Category: hurricanes

Between the Solar Storms and the Hurricanes

I guess this would be the best way to say it….

My local “watering hole” puts little gems like the above out on a regular basis. This one just seems to fit. I normally take pics of the good ones

But really… Recently the East coast of the US has been beaten on like a Narc at a biker rally.

.

First with “Hurricane Helene” attacking North Carolina and now with “Hurricane Milton” bearing down on Florida….

Just to make matters worse…. We are having a Major Solar Storm in between the two weather events

This might be a good time to remind you that the Hurricane Watch Net will be operating on 14.325 usb and also 7.268 lsb depending on the propagation (or lack of it) at the time. Please try to give them a clear frequency.

Depending on what time “Milton” arrives in Florida there could/might be some major disruptions to the two bands expected to be in use by the HWN.

As you can tell by the above graphic…. Its not looking too good… Hope it clears up before “Milton” arrives.

73bob

After the weekend

Due to some “iffy” band conditions over the last week my HF activity has not been as busy as I wanted. Since my last activity report on September 11th I was able to make 24 contacts (mostly POTA) on 40m all within North America. Sadly No DX stations were contacted. Heard a few but there is a limit to what a simple wire antenna can work if the bands are poor.

During the weekend I did spend a good deal of my shack time monitoring different resources that were in use with Hurricane Lee.

Using Yaesu “Wires X” I was able to connect to the “Maritime Room” (60207) which normally has 15-20 different Repeaters/PDNs connected to it. In addition I did listen to the Hurricane Watch Net on 40m (7.268) and a Maine (New England) Net (7.244) but most of what I heard was also on CBC News.

However the Maritime Amateur Radio Operators have built a very strong, robust VHF/UHF/Wires X/ APRS network that serves them well during events like this. For more info on this check out the following links:

VHF Repeaters — UHF Repeaters — APRS Digipeaters

Here is a “screen shot” of the APRS.fi map covering most (not all) of the Maritimes. Its as much as I could fit on my screen and keep the details.

A “Google” search of “The Maritime Amateur” should find you a lot more information (but for some reason Google won’t let me share the links) on the different Amateur Radio Systems up and running “down East”.

DXCC and Geography…. You might remember that I was holding at 99 confirmed DXCC entities and waiting for a couple of QSO’s with German Stations needed to confirm DXCC on 15m. Well the confirmation was made but I am still holding at 99.

I was under the impression that I needed “Germany” in my quest but as it turns out the “Federal Republic of Germany” (the actual name) had already been previously confirmed and I still need one more.

Here’s hoping the CQ WW SSB test at the end of October will be give me the chance go grab a few new ones.

That’s all for now. Keep enjoying the hobby.

73bob

And it did fail…..

You might remember (back in the day) when one of the “catch phrases” we used to use was :

Well on Maui Hawaii… it did fail..

The above graphic and update below provided by Netblocks.org from their Social Media account on “X”

Update: Live metrics indicate that Lahaina in Maui, Hawaii remains largely disconnected from the internet amid deadly wildfires; the outages are likely to impact rescue efforts with some trapped residents resorting to emergency satellite calls #MauiFires

The fires have impacted Landline Phones, the Power Grid, the internet, Cell Phone Service and other necessities of life

This should be a wake up call for us. Wild Fires across Canada, Tornados, Hurricanes and Flooding in various parts of Canada should be reminding you to double check your own emergency prep plans….

I am not suggesting that we (as hams) will be stepping in to save the day….But there is a slight chance that for a short period of time you could be the only way to communicate out side of your own affected area especially if you happen to live outside of a major city.

Make your personal plans accordingly.

73bob

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