VoIP Hurricane Net

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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Hello to all…

On Thursday Evening, Tropical Storm Kyle formed north of the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico after causing widespread flash flooding in that area as a tropical wave. Kyle is now a 60 MPH Tropical Storm and is expected to intensify into a hurricane. The current track keeps Kyle offshore of Southern New England, however, track guidance has been shifting westward and there is potential for impact across portions of the Northeastern United States as well as the Canadian Maritimes. A Tropical Storm Watch has also been posted for Bermuda.

If necessary, an activation similar to Tropical Storm Hanna could be done utilizing the New England Reflector and the IRLP 9219/*WX-TALK* conference systems and if that occurs, the weekly net will likely be cancelled. Given the uncertainties, it is premature to determine whether activation will occur and the weekly net will need to be cancelled. The VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team will continue to closely monitor the progress of Tropical Storm 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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Hello to all…

The tropical wave in the area of Puerto Rico and the US and British Virgin Islands has continued to become better organized and has prompted the issuance of the Special Tropical Disturbance Statement. Reconnaisance aircraft is enroute to the area and a tropical depression could form in this area at any time. Below is the Special Tropical Disturbance Statement from the National Hurricane Center in Miami Florida:

000
WONT41 KNHC 211432
DSAAT
SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENT
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
1030 AM EDT SUN SEP 21 2008

SATELLITE IMAGERY…SURFACE OBSERVATIONS…AND NOAA DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR DATA FROM SAN JUAN PUERTO RICO INDICATE THE LOW PRESSURE AREA LOCATED ABOUT 70 MILES SOUTH OF PUERTO RICO HAS CONTINUED TO BECOME BETTER ORGANIZED THIS MORNING. THIS SYSTEM COULD BECOME A TROPICAL DEPRESSION AT ANY TIME AS IT MOVES SLOWLY NORTH-NORTHWESTWARD OR NORTHWARD AT ABOUT 5 MPH. AN AIR FORCE RESERVE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT IS CURRENTLY ENROUTE TO INVESTIGATE THE SYSTEM.

INTERESTS IN PUERTO RICO…THE U.S. AND BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS…AND EASTERN HISPANIOLA SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS SYSTEM AND ANY PRODUCTS ISSUED BY THE RESPECTIVE WEATHER FORECAST OFFICES.

$$
FORECASTER STEWART

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team will continue to 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….

At 2 PM EDT/1 PM CDT, Ike has weakened to a Tropical Storm and WX4NHC has secured their activation so the VoIP Hurricane Net has secured its formal operation. KI4KXC-Paul will monitor the network informally until 4 PM EDT/3 PM CDT and then the net will be secured. The VoIP Hurricane Prep Net normally Saturday Evenings at 8 PM EDT/7 PM CDT will remain cancelled to allow any local/regional stations to use the *WX-TALK* Echolink conference node: 7203/IRLP 9219 system as needed.

Hurricane Ike dealt significant damage and storm surge to the Houston/Galveston, Texas area. A local/regional SKYWARN Net was active on IRLP reflector 9455 with WX5HGX, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Weather Service in Houston/Galveston, Texas running the net and liaison was established between that net and the VoIP Hurricane Net.

Several damage and measured wind reports were forwarded from that net including a measured wind gust of 92 MPH from KE5RON-Ron at the Brazoria County EOC in Freeport, Texas from a chemical plant located in that area and many reports of widespread power outages and tree and power line damage with roof shingle damage in the Houston and Sugar Land area. Local media reported 4 Million people without power in the Houston, Texas area with many windows blown out of skyscrapers in downtown Houston, Texas. Storm Surge was significant in the Galveston, Texas area from media reports and one delayed relayed report from a Ham who had contact with another Ham Operator on Galveston Island.

A measured wind gust of 84 MPH was reported by K5JEP-Joe in Jasper Texas to the VoIP Hurricane Net with significant tree damage. Other damage reports were received from stations in the affected area and relays into the affected area from Joe-K5JEP and John-KD5YOU among several other stations. The National Weather Service Southern Region Headquarters, which is co-located with the National Weather Service in Dallas/Fort Worth Texas, was active on the VoIP Hurricane Net under call-sign WX5FWD. Reports from the VoIP Net were relayed to Southern Region HQ and reports Southern Region received were relayed to our net.

