Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Hurricane Watch Net Active for Irma

From our friends at the Hurricane Watch Net, who also note that a massive solar flare has essentially shut down propagation on 20 meters and is making conditions on 40 difficult as well...
(National Hurricane Center map)

(Update: Wednesday, September 06, 2017 @ 6:00 AM EDT (1000 UTC)
Hurricane Irma remains an Extremely Dangerous Hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (295km/h).

The Hurricane Watch Net worked continuously overnight on 7.268 MHz reading advisories and collecting reports from the affected area – operations will continue until 7:30 AM EDT – 1130 UTC.  We will resume our daytime operations 30 minutes ahead of our 40 meter net closure on 14.325 MHz (USB) on the 20 meter band at 7:00 AM EDT – 1100 UTC.

Overnight, Irma made landfall on the tiny island of Barbuda, and is making its way towards Saint Barthelemy, Sint Maarten, Saint-Martin, Anguilla, Scrub Island and Dog Island.

By midday, Irma’s presence will be felt across the British & US Virgin Island and onto Puerto Rico by late afternoon-early evening.

The primary focus the Net today will be gathering any reports possible from these areas.

The Tropical Atlantic Basin has really gotten busy during the past 24 hours.  We now have Tropical Storm José tracking behind Irma and Tropical Storm Katia formed overnight in the far western Gulf of Mexico.

For those who live in areas that could be affected by Irma, or any hurricane at a later dates, I suggest you have a “Family Emergency Plan” and “Emergency Supply Checklist”.  If you need either, we have a copy on our website, www.hwn.org.  For your convenience, here are some quick links to each.
Family Emergency Plan - http://bit.ly/2wweEq4
Emergency Supply Checklist - http://bit.ly/2ewhZfc

Our Net Activation Plans remain unchanged from my last email to you.

If there is anything we can do to be of assistance, please don’t hesitate to call!

As always, we are praying and hoping for the best yet preparing for the worst.

Sincerely,
Bobby Graves - KB5HAV
Hurricane Watch Net
Net Manager
www.hwn.org
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