Hello to all….

The following is being written early and with less details than normal due to the passing of a friend’s mom and a funeral I need to attend this morning.

Hurricane Paloma will affect the Cayman Islands later this afternoon and evening and could be a direct hit for Grand Cayman Island as Paloma intensifies into a Category 2 Hurricane per current projections as it passes over the island. The VoIP Hurricane Net will activate in an informal mode this afternoon and will likely go into a formal mode later this afternoon into tonight. Paloma could also affect Cuba on Saturday into Sunday Morning as a hurricane before weakening to below hurricane status. WX4NHC is expected to activate later Friday Afternoon and Evening.

A more thorough note will be posted as time allows as we get into the late afternoon and evening hours. 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….

TD 17 has intensified as expected and is now Tropical Storm Paloma. Models have differing tracks but the official forecast brings Paloma to the Cayman Islands region late Saturday Night and Sunday and into Cuba late Sunday Night into Monday with possible impact to the Bahamas later Monday into Tuesday. Paloma is expected to reach hurricane strength in 2 days and could affect the Cayman Islands and Cuba as a hurricane.

The latest advisories on Paloma can be seen on the voipwx.net web site under the Main Menu under Atlantic Tropical Products. The advisories can also be seen at the National Hurricane Center web site under the following link:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team will closely montior the progress of Paloma. 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 Atlantic Hurricane Season is not quite over yet. Tropical Depression (TD) 17 has formed in the Southwest Caribbean Sea. TD 17 is expected to intensify into a tropical storm in the next 24 hours and could become a hurricane in 2-4 days. If TD 17 can attain Tropical Storm status as forecasted, it would be named Paloma. The current track guidance indicates some threat to the Cayman Islands and Cuba in the 4-5 day period but given the system just formed, the track is very uncertain at this point in time.

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team will continue to closely monitor the progress of TD 17. 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….

For non-Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters, please note that through the gracious efforts of David-WD5M, the streaming audio feeds will be active with SRD activties from our net and from WX5FWD-Dallas-Fort Worth Texas operations. Below is a main link to the live feed server provided by David:

http://live.wx5fwd.net

SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) will be held on Saturday December 6th, 2008 from 0000-2400 UTC which is 7 PM EST Friday December 5th through 7 PM EST Saturday December 6th. This will be the 10th anniversary of SKYWARN Recognition Day activities.

The *WX-TALK* Echolink Conference Node: 7203/IRLP reflector 9219 system will be utilized with a rotation of NWS Forecast Offices including the National Hurricane Center Amateur Radio Station, WX4NHC on that day. We hope to have NWS Forecast Offices on the system for the entire 24 hour period. If your NWS office is interested in participating on the network, please contact me. A number of NWS offices that were on the system last year will return to the system again this year and we may have a few new NWS offices on the system as well.

A NWS office is scheduled for a 1 or 2-hour time slot. If they run out of contacts, the NWS office that has that time slot can hand it off to another NWS office to make contacts for their rest of time period before handing it off to the next scheduled office. A schedule appears below and there are still three time slots available for any new NWS offices that would like the shifts or existing NWS offices that may want an additional shift. Here is the schedule:

Below is the latest 2008 SKYWARN Recognition Day Schedule on the Echolink Node: 7203 *WX-TALK* Conference/IRLP 9219 system.

Time in UTC NWS Office Call-Sign
0000-0100: WX0GLD (Change for this year)
0100-0200: WX1GYX (Confirmed to keep the time slot)
0200-0300: WX4MLB (Confirmed to keep the time slot)
0300-0400: KH6SW (Confirmed to keep the time slot)
0400-0500: KH6SW (Confirmed to kept the time slot)
0500-0600: WX9GRB (Confirmed to keep the time slot)
0600-0700: WX4HUN (Confirmed to keep the time slot)
0700-0800: N0NWS (Confirmed – new NWS Office)
0800-0900: Open
0900-1000: WX7PHX (Confirmed to keep the time slot)
1000-1100: Open
1100-1200: Open
1200-1300: W7NWS (Confirmed – new NWS Office)
1300-1400: VE4WWO (Confirmed to keep the time slot)
1400-1500: WX4HUN (Confirmed to keep the time slot)
1500-1600: WX1BOX (Confirmed to keep the time slot)
1600-1800: WX4NC (Confirmed to keep the time slot, 2 hour time slot and time slot is from last year)
1800-1900: WX6MTR (Confirmed to take the time slot as a switch from WX0GLD)
1900-2000: K0MPX (Confirmed to keep a time slot and have switched to this time slot)
2000-2100: WX4MLB (Confirmed to keep the time slot)
2100-2300: WX4NHC (2 hour time slot is from last year and confirmed to keep the time slot)
2300-2400: W4IAX (Confirmed to keep the time slot)

