WX4NHC TESTED AND READY FOR HURRICANE SEASON
The National Hurricane Center's Amateur Radio Station WX4NHC conducted
their Annual Station Test on May 30th 2015.
This is the 35th year of volunteer public service by the WX4NHC Group
at NHC.
WX4NHC conducts this event each year in preparation for Hurricane
Season, which runs from June 1st to November 30th.
The station was tested on many frequencies and modes, including; HF,
VHF, UHF, WinLink, VHF/HF APRS, EchoLink/IRLP/All-Star, email and
on-line form. We are pleased that all of the radio equipment and
antennas performed well.
The WX4NHC Test Event is also good practice for Amateur Radio
Operators worldwide, but especially in hurricane prone areas, to test
their station's ability to contact WX4NHC, should they need to during
a hurricane. It was also a good opportunity for NWS Office Staff to
become aware of the unique capabilities of Amateur Radio during severe
weather and disaster communications; when conventional communication
modes fail.
WX4NHC was on-the-air on HF and on digital modes and performing
equipment testing and operator training for 8 hours.
Communications contacts and surface reports were received from many
stations throughout the USA, Canada, and countries in the Caribbean,
Central and South America.
Special thanks to Jean-Robert Galliard, HH2JR, for his continued
support of WX4NHC.
Also special thanks to Lor Kutchins, W3QA, for helping us with Winlink.
The VoIP Hurricane Net on (IRLP node 9219 / EchoLink WX-TALK Conference
node 7203) worked perfectly making many contacts.
The Net was great practice, using the same methods used to collect and
send weather reports to WX4NHC during hurricanes.
We send our sincere THANKS to the VoIP Net Manager Rob Macedo KD1CY,
the VoIP Hurricane Net Controls, and all those who checked into the
net. http://www.voipwx.net/
More than 40 D-STAR/D-RATS Surface Weather Reports were received at
WX4NHC. The D-Star/D-RATS net and reporting was coordinated by John
Davis, WB4QDX.
We are excited of the potential that D-STAR/D-RATS modes can produce
hurricane surface reports in a similar format that is used at WX4NHC.
These reports may some day fill in a very important gap in surface
data during a hurricane that we could not receive on other modes. We
thank John, WB4QDX, for his efforts, and look forward to the
participation from D-STAR/D-RATS during hurricanes.
WX4NHC also participated in the Florida State Hurricane Exercise on
the UHF SARnet http://www.sarnetfl.com making many contacts throughout
the state of Florida, and with EOC stations. This is a great mode for
WX4NHC to make direct contacts statewide, and with EOC offices,
especially if a hurricane makes landfall in Florida.
SARnet currently has 25 UHF repeaters connected statewide. WX4NHC is
fortunate to have a SARnet UHF Repeater on campus, courtesy of John
McHugh, K4AG.
It was very satisfying to make direct contact with Ted Okada, N4HNL,
(FEMA Chief Tech Officer) on HF 20 meters.
We were also delighted to make contact with Craig Fugate, KK4INZ,
Administrator of FEMA on EchoLink, and on Florida Sarnet.
The ARRL Emergency Preparedness Manager Mike Corey, KI1U, and HWN
Manager, Bobby Graves, KB5HAV, both came in loud and clear into WX4NHC
as well.
Mike, Bobby, Craig and Ted all understand very well how Amateur Radio
can help their communities during and after severe weather, and other
natural disasters.
We expressed our thanks to all of them for their strong support of the
Amateur Radio Volunteers and WX4NHC.
We are also thankful for all of the Skywarn Volunteers nationwide for
their continued efforts to help the NWS and NHC and their communities.
You may never know, but your efforts may someday save someone's life.
WX4NHC is thankful for the ARRL's help in publicizing this event as
they have done for many years. www.arrl.org
For more information, please visit:
www.wx4nhc.org
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Julio Ripoll Architect WD4R
WX4NHC Amateur Radio Asst. Coordinator
www.wx4nhc.org
Celebrating 35 years at the
National Hurricane Center
www.nhc.noaa.gov
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