As the third major hurricane in two months crossed the Caribbean Sea, radio
amateurs in the region have once again been in action, providing emergency
communications. The Hurricane Watch Net has been in almost continuous
operation on 14325kHz for over three weeks. It coordinates its activities
with WX4NHC at the American National Hurricane Centre, which gathers
real-time weather data and damage reports from radio amateurs in the path of
the hurricane.

In Cuba, IARU Region 2 Emergency Coordinator Arnie Coro, CO2KK, praised the
Hurricane Watch Net for its outstanding efforts in collecting ground-level
weather data from stations in Cuba. CO2KK was the Hurricane Watch Net
liaison station. He and many other Cuban amateurs were active in providing
communications as Hurricane Ivan passed over the north-western end of the
island. Arnie said that nearly 800 Cuban amateurs were involved in handling
emergency traffic related to Hurricane Ivan. He spent some 55 hours in
continuous operation handling emergency traffic to the affected area.

In the Cayman Islands, HMS Richmond was moored off Grand Cayman but had no
communications to shore to direct its humanitarian relief efforts. A member
of the Hurricane Watch Net called London to get a satellite telephone number
for the governor of the Cayman Islands, which was relayed to the Richmond
via the net. The Hurricane Watch Net was also able to advise the Richmond
that it was possible to land an aircraft on the Grand Cayman airport runway.
It had been assumed the runway was unusable until the net learned from a
private pilot that it was still possible to land there.

As Hurricane Ivan threatens the US Gulf Coast, the Amateur Radio Emergency
Service there is being placed on standby alert. Local Emergency Coordinators
are establishing VHF and UHF repeater nets and monitoring the emergency
frequencies of 3965 and 7243kHz.

A longer version of this news story is available on the ARRL website.

Amateurs Handle Emergency Comms in Wake of Hurricane Ivan
As the third major hurricane in two months crossed the Caribbean Sea, radio
amateurs in the region have once again been in action, providing emergency
communications. The Hurricane Watch Net has been in almost continuous
operation on 14325kHz for over three weeks. It coordinates its activities
with WX4NHC at the American National Hurricane Centre, which gathers
real-time weather data and damage reports from radio amateurs in the path of
the hurricane.

In Cuba, IARU Region 2 Emergency Coordinator Arnie Coro, CO2KK, praised the
Hurricane Watch Net for its outstanding efforts in collecting ground-level
weather data from stations in Cuba. CO2KK was the Hurricane Watch Net
liaison station. He and many other Cuban amateurs were active in providing
communications as Hurricane Ivan passed over the north-western end of the
island. Arnie said that nearly 800 Cuban amateurs were involved in handling
emergency traffic related to Hurricane Ivan. He spent some 55 hours in
continuous operation handling emergency traffic to the affected area.

In the Cayman Islands, HMS Richmond was moored off Grand Cayman but had no
communications to shore to direct its humanitarian relief efforts. A member
of the Hurricane Watch Net called London to get a satellite telephone number
for the governor of the Cayman Islands, which was relayed to the Richmond
via the net. The Hurricane Watch Net was also able to advise the Richmond
that it was possible to land an aircraft on the Grand Cayman airport runway.
It had been assumed the runway was unusable until the net learned from a
private pilot that it was still possible to land there.

As Hurricane Ivan threatens the US Gulf Coast, the Amateur Radio Emergency
Service there is being placed on standby alert.

Local Emergency Coordinators are establishing VHF and UHF repeater nets and
monitoring the emergency frequencies of 3965 and 7243kHz.

A longer version of this news story is available on the ARRL website.

Amateurs Handle Emergency Comms in Wake of Hurricane Ivan
As the third major hurricane in two months crossed the Caribbean Sea, radio
amateurs in the region have once again been in action, providing emergency
communications. The Hurricane Watch Net has been in almost continuous
operation on 14325kHz for over three weeks. It coordinates its activities
with WX4NHC at the American National Hurricane Centre, which gathers
real-time weather data and damage reports from radio amateurs in the path of
the hurricane.

In Cuba, IARU Region 2 Emergency Coordinator Arnie Coro, CO2KK, praised the
Hurricane Watch Net for its outstanding efforts in collecting ground-level
weather data from stations in Cuba. CO2KK was the Hurricane Watch Net
liaison station. He and many other Cuban amateurs were active in providing
communications as Hurricane Ivan passed over the north-western end of the
island. Arnie said that nearly 800 Cuban amateurs were involved in handling
emergency traffic related to Hurricane Ivan. He spent some 55 hours in
continuous operation handling emergency traffic to the affected area.

In the Cayman Islands, HMS Richmond was moored off Grand Cayman but had no
communications to shore to direct its humanitarian relief efforts. A member
of the Hurricane Watch Net called London to get a satellite telephone number
for the governor of the Cayman Islands, which was relayed to the Richmond
via the net. The Hurricane Watch Net was also able to advise the Richmond
that it was possible to land an aircraft on the Grand Cayman airport runway.
It had been assumed the runway was unusable until the net learned from a
private pilot that it was still possible to land there.

As Hurricane Ivan threatens the US Gulf Coast, the Amateur Radio Emergency
Service there is being placed on standby alert. Local Emergency Coordinators
are establishing VHF and UHF repeater nets and monitoring the emergency
frequencies of 3965 and 7243kHz.

A longer version of this news story is available on the ARRL website at
http://www.arrl.org/