There will be other conference systems utilized for SKYWARN Recognition Day. They are as follows:

The New England Reflector Gateway System will be utilized by the NWS Taunton, Mass. and NWS Gray, Maine offices from 0000-0500 UTC and 1200-2400 UTC. The New England Gateway system is on EchoLink Conference server *NEW-ENG* Node: 9123, IRLP reflector 9123. If other 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.

Also, the Western Reflector will be having NWS offices calling CQ as in past years on reflector 9250 and have its gateway system on IRLP 9258/EchoLink Conference *NV-GATE* Node: 125266 open for NWS offices. In addition, The NWS Honolulu, HI office, KH6SW, will be frequently monitoring the Hawaiian IRLP/EchoLink gateway system on IRLP reflector 9254/Echolink Conference *HI-GATE* Node: 357564 when they are not on the *WX-TALK*/IRLP 9219 system. 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-ENG* 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.

-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.

Below is a link to an ARRL web page article on SRD 2008 and some background on the event:

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/10/30/10417/?nc=1

There is also an article on SRD’2008 on page 55 of the December 2008 issue of QST Magazine.

Below is the ARES E-Letter Article on SRD 2008:

+ SKYWARN Recognition Day Celebrates Ten Years!

The 10th annual SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) special event will take place Saturday, December 6, 2008. SRD is co-sponsored by the National Weather Service and the ARRL. SKYWARN Recognition Day is a way to recognize the commitment made by Amateur Radio operators in helping keep their communities safe. During the 24-hour special event, Amateur Radio operators visit their local National Weather Service (NWS) office and work as a team to contact other hams across the world.

The original SRD concept took shape in the summer of 1999. Scott Mentzer, N0QE, Meteorologist-In-Charge of the NWS office in Goodland, Kansas was trying to think of a way to let storm spotters know how valuable their reports were to the National Weather Service. Since many of those storm spotters were also hams, it seemed like a natural fit for the recognition to be centered on Amateur Radio. Mentzer worked with Rick Palm, K1CE, of ARRL Headquarters, to formulate a plan.

With the approval of NWS headquarters and a commitment to participate from many local NWS offices, the first “National Weather Service Special Event” took place on November 27, 1999. At the end of the event, an amazing 15,888 QSOs were logged, with contacts made to all 50 states and 63 countries. The Des Moines forecast office took the honor of making the most contacts of any office that first year with 761 QSOs (and went on to lead the pack through 2003 by logging between 1300 and 1500 contacts each year).

Feedback from the first event was overwhelmingly positive from both the NWS staff and the local ham clubs. Suddenly there was incentive for more NWS staffers to either obtain a license or upgrade so that more people could work ham radio during severe events. In addition, many club members had never visited an NWS office, and they learned the value of their reports and how they were used in conjunction with existing technology.

And so began an annual tradition. The following year 85 of the 122 NWS offices participated in the event, making nearly 24,000 QSOs. Perhaps the most unusual one in 2000 was with an airliner 39,000 ft above Utah. The pilot ended the QSO with a request for a “spot weather forecast” for his arrival at Salt Lake City airport.

In 2001, the name of the event was changed to SKYWARN Recognition Day, which seemed to better relate what the day was all about. Each year since the inception of SRD, the number of NWS offices and local ham clubs participating has increased, until now over 100 offices sign up each year to take part. The most contacts made during any SRD occurred in 2006 when, thanks to the staff and local hams in the Grand Junction area, 1640 QSOs were logged!

Station call signs have also changed over the years. Some offices and clubs apply for a special event call sign such as W3B in Brownsville or N0Y in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Other call signs hint at office location, including WX9GRB in Green Bay and WX4NHC at the National Hurricane Center. Still others represent more of the big picture, as in KC0SKY in Pleasant Hill, Missouri.

Another change in recent years has been a greater use of digital communications in addition to CW, RTTY and packet radio. Each year more and more contacts are being made using Echolink, Winlink and the use of Reflectors.

