Hello to all….

The Atlantic Tropics are getting more active. The National Hurricane Center is monitoring 2 systems that could develop over the next few days. The first system is 1600 miles east of the Leeward Islands. The second system is 250 mikes south-southwest of Puerto Rico and a Reconnaissance plane will investigate that system on Monday.

All of this information is available via the Tropical Weather Outlook issued by the National Hurricane Center. That can be seen on the voipwx.net web site by clicking Atlantic Tropical Products and clicking the Tropical Weather Outlook link. That outlook can also be seen on the National Hurricane Center web site at the following link:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team will continue to closely monitor the progress of these systems. 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 following were comments from Julio Ripoll-WD4R, WX4NHC Assistant Coordinator on the efforts for Hurricane Norbert in the Eastern Pacific:

Please relay our sincere thanks to your respective team members that helped during Hurricane Norbert’s track through the southern Baja California peninsula of Mexico.

Although the participation of Mexican Hams form that area is very low, especially as the landfall area is sparsely populated, we did manage to maintain contact with Manuel XE2HUQ in Ciudad Constitucion, just north of the landfall area. Manuel had a weather station and gave us several measured reports during landfall.

We are also grateful for the relays and efforts made by other Mexican Hams, such as Rafael XE2RV and Carlos XE2WCG and others.

Herman, HR1CP was also very instrumental in relaying information from 40 meters.

We hope to increase more interest and activity from Mexico in future hurricanes and other natural disasters that can disrupt conventional communications.

We hope the Mexican Amateur Radio organization can promote and organize and strengthen their Amateur Radio emergency communication networks and increase their international participation.

Our international teams of Amateur Radio Operators are here; ready to help in their time of need.

73, Julio, WD4R

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Julio Ripoll Architect WD4R
WX4NHC Amateur Radio Asst. Coordinator
www.wx4nhc.org

National Hurricane Center
www.nhc.noaa.gov

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
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Hello to all….

At 415 PM EDT/2015 UTC, the VoIP Hurricane Net has dropped to informal monitoring mode for Hurricane Norbert. The VoIP Hurricane Weekly Prep Net will take place as scheduled this evening at 8 PM EDT/7 PM CDT/6 PM MDT/5 PM PDT/0000 UTC.

Norbert made landfall in the Baja California peninsula late Saturday Morning Pacific time. XE2RV-Rafael from Los Mochios Sonora Mexico put us in contact with a station, XE2HUQ-Manuel in Constitucion, Mexico where they had 40-45 MPH Tropical Storm Force winds. XE2WCG-Carlos was also on the net from Tampico, Mexico to assist with translating and relays as necessary. A reporter on the Eastern US Weather Forum from La Paz Mexico posted the following reports which can also be seen in the report viewer of the VoIP Hurricane Net web site where a link is listed off of the Main Menu:

Rodrigo reports 70,000 without power in his community with radio stations out. There is some roof damage and some electrical poles down. 100 Kilometers north of his location within the path, there are no reports of injuries but a lot of damage. More than 100,000 without power in Constitucion and San Carlos and extensive damage in San Carlos and some towns near there. Some wall collapases also reported in that area.

Follow-up report from Rodrigo in the Eastern US Weather Forum. A large ship was grounded ashore in Magdalena, Mexico per local government source. Roof damage and no electricity has been reported in Magdalena, San Carlos, Santa Rita, and Las Pocitas. In Ciudad Constiucion, no “major damage” but the entire city is without power. Major structural damage with some houses destroyed has been reported per a local government source in Alactraz Port and Chale Port. Those towns have been totally evacuated and only emergency personnel are in those areas.

The report viewer link is listed below:
http://report.voipwx.net/qilan/nhcwx/list_VOIP_records?auth=OK

We thank the Mexican Ham Stations who gave their reports and the poster, Rodrigo, from the Eastern US Weather forum for the information he provided. Any Mexican Stations that are from Western Mainland Mexico are welcome to check into our weekly net this evening and if they have any weather and damage reports, they can be relayed to our net at that time and we will have folks informally monitoring through the 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….