For a complete list of reports handled by the VoIP Hurricane Net, you can go to the VoIPWXNet web site at http://www.voipwx.net and click the report viewer off the Main Menu of the web site. You can also follow the direct link listed below:

VoIP Hurricane Net Report Viewer

In the Altantic Tropics, there are two areas of disturbed weather, one associated with the remnants of Josephine and the other 1100 miles east of Leeward Islands that are being monitored for signs of development. At this time any development of these systems is expected to be slow to occur.

This will be the last situation report issued on the myriad of tropical systems that created impact across the Atlantic Region over the past 2-3 weeks. We appreciate every single reporting station from the affected area and those stations outside the affected area that relayed reports from the affected area to our net. 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….

**Updated to fix typo on WD5M streaming links. Also noted that the VoIPWXNet web site is slowly coming back online as the DNS routing changes take affect. Remainder below is unchanged.**

After coordination with WX4NHC Coordinators Julio Ripoll-WD4R and John McHugh-K4AG, the VoIP Hurricane Net will be activating at 12 PM ET/11 AM CDT Friday for impact of large Hurricane Ike along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. The weekly net for this Saturday Evening has been cancelled. WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center in Miami Florida, is expected to activate at 12 PM ET/11 AM CT. They are planning to be active through the overnight hours and well into Saturday and we expect this to be the same for our net.

Given the large size of Hurricane Ike, the concern is there for a widespread swath of significant damage as well as an unusually large area of storm surge flooding from Ike. Damage could also extend well inland. This could be a major strike to the Texas and Louisiana coast and particularly the Houston and Galveston Texas area. We ask any and all stations in or near the affected area and stations that have relays into the affected area to report into our net with weather and damage reports for use by WX4NHC and many other regional and national entities.

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 Ike 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 typical information WX4NHC issues prior to activation of the WX4NHC Ham Station as provided by WX4NHC Coordinators, Julio Ripoll-WD4R and John McHugh-K4AG:

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 Mc Hugh, K4AG
Coordinator for Amateur Radio
National Hurricane Center, WX4NHC
Home page:- http://www.wx4nhc.org

Thanks to all for their continued support for 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 is looking at activation plans starting Friday Morning. The tentative timeframe appears to be 10 AM ET/9 AM CT Friday Morning. We are awaiting word from WX4NHC Coordinators on their timeframe for activation and the availability of net controls to fine-tune this timeframe further. Another Situation Report will be posted later this evening with further details on our plans as well as information from our roll call net that will be held at 930 PM EDT/830 PM CDT Thursday Evening.

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…

We have received a number of inquiries on when the VoIP Hurricane Net will be reactivating for Hurricane Ike, which is now undergoing a potentially rapid intensification phase, and has now become a large hurricane which could affect a large portion of the Texas Gulf Coast. As of the 8 PM EDT/7 PM CDT Hurricane Ike Intermediate Advisory, a Hurricane Watch has been posted from Cameron Louisiana Westward to Port Mansfield Texas and a Tropical Storm Warning is in effect from the mouth of the Mississippi River to Cameron Louisiana.

The VoIP Hurricane Net will do a roll-call from stations in the affected area of Hurricane Ike and stations that are not in the affected area of Hurricane Ike but have relays to other hams, hurricane chasers, friends, family or other contacts in the affected area of Hurricane Ike and can relay information back to our net. That roll call net will be Thursday Evening at 930 PM EDT/830 PM CDT. The VoIP Hurricane Net will likely begin formal activation some time Friday Morning and that activation could last through Saturday and into a portion of Sunday Morning. The start time of formal activation will be confirmed in an activation announcement posted some time on Thursday. The weekly VoIP Hurricane Prep Net for Saturday Evening will again be cancelled.

Advisories on Hurricane Ike can be obtained via the VoIPWXNet web site by clicking Atlantic Tropical Products off the Main Menu of the web site. They can also be found at the National Hurricane Center web site at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

The VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team is preparing for a long duration activation for Hurricane Ike in the Friday through Sunday Morning timeframe. Another update will be posted on Thursday. 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….

