Ham Radio Hurricane Emergency Operations

With hurricane season underway, all amateur radio operators be aware of the major emergency net frequencies. These nets can be activated on short notice, and if in session, should be avoided during contests, other nets, and regular operations. From the July 15th edition of the ARRL's ARES E-Letter, here are links to the primary HF emcomm Web pages:

Major HF Nets:

WX4NHC at the National Hurricane Center http://www.wx4nhc.org/
Hurricane Watch Net http://www.hwn.org/
SKYWARN http://www.weather.gov/skywarn/
Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Net (SATERN) http://satern.org/
The Waterway Net http://www.waterwayradio.net/
VoIP SKYWARN/Hurricane Net. (The latter is an Internet-based operation, but of interest.) http://www.voipwx.net/

Major National-Level Served Agencies:

National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster http://www.nvoad.org/
Red Cross http://www.redcross.org/
National Weather Service http://www.nws.noaa.gov/
Citizen Corps http://www.citizencorps.gov/
Salvation Army http://www.salvationarmy.org/
REACT http://www.reactintl.org/

More on all this as the hurricane season proceeds.

2009 Hurricane Op Plan Available

You can get the official Department of Commerce/NOAA National Hurricane Operations Plan for 2009 at http://www.ofcm.gov/nhop/09/pdf/2009%20NHOP%20entire%20document.pdf

As always, as the season progresses and the need arises, this blog and it's sister blog the Milcom Monitoring Post at http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/ will carry the latest frequency information as it relates to each storm. Don't reply on old outdated list and frequencies that are no longer valid, get the best right here at the BTown Monitoring Post.

Best Hurricane Tracking Site on the Net

If you are looking for the best hurricane tracking site on the net, look no further than Storm Pulse.com. It is absolutely awesome.

Point you browser at http://www.stormpulse.com/

Thanks Mr. Neal for the tip.

Gustav Now a Cat 4 Hurricane

Hurricane Gustav is now a Cat 4 hurricane of the Safir-Simpsom scale with top winds at 145 mph.

Scanner enthusiasts and others who are interest:

There is a scanner audio stream for Lafourche/Terrebonne Parish covers about 30-40 miles west of NOL LA so basically INB has coverage from NOL area to Lafayette LA with a small area not covered.

If you would like to listen here is the INB Team speak addy.

70.87.174.165:8796

You will have to have the Teamspeak audio software package.

WWL-AM 870 the official emergency radio station for the NOLA area is streaming audio.

Go to reciva.com and search for WWL. It is a Windows media player stream.

More as we receive it here in the Monitor Post.

Hurricane Felix has reached Cat 5 status!

The perfect storm. Hurricane Felix has reached the top status on the Safir-Simpson scale -- Cat 5.

Here is the 5AM EDT Advisory:-

000
WTNT31 KNHC 030851
TCPAT1
BULLETIN
HURRICANE FELIX ADVISORY NUMBER 12
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL062007
500 AM EDT MON SEP 03 2007

...POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC HURRICANE FELIX MOVING QUICKLY WESTWARD...
...NEW HURRICANE WATCHES AND WARNINGS ISSUED FOR PORTIONS OF HONDURAS...

AT 5 AM EDT...0900 UTC...THE GOVERNMENT OF HONDURAS HAS ISSUED A HURRICANE WARNING FROM LIMON HONDURAS EASTWARD TO THE HONDURAS/NICARAGUA BORDER...AND A HURRICANE WATCH FROM WEST OF LIMON WESTWARD TO THE HONDURAS/GUATEMALA BORDER. A HURRICANE
WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION. A HURRICANE WATCH MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA...GENERALLY WITHIN 36 HOURS. HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE OVER EXTREME NORTHEASTERN NICARAGUA.

A TROPICAL STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR JAMAICA AND FOR GRAND CAYMAN. A TROPICAL STORM WATCH MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA...IN THIS CASE WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

INTERESTS ELSEWHERE IN THE WESTERN CARIBBEAN SEA SHOULD CLOSELY MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC HURRICANE.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...INCLUDING POSSIBLE INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

AT 500 AM EDT...0900Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE FELIX WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 14.1 NORTH...LONGITUDE 75.9 WEST OR ABOUT 275 MILES...445 KM...SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF KINGSTON JAMAICA AND ABOUT 490 MILES...790 KM...EAST OF CABO GRACIAS A DIOS ON THE NICARAGUA/HONDURAS BORDER.

FELIX IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST NEAR 21 MPH...33 KM/HR...AND THIS GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS. ON THIS TRACK...THE CENTER OF FELIX WILL BE NEAR THE COASTS OF EXTREME NORTHEASTERN NICARAGUA AND NORTHEASTERN HONDURAS EARLY ON TUESDAY MORNING.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 165 MPH...270 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. FELIX IS A POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. FLUCTUATIONS IN INTENSITY ARE COMMON IN MAJOR HURRICANES AND ARE POSSIBLE DURING THE NEXT DAY OR SO...BUT FELIX IS EXPECTED TO MAINTAIN CATEGORY FOUR OR FIVE STATUS DURING THIS PERIOD.

ALTHOUGH FELIX IS AN EXTREMELY POWERFUL HURRICANE IT HAS A VERY SMALL WIND FIELD. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 30 MILES...45 KM...FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 115 MILES...185 KM.

ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE BASED ON DATA FROM AN AIR FORCE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT IS 929 MB...27.43 INCHES.

REPEATING THE 500 AM EDT POSITION...14.1 N...75.9 W. MOVEMENT TOWARD...WEST NEAR 21 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...165 MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...929 MB.

AN INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AT 800 AM EDT FOLLOWED BY THE NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY AT 1100 AM EDT.

$$
FORECASTER KNABB