2008 SKYWARN Recognition Day will be held from 0000 UTC to 2400 UTC December 6th. Last year contacts were made in all 50 states and 40 countries during the 24 hour event. If you haven’t joined in the fun, 2008 is your year! To learn more, check out our Web site:

http://hamradio.noaa.gov

— David Floyd, N5DBZ, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, NWS Goodland, Kansas

Further updates on SKYWARN Recognition Day 2008 will be posted over the next few weeks and we hope to hear you on the air for the event and 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.
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator for NWS Taunton Massachusetts
Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net
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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 US 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. For a time conversion from UTC to your local time, please see the following links:

http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gl)/guides/maps/utc/frutc.rxml
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

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 while other areas do not change their clocks at all. 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.

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….

At 8 AM EDT, all watches and warnings for the Northern Leeward Islands, the US and British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico were discontinued and the VoIP Hurricane Net secured operations at 8 AM EDT. A number of significant reports were forwarded from personal weather stations and posters on the stormcarib.com weather blog from the affected area of Omar. The core of the hurricane skirted most of the islands but St. Croix in the Virgin Islands was hardest hit with sustained hurricane force winds reported at a resort location near Beauregard Bay overlooking Christiansted Harbor. We also had Phyllis-NP2MZ from the US Virgin Islands and 2 Hams from Anguilla who checked in periodically from their locations and gave reports. See the report viewer link below for more info:

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

Omar is now moving out to sea and is no longer a threat to land and will be more of a threat to shipping interests. We thank all the net controls who responded to the call of support for Hurricane Omar including the overnight shift where Omar did most of its action and passed closest to the various islands. Thanks to all for their continued support of the VoIP Hurricane Net!

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

…VoIP Hurricane Net to Activate at 5 PM EDT/2100 UTC Wednesday for Omar and its impact on Puerto Rico, the US and British Virgin Islands and the Northern Leeward Islands…
…WX4NHC Operations to activate at around 5 PM EDT/2100 UTC Wednesday…

Tropical Depression 16 rapidly intensified into Tropical Storm Omar on Tuesday and is near hurricane strength and is expected to become a hurricane late tonight or Wednesday Morning. After coordination with WX4NHC National Hurricane Center Amateur Raido Coordinator, John McHugh-K4AG, activation of the VoIP Hurricane Net and WX4NHC will occur at the times listed in the headlines.

We can use the assistance of any Ham Operators in the affected area or with contacts in Puerto Rico, the US and British Virgin Islands and the Northern Leeward Islands of Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Barts, Saba, St. Eustatious, St. Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat. Any other Caribbean island stations that have relays into the affected area or any US stations that know other Hams or contacts in this affected area would also be quite helpful.

For the latest advisory information including watches and warnings, you can go to the VoIPWXNet web site and click Atlantic Tropical Products and click on the advisory information for Omar under the Atlantic Tropical Products section. You can also gather the advisory information from the National Hurricane Center web site at the following link:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

The reporting criteria and activation policy for our net during hurricane net activations can be found on our web site at http://www.voipwx.net (Note issue with web site as stated in the first paragraph. Please utilize the typical SKYWARN Reporting Criteria)

Listen Only IRLP/EchoLink capability include the following systems:

IRLP:
Reflector 9508 Sydney Australia Reflector channel 8.
Reflector 9129 New England Reflector channel 9.

EchoLink:
*KC4QLP-C* Node: 290251
*VKEMCOMM* Node: 270177
*N5API* Node: 77433
*IRESC* Node: 278173
*N1TAI* Node: 269929

A streaming audio feed has been setup thanks to the assistance of David McAnally-WD5M. The links are listed below:

WD5M Streaming Audio Feed Main page
WD5M Direct link to Streaming Audio using OGG Format
WD5M Direct Link to Streaming Audio using MP3 Format

Bob Carter-KC4QLP has also setup an online stream for up to 32 listeners at the following link:

KC4QLP Streaming Audio Feed

An EQSO listen-only feed is also available via KC4QLP-R.

Lu Vencl-KA4EPS has also set up streaming audio capability. See links below:

KA4EPS Streaming Audio Feed
KA4EPS Streaming Audio Feed

Links to the WD5M streaming audio feeds have also been provided in the Main Menu of the VoIPWXNet web site.