At 230 PM, WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida secured operations for Hurricane Ike after its severe pounding of the Bahamas and Cuba and an activation that spanned several days. The VoIP Hurricane Net was active informally during this timeframe. Amateur Radio Operators associated with IRESC, the Internationl Radio Emergency Support Coalition, provided several critical reports via email on conditions in Cuba. A couple of key critical reports that IRESC forwarded through the efforts of Steve Richards-G4HPE, Doug Pattison-VE7XAT and several others from the Spanish Section of the IRESC team were as follows:

I’m Ramon Batista (KF4EFQ). Since This Morning I Were Lucky Getting Some Of My Friends From Puerto Padre Through The Phone And All Are Bad News, More Than The Half Of The Town Is Destroyed, All Those Old Houses Withe Zinc Or Tile Roofs Are Down, Only The Concrete And Strong Build Houses Resist The 200-230 KM/Hour Winds. Peoples Are Desbasted, And With No Hope For Help. I Had A Phone Call From David Chacon (co8dm) From Washington DC And Explain The Same Like You, His Father Mario (CO8CH) Is There And Most Of The Telephone Lines Are Down. The Malecon In Front Of The Sea Were Destroyed, The Big Hospital Lose All Glasses And Doors, There Is No Electricity Since Yesterday And The Important Telecommunication Towers Are Down Too. Here In Miami I’m Waiting For The Airports Cleareance To Plan A Trip To There In The Next Two Weeks Because This People And Especially Our Families Will Need Clothes, Medicines And Money. Today After 6:00 PM We Are Going To Talk With Our Family And We’ll Let You Know. There Is No HAM Radio Stations On Air From That Area, Only One Station From Santiago De Cuba (CO8AG) Manolo, And Is Working With Batteries (7045 KHZ). Thank You For Ask And Be Worry About That Catastrophic Situation In Cuba.

Greetings from CO2QU
Thank you to IRESC Spanish Section from all of the radio hams of Cuba for your kind gesture towards our country. At the moment hurricane IKE is leaving Cuba by the south of the province of Ciego de Avila taking course to west. This hurricane has added further devastation to the areas already hit by hurricane Gustav, Isla de la Juventud and Provincia de Pinar del rio. Many have been evacuated and have lost their homes. Thankfully, only a few lives have been lost. I am in Havana where it is currently calm, but tonight we expect change. We have activated an emergency network 40m 7,045 mhz. and in 80m 3,750 mhz Ciao and 73 Narciso Izquierdo Mata CO2QU

At the request of WX4NHC Coordinators John McHugh-K4AG and Julio Ripoll-WD4R, when Ike was over the Bahamas, a TV station chat room and feed was monitored by Mike “Sparky” Leger-N1YLQ and numerous reports including a few pictures were forwarded to the National Hurricane Center and used by hurricane specialists. Additional reports were sent in via IRESC and by monitoring the stormcarib.com storm reporting blog. The damage reports can be seen on the VoIP Hurricnae Net web site at http://www.voipwx.net via the report viewer link off the main menu of the web site.

Hurricane Ike is now over the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to intensify and models are now trending northward with potential landfall and impact to the Gulf Coast of Texas some time in the Friday to Saturday timeframe. There is potential for Ike to reach major hurricane strength which is Category 3 or stronger. The VoIP Hurricane Net will stand down from any activation for the next couple of days but will likely be active formally in the Friday through Saturday timeframe as Ike threatens the Texas Gulf Coast. Advisories on Hurricane Ike can be obtained via the VoIPWXNet web site by clicking Atlantic Tropical Products off the Main Menu of the web site. They can also be found at the National Hurricane Center web site at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

At this time, the remnants of Josephine are not expected to regenerate and there are no other areas of disturbed weather of concern in the Atlantic tropics as of the 8 PM Tuesday Atlantic Tropical Weather Outlook. The VoIP Hurricane Net Management Team will closely monitor the progress of Hurricane Ike and the Tropical Atlantic. 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 Storm Hanna was declared extratropical at 5 AM this morning and this concluded operations from WX1BOX, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Taunton, Massachusetts at that time. Hanna caused minimal Tropical Storm force conditions along the coast and pockets of significant flooding in interior Southern New England. Reports from Tropical Storm Hanna from across the Eastern Seaboard can be seen on the VoIP Hurricane Net web site at http://www.voipwx.net by clicking on the report viewer off the Main Menu of the web site.

