Emergency-Communications

Announcement from WX4NHC
Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center, Miami Florida
WX4NHC will be On-The-Air for the Annual Communications Test
Saturday May 27th, 2023 from 9AM – 5 PM EDT (1300z-2100z)

The amateur radio station of the National Hurricane Center, WX4NHC (NHC), located on the campus of Florida International University in Miami, will conduct their on-the-air Annual Communications Test on Saturday, May 27, 2023, from 9 AM – 5 PM EDT (1300z- 2100z).

This is the NHC’s 43rd year of public service. NHC Amateur Radio Assistant Coordinator Julio Ripoll, WD4R/WX4NHC, reports that the purpose of this event is to test amateur radio equipment and antennas at the NHC as well as operators’ home equipment, antennas, and computers prior to this year’s hurricane season. The 2023 hurricane season begins June 1 and runs through November 30.

This event is good practice for amateur radio operators worldwide to practice amateur radio communications during times of severe weather.

Ripoll said WX4NHC will be on HF, VHF, UHF, 2- and 30-meter APRS, and Winlink, To contact the NHC’s amateur radio station send an email to wx4nhc@winlink.org. The subject of the email must contain //WL2K.

The Hurricane Watch Net will try to stay on 14.325 MHz for most of the time, as well as 7.268 MHz depending on propagation. They may also change frequencies due to potential QRM.

You may be able to find WX4NHC on HF by using one of the DX spotting networks, such as the DX Summit website at http://www.dxsummit.fi.

The VoIP Hurricane Net will also be active from 4 PM – 5 PM EDT (2000-2100z), IRLP node 9219/EchoLink WX-TALK Conference node 7203. Visit their website for more information.

WX4NHC will also make a few contacts on local VHF and UHF repeaters, as well as the Florida Statewide Amateur Radio Network (SARnet) system to test station equipment.

QSL cards are available via WD4R with a self-addressed stamped envelope. More information about the NHC is available at their website.

Thank you for your participation in the WX4NHC Annual Station Test event.

73, Julio – WX4NHC/WD4R

Douglas Sharafanowich, WA1SFH, writes:

JUST A FEW SEATS LEFT @ The Wallingford Public Library.
Last chance to reserve you place for this 1 evening class.

Train to Be a SKYWARN Storm Spotter
ALL ARES Members are encouraged to take The National Weather Service SKYWARN Spotter Training Program, and get their SKYWARN Spotter Number and Card.

SKYWARN Storm Spotter Training Program 2023 (in person only) is being offered in MID-MAY for the folks in the following Counties of Connecticut:
Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex, New London

What is SKYWARN™?
SKYWARN™ is a nationwide network of volunteer weather spotters who report hazardous weather to local National Weather Service (NWS) offices. Amateur radio operators and weather observers, generally operating through local organizations, are ideally equipped to contribute to the SKYWARN™ program.

Volunteers are trained by NWS personnel to recognize features associated with rapidly developing, mature, and dissipating thunderstorms which cause hazardous weather. SKYWARN™ spotters also provide reports of heavy snow, heavy rain and flooding.

Spotters provide ground truth on the atmosphere that we observe from radar, satellites and various reporting stations. They are our eyes and ears, helping to provide better forecasts and warnings to the Tri-State Region.

WALLINGFORD CLASS MOVED!!!
*** NEW LOCATION *** BIGGER LOCATION *** NEW LOCATION ***
FROM: Wallingford OEM / FireHouse on Hope Hill Road.
TO: Wallingford Library (See: “WHERE”)

DATE: Wednesday – May 17, 2023.

TIME: 7pm – 10pm (Eastern)

WHERE: NEW LOCATION!!!
Wallingford Public Library – (Community Room)
200 N. Main Street,
Wallingford, CT 06492

COST: FREE
BUT… Registration IS Required

To Register, go to: https://www.weather.gov/okx/SkywarnTraining

NOTE
This is the ONLY in-person SKYWRN training program for the 4 CT Counties served by NWS NY (Brookhaven) in 2023.
DON’T MISS IT!