…VoIP Hurricane Net to Activate at 9 AM EDT/6 AM PDT/1300 UTC Saturday for Hurricane Norbert and its impact on the Baja California area of Mexico and the Western Mainland of Mexico…
…WX4NHC Operations to activate at 10 AM EDT/7 AM PDT/1400 UTC Saturday…

Hurricane Norbert poses a threat to the Baja California Mexico region and Western Mainland Mexico. After coordination with WX4NHC Assistant National Hurricnae Center Coordinator, Julio Ripoll-WD4R, activation of the VoIP Hurricane Net and WX4NHC will occur at the times listed in the headlines.

We can use any and all assistance to obtain reports from the affected area of Norbert. This is an area that we have not heard a lot from in the past via any Ham Radio mode. Any relays to Hams, non-Hams and any contact with the affected area of Western mainland Mexico and the Mexico portion of Baja California would be greatly appreciated. Any folks that can translate Spanish would also be very helpful and that includes translating any media reports from the affected areas of the Baja and Western mainland Mexico. WX4NHC and the VoIP Hurricane Net greatly appreciates everyone’s support.

For the latest advisory information including watches and warnings, you can go to the VoIPWXNet web site and click Pacific Tropical Products and click on the advisory information for Norbert under the Pacific 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. This is the first time he has setup a streaming audio server so please bear with any technical difficulties. 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 Assistant WX4NHC Coordinator, Julio Ripoll-WD4R:

WX4NHC ANNOUNCEMENT – HURRICANE NORBERT OPERATIONS
Released October 10th, 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 Saturday October 10th, 2008 at 10 AM EDT (1400z).

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.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Julio Ripoll Architect WD4R
WX4NHC Amateur Radio Asst. Coordinator
www.wx4nhc.org

National Hurricane Center
www.nhc.noaa.gov

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

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

Tropical Storm Marco has formed rapidly in the Bay of Campeche. Marco is a small tropical storm but has a chance to reach hurricane strength before making landfall in extreme Southeast Mexico. It is unclear whether the VoIP Hurricane Net will activate for Marco. Coordination will take place with WX4NHC Coordinators Julio Ripoll-WD4R and John McHugh-K4AG to determine what will be done here. If there are contacts within the affected area of Mexico, that will also have impact on our decision to activate assuming Marco remains near or attains hurricane strength. Please contact me directly if you have contacts with the affected area.

To view adivsory information on Marco, please go to the VoIP Hurricane Net web site at http://www.voipwx.net and click Atlantic Tropical Products and you will see the advisory and satellite information. You can also go to the National Hurricane Center Web Site at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov for the latest advisory information.

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

A reminder that we will have the Weekly VoIP Hurricane Prep Net this evening at 8 PM ET or 0000 UTC. We’ll have a variety of announcements and updates on the Tropics for this week’s net. Hope to hear many of you on the net this evening. Thanks 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….

Sub-Tropical Storm Laura has formed in the Open Atlantic. Laura is not expected to affect any land areas and is only a concern for shipping interests but Laura has formed over the open Atlantic about 1015 miles west of Fayal Island in the Western Azores. Laura is currently moving to the west-northwest but is expected to turn northwest and northward with an increase in forward speed over the next day or so.

Laura may briefly become fully tropical and if that occurs she may briefly reach hurricane status before going over colder waters and weakening and become an extratropical or non-tropical system. For the latest advisories on Sub-Tropical Storm Laura, you can view the NHC advisories by clicking Atlantic Tropical Products off of the Main Menu of the VoIPWXNet web site and you will see the Laura advisories. You can also go to the National Hurricane Center web site and the Canadian Hurricane Centre is also issuing advisories on Laura as well and the links are listed below:

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

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management team will continue to 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….

The VoIP Hurricane Net secured at 11 PM ET Sunday Evening as Hurricane Kyle weakened to an extratropical storm at that time. We received extremely detailed and excellent reporting from the Canadian Amateur Radio Operators of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Canada which included wind gust measurements well into hurricane force in Lockeport, Nova Scotia. These reports were of tremendous use to WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center, and hurricane specialists were extremely interested in the reports and specific details on the weather station type, location of the station and how it was setup.

Damage and power outage information was also passed along by Amateur Radio Operators in the affected area of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. This info was also of use to NHC forecasters. A complete list of reports can be seen in the VoIP Hurricane Net Report Viewer off of the VoIPWXNet web site and can be seen via the following link:

VoIP Hurricane Net Report Viewer

The reports are records 411 to 427 in the report viewer. Some are listed as NHC Comms Test and will be corrected at a later time to reflect reports from Hurricane Kyle.