Links to the Tropical Storm Hanna storm reports and rainfall reports from operations in New England can also be seen via the following links:

Local Storm Report from NWS Taunton
Public Information Statement on Rainfall from NWS Taunton

Hurricane Ike has pounded the Southern Bahamas with damage to homes and roofs and winds sustained of 115-135 MPH with higher gusts. Reports have been gathered from storm blogs and local television in the Bahamas. Those reports also appear on the report viewer off the Main Menu of the VoIPWXNet web site.

Hurricane Ike will be moving into Cuba tonight through mid-afternoon Tuesday. Cuba has always been a difficult area for our net to gather reports but we will be looking for any bi-lingual stations that can gather reports from HF, Cuban Shortwave Radio, local Cuban Radio and TV and deliver that information to our net. Hurricane force conditions will be affecting Eastern Cuba by around 2200 UTC today and will affect much of the country through Tuesday Afternoon.

The VoIP Hurricane Net will remain active informally to formally throughout this period looking for relays into Cuba to support WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center. WX4NHC will be active daily from 8-9 AM through 11 PM for Sunday and Monday and will likely be active through mid-afternoon Tuesday as Ike departs Cuba. The threat from Ike for the US Gulf Coast is unknown at this time and his intensity will be gauaged based on how much time is spent over Cuba and how much it can reintensify after being affected by Cuba.

On a different note, Josephine is no longer declared a tropical system at the moment but may have the potential to regenerate. This will need to be monitored.

The VoIP Hurricane Net continues to monitor the situation in the Atlantic Tropics very closely. 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 will be activating at 6 PM ET Friday Evening for impact of Hanna across the US East Coast from the Carolinas to New England. The weekly net for this Saturday Evening has been cancelled.

Hanna is currently expected to make landfall between Southeast North Carolina and Northeast South Carolina on Friday Evening. It is not clear whether Hanna will reach hurricane strength as it makes landfall but since there is very little difference between a strong tropical storm and a minimal hurricane and the fact that the system has a very large area of tropical storm force winds, the net will activate to cover the threats of a large, strong tropical storm Friday Night through Sunday Morning. As the system approaches Southern New England, VoIP Hurricane Net operations will merge into New England SKYWARN operations and the New England Reflector system will be tied to the *WX-TALK*/9219 system when that occurs.

WX4NHC is expected to activate Friday Evening at 6 PM but could cancel their operations if Hanna does not reach hurricane strength. For Hurricane Ike, WX4NHC is preparing for operations all day on Sunday and potential for day-long activations on several days during the week. The VoIP Hurricane Net will either activate formally or informally depending on access to reporting stations in the Bahamas. This will be updated in future situation reports.

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 Fay 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

Listen Only IRLP/EchoLink capability include the following systems (Please note due to rapid activation status some listen-only nodes may not be up right at noon time):

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:

Streaming Audio Feed in MP-3 Format
Streaming Audio Feed in OGG Format

Streaming Audio Feed Direct Link without Port listing

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

Streaming Audio Feed from KC4QLP

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

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

Again, please note that WX4NHC has tentative plans to activate at 6 PM ET Friday Evening for Hanna but could cancel those plans if Hanna does not reach hurricane strength and WX4NHC currently plans to be active Sunday Morning for Hurricane Ike with potential for addtional activations for Ike later in the week. This will be updated in future messages. Below is the typical information WX4NHC issues prior to activation of the WX4NHC Ham Station as provided by WX4NHC Coordinators, Julio Ripoll-WD4R and John McHugh-K4AG:

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 Mc Hugh, K4AG
Coordinator for Amateur Radio
National Hurricane Center, WX4NHC
Home page:- http://www.wx4nhc.org

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

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