a hurricane as it pulled away from the Bahamas Thursday Evening. Noel is expected to become a large and powerful extratropical storm bringing strong and damaging winds to portions of New England as well as the Canadian Maritimes. The latest NHC advisory urges interests from North Carolina northward to New England to monitor NWS Products and for people in the Canadian Maritimes to monitor products issued by the Canadian Hurricane Centre.

As many of you are aware, I live in South Coastal Massachusetts. We are preparing for a long duration SKYWARN Activation Saturday with the potential for possible ARES activation on Cape Cod and the Islands where there is the potential for wind gusts of 75 MPH and possibly higher in that area. We are anticipating an activation of Operations at NWS Taunton under call-sign, WX1BOX on Saturday as well. From a VoIP perspective, we intend to use the New England EchoLink Conference, *NEW-ENG* Node: 9123, IRLP reflector 9123 for our operations. Updates on the storm’s impact can be heard there and updates will be posted when possible on our NWS Taunton SKYWARN Home Page which is at the following link:

http://www.wx1box.org

This will be the last update on Noel for the VoIPWXNet web site and email lists as extratropical transition is underway. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricnae Net!

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net
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Hello to all….

Tropical Storm Noel has moved away from Cuba and has slowly intensified with Maximum Sustained Winds of 60 MPH. Noel is expected to reach a maximum intensity of 70 MPH for Maximum Sustained Winds before become a large ocean storm of non-tropical origin. A Tropical Storm Warning has been issued for extreme Southeast Florida to guard against either a slightly more westward track that brings Tropical Storm Force winds to Southeast Florida or an expansion of the tropical storm force wind field. A Hurricane Watch has been reissued for the Northwest Bahamas with Tropical Storm Warnings in effect for much of the Bahamas. The tropical storm warnings for Cuba have been discontinued.

Noel is expected to move through the Bahamas today and will become extratropical later Friday or early Saturday. The VoIP Hurricane Net Management team will continue to monitor Noel in case it reaches minimal hurricane strength as it moves through the Bahamas.

Specific information on the tropical storm warning for Southeast Florida can be found on the NWS Miami Florida web site, which can be seen via the following link:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mia/

Advisories on Noel can be found on the voipwx.net web site by clicking the Atlnatic Tropical Products link off the Main Menu and clicking the links on Noel that will appear under the Atlantic Tropical Products link. They can also be found on the National Hurricane Center web site at the following link:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

The chance that the VoIP Hurricane Net may need to be activated for Noel for any impact on the Northwest Bahamas if contact can be made with the affected area remains low though it was slightly higher than yesterday’s update. Anyone with contact with the Bahamas that can relay via our net can contact me via email. This will be the last update on Noel as it should move away from land and become a strong system but of non-tropical origin either late Friday or Saturday and may affect extreme Southeastern New England with strong winds and possibly some rainfall.

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management team continues to closely monitor the progress of Noel. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net
1
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Hello to all….

TD 16 has intensified significantly during the day Sunday and has now become Tropical Storm Noel with Maximum Sustained Winds of 60 MPH as of the 5 PM Sunday October 28th, 2007 advisory. Noel is currently slated to remain at tropical storm strength but it is certainly possible that Noel could become a hurricane. Noel’s current track is through the Southwest part of Haiti and moving into Southeast Cuba and then the Bahamas. The track and intensity guidance is more uncertain than normal and its possible that a short fused VoIP Hurricane Net activation maybe required either Monday or Tuesday depending on the eventual track, speed and intensity of Noel as well as contact with the affected area of Noel.

Any Amateurs either in the affected area of Noel or who have relays into the affected area of Noel are asked to make contact with me via email for possible relay of reports to WX4NHC if an activation of their station and our net occurs. We appreciate everyone’s 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 Atlantic Hurricane Season is not over yet. Tropical Depression (TD) 16 has formed in the Eastern Caribbean Sea. TD 16 is expected to intensify into a tropical storm with a track that is very uncertain and any further intensification beyond tropical storm strength being very uncertain. If TD 16 intensifies into a tropical storm as expected, it would be named Noel.

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team will continue to closely monitor the progress of TD 16. The latest advisory information and Satellite pictures can be seen from the voipwx.net web site off the Main Menu under Atlantic Tropical Products. That information can also be seen off the National Hurricane Center web site at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

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

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net
1
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Hello to all….

The link below has the PDF version of the October 2007 VoIP Hurricane Newsletter as provided by our VoIP Hurricane Net Newsletter editor, Rich Long-KF6BKA. We again thank Rich for his tremendous efforts!

October 2007 VoIP Hurricane Net Newsletter

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net
1
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Hello to all….

Tropical Depression (TD) #15 forms in the North-Central Atlantic ocean. TD #15 has formed about 860 miles east of Bermuda. It is no threat to land and is expected to remain out to sea and is not expected to intensify. If it were to unexpectedly intensify into a tropical storm, it would be named Noel.

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management team will 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….

In the October 2007 issue of QST, the VoIP Hurricane Net and EchoLink/IRLP technologies were mentioned in an editorial on Interoperability from Dave Sumner-K1ZZ, ARRL Chief Executive Officer (CEO). This was mentioned in the context of the GAREC, Global Amateur Radio Emergency Council, presentations. The editorial was posted on the ARRL web site and can be seen below:

It Seems to Us: Interoperability

Eastern Massachusetts ARRL Section Web Page

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net
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Hello to all….

ARRL HQ personnel will be in Washington DC today with several folks from Army MARS and they are expecting a visit from members of Congress. This visit is coinciding with a MARS exercise planned for today where various parts of the country get hit with various natural disasters in an attempt to stress the MARS system and promote interoperability between MARS, ARES, RACES and SKYWARN.

Understanding that this great event is unfortunately happening during work hours between 10 AM-5 PM EDT (1400-2100 UTC) Wednesday 10/3, any Amateurs that are available are asked to check into the operation on HF voice, 14.250 MHz and 7.250 MHz as well as PSK-31 on 14.070 MHz. Manager of Preparedness and Response, Dennis Dura-K2DCD, who is also the Assistant Director for VoIP Hurricane Net Operations has asked that Net Controls monitor the *WX-TALK* EchoLink Conference Node: 7203 and IRLP reflector 9219 as they hope to sign on there and take drill traffic reports from this exercise using those means as well. It is not clear when they will be able to get on *WX-TALK*/9219 but they will get on at some point during the 10 AM-5 PM EDT timeframe.

A link to the national article is listed below:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2007/09/27/100/?nc=1

Those that can check-in by any of the means listed, HF, PSK-31, EchoLink/IRLP would be of great help to the exercise and demonstration. 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 VoIP Hurricane Net activation for Hurricane Lorenzo secured at 5 AM EDT/0900 UTC as Lorenzo weakened to a tropical storm. Lorenzo hit a fairly remote area of the Southwest Mexico coast. No reports were received from this area. John McHugh-K4AG, WX4NHC Coordinator, checked in on the net from home at 1145 PM EDT/0345 UTC to give his thanks for our efforts in being there to provide reports to WX4NHC as needed.

The net activation also served as a way to break in a few new net controls who monitored during the overnight hours and to test how quickly the net could be brought up if a tropical system became a hurricane quickly near a land area. Special thanks to Bill Aber-N2JAI from Cape May County SKYWARN for his efforts as well as the efforts of Jim Palmer-KB1KQW on monitoring the system and scheduling and to Tony Langdon-VK3JED for his overnight monitoring of the net as well.

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management team will continue to monitor Karen and any other potential developing tropical systems in the Atlantic. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

73,Rob-KD1CY.
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net
1
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