The Hurricane Watch Net has been in operation since the morning of September 27 as Hurricane Ian swept across Cuba and headed toward Florida’s Gulf Coast. We continue to operate on both 14.325 and 7.268 as propagation permits as the storm continues to sweep across Florida. We will keep 40 open all night unless absolutely prohibited by propagation loss. We will stand back for the Waterways Net, and resume following their net. We will re-start our 20 meter net at 0800 tomorrow, Thursday September 29. Both nets will continue until further discussion and conditions would warrant us closing down.
The focus of the net will change. With the storm likely reducing to tropical level as it moves over the Atlantic then back into the coastal states we will continue to take weather conditions as warranted, but we expect those reports to dwindle. Our focus will change to receiving damage reports for the National Hurricane Center, handling messages for EOCs and other agencies. We will also focus on assisting our Salvation Army SATERN Net partners to move health and welfare traffic out of the affected areas. Having a strong presence on air, the HWN will hopefully attract this traffic.
We appreciate the cooperation of amateur operators and nets in allowing us clear frequencies to make these important contacts as Florida and the southern states work to recover.
Stan Broadway, N8BHL
Hurricane Watch Net
Asst. Net Manager