We extend a huge thank you to the Amateurs of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Canada who answered the request for reporting and did an outstanding job. Many of these folks are invovled in their local Amateur Radio Clubs, the Radio Amateurs of Canada and various Canadian EMCOMM organizations as well as individual Amateurs who received the call for needing reports and gave that information to us. We encourage those folks to check into our routine prep nets on Saturday Evening at 8 PM EDT/0000 UTC. We’d also like to extend thanks to all the net controls who supported this short but extremely effective net activation. 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….

After coordination with WX4NHC Coordinators Julio Ripoll-WD4R, the VoIP Hurricane Net will be activating at 6 PM ET for impact of Hurricane Kyle on Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Canada as well as the state of Maine. WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center in Miami Florida, is expected to activate at 6 PM ET through early Monday Morning.

It appears that Kyle’s main impact to Downeast Maine will be heavy rainfall. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Canada will have heavy rainfall along with the potential of hurricane force winds. IRLP and Echolink node owners in this area have been contacted.

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 Kyle 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. This is the first time he has setup a streaming audio server so please bear with any technical difficulties. 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 activation announcement from Assistant WX4NHC Coordinator, Julio Ripoll-WD4R:

WX4NHC ANNOUNCEMENT – HURRICANE KYLE OPERATIONS
Released September 27th, 2008

PLEASE RELAY TO STATIONS IN THE AFFECTED AREAS.

The 5 PM AST (2100z) Advisory from the National Hurricane Center forecasts Hurricane Kyle to affect the coast of Maine and Canada tomorrow, Sunday evening.

“A HURRICANE WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE COAST OF MAINE FROM STONINGTON EASTWARD TO EASTPORT. A HURRICANE WATCH MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA…GENERALLY
WITHIN 36 HOURS.”

WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, will be activating it’s HF and EchoLink/IRLP station on Sunday, September 28th , 2008 at 6 PM EDT (2200z).

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.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Julio Ripoll Architect WD4R
WX4NHC Amateur Radio Asst. Coordinator
www.wx4nhc.org

National Hurricane Center
www.nhc.noaa.gov

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

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

…Weekly Net will take place at 8 PM EDT this evening with emphasis on stations in New Brunswick/Nova Scotia Canada and Eastern New England for Kyle’s impact to the region…

Tropical Storm Kyle will affect portions of Eastern New England and Canadian Maritimes as a strong tropical storm/minimal hurricane on Sunday with heavy rainfall being the main threat in Eastern New England but strong to damaging winds also possible in that region and strong to damaging winds more likely for Southwest New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Canada.

As of the 2 PM Advisory, Tropical Storm Watches have also been issued for portions of the coastal waters of Southern New England. A Hurricane Watch is now in effect for coastal Maine from South of Stonington to Cape Elizabeth, Maine with a Tropical Storm Watch now in effect for south of Stonington to Cape Elizabeth including the Portland area. A Tropical Storm Watch is now in effect for the coastal waters from Provincetown to Chatham to Nantucket out to 20 nautical miles and from the coastal waters from Merrimack River out 25 nautical miles to Plymouth out to 40 Nautical Miles including the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Gale Watches have been posted for Cape Cod Bay, Buzzards Bay, Nantucket and Vineyard Sounds. A Tropical Storm Warning remains in effect for Bermuda. A Tropical Storm Watch is also now in effect for Nova Scotia and Southwestern New Brunswick Canada. High Surf Advisories remain in effect for portions of South Coastal New England through 6 PM due to Kyle’s approach to the region.

The VoIP Hurricane Prep Net will take place this evening on IRLP reflector 9219/Echolink *WX-TALK* Confernece Node: 7203 at 8 PM ET/0000 UTC with specific emphasis on stations in portions of Eastern New England and Southwest New Brunswick and Nova Scotia Canada as Kyle approaches the region. Kyle’s impact to the region will likely be as a strong tropical storm with the possibility of minimal hurricane strength as it approaches the region.

The latest advisories on Kyle can be seen off of the voipwx.net web site by clicking on Atlantic tropical Products and then clicking on any of the Kyle advisory statements. They can also be seen at the National Hurricane Center Web site via the following link:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

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