Hello to all…

As stated in previous announcements via email and on the web site, Tony Langdon-VK3JED, gave a presentation on the Weather and Bushfire Threats in Southeast Australia for the 11/4/06 edition of the VoIP Hurricane Weekly Prep Net which meets weekly at 0000 UTC Sunday which is Saturday Evening for much of North America. Below is a link to the Power Point presentation:

Summer Weather and Bushfire Threats in SE Australia

You can also reach the Power Point presentation at the following link:

Summer Weather and Bushfire Threats in SE Australia via vkradio web site

A recording of the net can now be heard via the following link:

VoIP Weekly Net Australia Fire Weather Presentation Recording

You can also get to the presentation and net recording by clicking the VoIP WX Net Presentations archive link from the main menu. 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….

We completed Daylight Saving Time this week. The VoIP Hurricane Net will continue to be at its time slot of 0000 UTC. This means the local time for the net will be 0000 UTC minus 5 hours in 24 hour time versus minus 4 hours in 24 hour time like it was previously in US time zones when we were in daylight savings time. Internationally, it may differ depending on your location.

To give a couple of examples, for folks participating on the East Coast of the US, the net was at 8 PM EDT. Instead, the net will now be at 7 PM EST. For those in other time zones in the US, the net will be an hour earlier than it was previously. For international time zones depending on where you’re located, it could be an hour later or an hour earlier.

Many will now ask why we don’t simply keep the same local time for the net. The reason we are not doing that is while the US has fallen back an hour, other parts of the world are entering spring and have “sprung” their clocks ahead. Therefore, we keep the time of the net in UTC so that everyone internationally can have a better chance of participating based on an internationally recognized time verus locking the net into a local time zone that may not be good for other areas that check-in regularly.

I realize this always bring confusion but regardless of what we do, I think there will be confusion here. Hopefully, this note will help dispel confusion for those who want to participate in the weekly net and hear Tony-VK3JED’s talk on Australian Fire/Summer Weather in an El Nino pattern for this week’s net.

The Yahoo calendar, which also has its limitations, has been updated to reflect the Eastern Standard Time net start of 7 PM EST. The VoIP WX Net web site will be updated similarly as well.

Hopefully, we will get many check-ins on the net and people will adjust to the time change for the net correctly. 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….

Given the quiet Hurricane Season of 2006 in the Atlantic, it has given the net management team some additional time to focus on initiatives that the net management team as put together and worked on for the past year. All of you have seen the efforts made in PR, Web Site reorganization, Net Control recruitment and solicitation of stations from the affected area of hurricanes to participate in our net. Another piece of that work is to do more presentations on the weekly net to generate interest.

Tony Langdon-VK3JED, our VoIP Hurricane Net Technical Coordinator, will be doing a presentation for this week’s net on the Australia High Fire Danger and Summer Weather given the El Nino pattern. Some of Australia’s worst fire weather comes from El Nino patterns. Tony will walk us through that scenario and the issues associated with it.

The Power Point presentation will be posted on the VoIP Hurricane Net web site prior to the net. The net will be recorded and archived on the web site.

This will be the first in a series of presentations that we hope to do roughly on a monthly basis. For December, a presentation may not be done because of planning of activities on VoIP for SKYWARN Recognition Day.

I hope many will check into the net this Saturday. Also, with daylight savings time, the time of the net will change locally as the net will remain at its time slot of 0000 UTC. A separate note will be put out on that fact shortly.