Below is the typical activation announcement from WX4NHC Coordinator, John McHugh-K4AG:

WX4NHC ANNOUNCEMENT – OMAR OPERATIONS
Released October 14th, 2008

PLEASE RELAY TO STATIONS IN THE AFFECTED AREAS.

WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, will be activating it’s HF and EchoLink/IRLP station on Wednesday October 15th, 2008 at around 5 PM EDT (2100z) in anticipation of Omar reaching hurricane strength and its impact on Puerto Rico, the US and British Virgin Islands and the Northern Leeward Islands.

We request all land based stations as well as ships at sea in the areas affected to send us weather data (measured or estimated) and damage reports.

If you are in the affected area and normally monitor on a local Net on VHF, 40 or 80 meters, we would appreciate your checking into the HWN NET or EchoLink/IRLP Net once per Hour to receive the latest Hurricane Advisories and to report your local conditions.

Please do not venture outside during the hurricane to gather weather data.

Your safety is the first priority.

There are many constantly changing atmospheric variables that affect the storm’s track and strength.

Please refer to the National Hurricane Center Advisories for official information. www.nhc.noaa.gov

WX4NHC will be monitoring the Hurricane Watch Net www.hwn.org on 14.325 MHz.

Secondary HF frequencies will be 7.268 MHz and 3.950 MHz +/- QRM, should we loose propagation on 20 meters.

EchoLink “WX-Talk” Conference Room and IRLP node 9219 will also be monitored. www.voipwx.net

WX4NHC will also monitor CWOP, APRS and MADIS/MESONET Automated weather stations in the affected area.

Surface Reports using our On-line Hurricane Report form will be monitored.

Amateur Weather Enthusiasts and ON-NHC Volunteers may report directly to WX4NHC on-line.

http://www.wx4nhc.org/WX-form1.html

ON-NHC Volunteers are both Ham Radio Operators and Non-Ham weather observers that use their own weather instruments to submit “Surface Reports” directly to NHC over the Internet via the WX4NHC on-line report form. These “Surface Reports” are very important as they give Hurricane Specialists at NHC a better idea of what is actually happening on the ground level during the storm.

The WX4NHC Group continues to expand its efforts to increase the quantity and quality of surface reports to include many different modes of reception and groups of people; including HF, VHF/UHF IRLP & EchoLink, VHF & HF APRS, CWOP NOAA Program and ON-NHC Weather Observers Network.

(see our web site for more information on these programs): www.wx4nhc.org

WX4NHC is very proud to have maintained an active Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center for the past 28 years.

We appreciate all of the volunteers who help with our efforts.

OUR MISSION: TO HELP SAVE LIVES.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
John McHugh K4AG
WX4NHC Amateur Radio Coordinator
www.wx4nhc.org

National Hurricane Center
www.nhc.noaa.gov

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

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

The area of disturbed weather near Nicaragua and Honduras has formed into Tropical Depression #16. Provided it stays over water long enough and can strengthen further, TD #16 is expected to reach Tropical Storm strength before landfall along the Honduras, Guataemla border in 2-3 days. If the system reaches tropical storm strength, it would be named Paloma. At this time, this system is not expected to reach hurricane strength. The latest advisory information cna be seen via the VoIPWXNet web site by clicking Atlantic Tropical Products off of the main menu or at the National Hurricane Center web site at the following link:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

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….

Tropical Depression #15 (TD 15) has formed in the Atlantic about 340 miles southwest of San Juan Puerto Rico. TD 15 is expected to move little over the next 24-36 hours and then begin moving Northeast after this period. TD 15 is expected to intensify into a Tropical Storm. If this occurs, TD 15 would become Tropical Storm Omar. The system poses a threat to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands in the Wednesday to Thursday timeframe as a strong Tropical Storm and will need to be monitored closely. It is possible TD 15 could reach hurricane strength as it passes by these areas or just after it passes by these areas.

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team will monitor the progress of TD 15 very carefully and provide updates as needed. Activation of the VoIP Hurricane Net is possible in the Wednesday to Thursday timeframe depending on the track, speed and intensity 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
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Hello to all….

The area of disturbed weather 925 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands or 1600 miles east of the Leeward Islands has formed into Tropical Storm Nana. Nana may be a short lived tropical storm as upper level winds are expected to become highly unfavorable for further development and should shear the system apart but the system has a large envelope and very cold convective cloud tops so it will be monitored. Nana is no threat to any land area for the next several days if it survives that long.

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management team will closely monitor the progress of Nana. 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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