If you have questions, please contact:
Ed Snyder: SKYWARN EC – New Haven & Middlesex Counties

Sponsored by the Meriden Amateur Radio Club (MARC)
www.w1nrg.com/
—
73, Douglas Sharafanowich – WA1SFH
ARES District Emergency Coordinator (DEC)
Region 2 – Connecticut Section
email: wa1sfh “at” arrl “dit” net
AND…
ARRL Section Youth Coordinator – Connecticut Section
email: connecticutSYC “at” gmail “dit” com

Rob Macedo, KD1CY, writes on SKYWARN announce:

Amateur Radio will again be represented at the 2023 National Hurricane Conference which will be held this year in New Orleans, Louisiana (http://www.hurricanemeeting.com). This year, the workshop will be done both live at the conference and over YouTube livestream so this will be a “hybrid workshop”. The conference theme is to improve hurricane preparedness as it has been in past years.

New Hampshire’s WMUR carried a news story on January 31 describing a ham radio rescue: “a local man got stuck back in December with no cell service on an icy road in Pittsburg with an injured passenger, and the way he was able to get help, was by ham radio.”

From New Hampshire ARRL Members Only list:

“When all else fails, Amateur Radio” proved to be more than just the ARRL tagline on Sunday December 11, 2022.

An elderly New Hampshire man went out for a day hike with his dog yesterday in the Belmont area of central New Hampshire. Things went well, until his cellphone battery died. With the oncoming snow and darkness, a leisurely day hike was quickly turning into a serious health and safety issue for the hiker.

Fortunately for him he is also an amateur radio operator and had his DMR HT with him. With no cell phone capability, he made a call on a DMR NH statewide channel through the Gunstock DMR repeater seeking assistance.

His call was answered by Bill Barber, NE1B who was monitoring the channel. The hiker asked Bill to call his wife as he could not text or get pinged with his dead cell phone. Bill contacted the hiker/ham’s wife, and she was glad to hear that someone was in contact with him.

Unfortunately, he did not know exactly where he was and believed he would have to walk through brush for an hour or more to get to a road.

His wife called in the local police department who began a search along with their FD.

Ham radio was the only communication from about 4:30 to 6:30 PM. Bill called up Rick Zach, K1RJZ, who lives closer to the search area, and he was familiar with the area snow mobile trails and roads. Rick coordinated communication between the responding police units and the lost ham on the NH Statewide talk group.

The police and fire units attempted to assist in the search by activating their sirens in different locations to try to obtain a location on the ham, however, he was not able to hear them.

Another ham, Chuck Cunningham, K1MIZ, was monitoring the events on net watch and noticed that the lost ham had accidentally changed channels.

This information was passed along and 2 meter DMR communication continued until the lost ham walked out to a road and could advise where he was. The search and checkout ended successfully at 6:30 PM.

Thanks to the efforts of Bill, NE1B, Rich, K1RJZ and Chuck, K1MIZ the wayward ham is going to be able to enjoy another Christmas holiday with his family.

Bill listed some very important lessons learned from the incident:

• Radio batteries last longer on DMR radios than on analog mode
• Even his wife had trouble on her cell phone coverage at home
• Monitor your local State DMR channel for helping others nearby
• You may want to program 146.52 FM next to your State channel for signal strength DFing if and when out of repeater range
• Some hams still monitor 52!
• But stay on the primary channel until you know more hams are nearby to DF
• Hike with DMR. Our network sites cover many areas of New England that do not have any cell service
• Hike with a flashlight

And I would like to add one more item to the list. My son is one of the leaders of Pemi Search & Rescue and unfortunately responds to too many calls for lost hikers. One very important item that he stresses is that hikers file a “flight plan.” Let someone who is not going on the hike know where you are going, how long you expect to be gone and what communication equipment or capability you have with you. This also applies if you are going out hunting, fishing or boating.

Raul “Skip” Camejo – AC1LC
Public Information Coordinator
ARRL New Hampshire Section