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 National Hurricane Center has been monitoring a strong tropical wave in the Central Caribbean Sea. While tropical development is not expected, it is being monitored. Below is the Special Tropical Disturbance Statement:

000
WONT41 KNHC 291307
DSAAT
SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENT
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
815 AM EST SUN OCT 29 2006

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE INCREASED THIS MORNING IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE TROPICAL WAVE OVER THE CENTRAL CARIBBEAN SEA. THERE ARE NO SIGNS OF ORGANIZATION AND TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. HOWEVER…LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS WILL LIKELY SPREAD ACROSS HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC TODAY…WHICH COULD PRODUCE LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS AND MUDSLIDES.

$$
FORECASTER BROWN/BEVEN

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management team will closely monitor the progress of this system and provide further updates if needed. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

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

Isaac became extratropical yesterday after delivering tropical storm/gale force winds to Southeastern Newfoundland Canada. Rain was less than expected as its track was a bit farther to the east than expected.

In the Atlantic, two systems are being monitored but no development is occurring with either system at present. The Eastern and Central Pacific are currently quiet with no systems being monitored.

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management team will monitor the two systems in the Atlantic for any development. 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….

Tropical Storm Isaac has become Hurricane Isaac, which is the fifth hurricane of the 2006 season. Isaac may intensify further over the open Atlantic over the next day or two before weakening and eventually become extratropical. Regardless of when the transition to an extratropical system occurs, interests in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland Canada are advised to closely monitor the progress of Isaac in the latest NHC advisories.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre has started issuing their own bulletins on Hurricane Isaac. You can find these advisories from the Canadian Hurricane Centre at the following link:

http://www.atl.ec.gc.ca/weather/hurricane/index_e.html

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management team will continue to monitor the progress of Hurricane Isaac. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

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

TD #9 has become Tropical Storm Isaac which is the ninth tropical storm of the 2006 Hurricane Season. The track remains out over the open waters with no threat to the US East Coast or Bermuda. At this time Tropical Storm Isaac may intensify further but should remain below hurricane strength. The VoIP Hurricane Net Management team will continue to monitor the trends of Tropical Storm Isaac.

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

Tropical Depression #9 forms in the Atlantic and could attain tropical storm strength over the next 24 hours. If it were to become a tropical storm, it would be named Isaac.

At this time, TD #9 is not expected to pose a threat to land and should remain out to sea and recurve away from Bermuda and the US East Coast. The VoIP Hurricane Net Management team will monitor the situation to assure there are no changes in the track of the system.

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 Tropics continue to be relatively quiet with Hurricane Gordon becoming extratropical on its approach to Europe while causing hurricane force wind gusts to the Azores Islands of Portugal. Hurricane Helene is out in the open Atlantic and is expected to remain out to sea before becoming extratropical in 48 to 72 hours. A tropical wave, several hundred miles southwest of the Cape Verde islands may slowly develop over the next few days and will be monitored.

In the past week, many web site updates were made and they include the following:

-Added to the VoIP Hurricane Net in Amateur Radio News section, features from Amateur Radio Newsline from 2004 and the recent feature on the net’s effort as Hurricane Florence impacted Bermuda.

-Added a VoIP Hurricane Net in action during Hurricanes section which features audio clips from VoIP Hurricane Nets where Net Controls are getting reports from stations in the affected area of hurricanes.

-Have organized the Main Menu into blocks for readability.

-Have added links to the National Hurricane Center’s advisory archive for Atlantic and Pacific Tropical Cyclones.

More Audio clips will be added to the VoIP Hurricane Net in action section in the coming weeks. Also, more web links will be added to the web site in the coming weeks.

It has been a quiet 2006 Hurricane Season to date but we must remain vigiliant. We also should all use this quiet period as an opportunity to increase our own preparedness for hurricanes for those who live in coastal areas and utilize this time period to improve our Amateur Radio infrastructure to withstand what a hurricane or other disaster can do to that infrastructure.

Thanks to all of you for your 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….

Thanks to the efforts of Lloyd Colston-KC5FM, VoIP Hurricane Net Public Information Officer, the Hurricane Florence VoIP Hurricane Net Activation was featured on Amateur Radio Newsline. Amateur Radio Newsline featured audio clips of communications between our Net Controls and Tony Siese-VP9HK.

Below are links to the transcript and the audio clip:

ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt
ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.mp3

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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