Special Announcement: WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center, Annual Station Test Event – Saturday May 31st, 2014

May 5, 2014 Rob Macedo Leave a comment

Hello to all..

The WX4NHC Annual Station Test event will be Saturday May 31st, 2014. WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center, will be on the air using various modes from 9 AM-6 PM EDT (1300-2200 UTC). WX4NHC will be on the *WX_TALK* Echolink conference node: 7203/IRLP 9219 system from 4-6 PM EDT (2000-2200 UTC) for contacts and testing of their Echolink station. The complete announcement on the Annual Station Test Event is listed below:

Announcement from WX4NHC
Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center, Miami Florida

WX4NHC will be On-The-Air for the Annual Station Test on
Saturday, May 31st, 2014 from 9AM- 6 PM EDT (1300z- 2200z)

This will be our 34th year of public service at NHC.

The purpose of this event is to test Amateur Radio Station equipment, antennas and computers prior to this year’s Hurricane Season, which starts June 1st and runs through November 30th.

This event is will be good practice for Ham Radio Operators world-wide as well as NWS Staff to become familiar with Amateur Radio communications available during times of severe weather.

WX4NHC will also be performing operator training.

We will be making brief contacts on many frequencies and modes, exchanging signal reports and basic weather data exchange (“Sunny”, or “Rain”, etc.) with any station in any location.

WX4NHC will be On-The-Air on HF, VHF, UHF , 2 & 30 meter APRS and WinLink wx4nhc@winlink.org subject must contain “//WL2K”.

We will try to stay on the recognized Hurricane Watch Net frequency 14.325 MHz most of the time and announce when we QSY.

Due to space and equipment limitations, we will have 2 to 3 operators per shift, we can not be everywhere and every mode at the same time.
You may be able to find us on HF by using one of the DX Spotting Networks,

Such as the DX Summit Web Site:
http://www.dxsummit.fi/Search.aspx

We will also be on VoIP Hurricane Net 4pm-6pm EST (2000-2200z)
(IRLP node 9219 / EchoLink WX-TALK Conference node 7203).
http://www.voipwx.net/

Local South Florida area VHF & UHF Repeaters will be contacted.

QSL Cards are available via WD4R.
Please send your card with a S.A.S.E.

Please do NOT send QSLs directly to the Hurricane Center address, as it will get delayed.

Due to security measures;
Please, NO VISITORS will be allowed entry to NHC without prior clearance from NHC PIO and Security.

Only WX4NHC Operators on the pre-approved operating schedule will be allowed entry.

For more information about WX4NHC, please visit our website
www.wx4nhc.org

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

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Julio Ripoll Architect WD4R
WX4NHC Amateur Radio Asst. Coordinator
www.wx4nhc.org
Celebrating 33 years at the
National Hurricane Center
www.nhc.noaa.gov
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
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