AmRRON Corps operators have spent Wednesday, November 9th coordinating in preparation for an imminent Grid-down event for the western coastline of Florida.  We have operators who live in the impacted zone.

We are at AmCON-2 for a regional/local event

Nicole To Strike Florida As A Hurricane Tonight With Storm Surge, Strong Winds, Flooding Rain

Weather.com

At a Glance

  • Nicole is forecast to become a hurricane and will make landfall in Florida tonight.
  • Hurricane, storm surge and tropical storm alerts have been issued in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
  • Coastal flooding, strong winds, flooding rain and tornadoes are expected along the Southeast coast.
  • Flooding rain, strong winds and a few tornadoes are possible in the rest of the East Friday into early Saturday.

 

  1. FLORIDA, GEORGIA, and SOUTH CAROLINA AmRRON OPERATORS, WE ARE PREPARING TO BE THERE FOR YOU.

    AmRRON Corps have been coordinating on the Z-Net, and will be monitoring the AmRRON frequencies, ready to help facilitate traffic, coordinate radio operations, and offer assistance and receive reports from operators in the impacted areas in the days following the hurricane, to include welfare traffic.

    This will hopefully help relieve congestion on other related nets, such as the Hurricane Watch Net on 14.325 and/or 7.268 (for example).

    All available AmRRON operators are encouraged to monitor the Persistent Presence Net frequencies through at least Sunday, October 2nd.

    WHAT TO EXPECT: 

    • Expect to hear nothing (initially) from the impacted area on Wednesday afternoon and evening.  Operators will be grid down and most HF antennas will not survive the hurricane-force winds.  Additionally, lighting threat mitigation will have radio stations off the air.
    • HF antennas and backup power could take many hours, or even days, to reconfigure and make operational.
    • Any HF radio communications will likely increase in tempo beginning Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and will likely begin to taper off on Sunday onward.
    • Most grid-up coordination will take place on the AmRRON Corps Z-Net Breakout Channel, as that is where the overwhelming majority

    OPERATIONS:

    FOR STATIONS IN THE IMPACTED AREAS:

     

    • Let us know you are okay!  Your safety, and that of your family, is first and foremost.  Please report as soon as it is safe and practical, with at least an abbreviated STATREP.
    • As you know, digital modes are the most effective.  Use the mode which gets the most information out the fastest.  If you are running QRP (low power), then JS8Call may be your only way to reach out.  We will keep the frequencies clear to monitor for your traffic.
    • Use the @AMRRON group in JS8Call to query Signal Reports (SNR), and determine who is on frequency, and where, and the quality of your path to others.
    • At minimum, please send out an abbreviated STATREP, including your maidenhead grid square, so we can account for our opertors.
      • Please include your county and state, and nearest town/city, ESPECIALLY if you are reporting emergency traffic or in need of Priority support.
    • Voice frequencies will also be monitored, per the AmRRON SOI.  If you have misplaced your SOI, then we will also be monitoring 80m, 40m, and 20m AmRRON Voice frequencies at the top of each hour to give you a better time window.
    • We will send SITREPs (Situation Reports) over HF on the SOI net schedule frequencies so that you can be informed on what might be happening beyond your local VHF/UHF communications, as information is available.
    • If you encounter an emergency, and AmRRON nets are your only source of communications, (we will have operators standing by monitoring persistently), then announce your emergency traffic.  We will coordinate your traffic and route it to the appropriate agencies or entities.

    SUPPORTING AmRRON STATIONS OUTSIDE THE IMPACTED ARES: 

    • Most importantly, keep the frequency clear if you do not have traffic to pass.
    • Set your beacon/heartbeat/sounder (depending on digital mode) to no more than once per hour, to build a network path of stations heard.
    • The AmRRON Corps Z-Net Breakout Channel is the most effective method for coordinating with other AmRRON support stations and getting the most up-to-date information related to the post-hurricane operations.
    • If you receive EMERGENCY TRAFFIC while conducting a net or monitoring the frequencies, gather as much information as possible, especially the location (street address, county, and state).  Call 911 and explain the nature of the emergency, where the emergency is located, and that you are a ham operator in contact with the distressed party, and that you are located in xxxxx.   Maintain a connection with the distressed party if at all possible.
    • Then notify AmRRON via the EASTERN Z-Net Channel, or email (johnjacob at amrron dot com), or other expedient means at your disposal.  If those are not available/practical, then contact the Eastern SIGCEN over radio with a detailed report.

 

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