09/24/2024
Amateur radio is responding to two different tropical events as of Tuesday,
September 24, 2024 at 1:00 PM Eastern.
Hurricane John
The National Hurricane Center reports that Hurricane John made landfall on
Mexico's southern Pacific coast late Monday evening about 80 miles east of the
resort of Acapulco as a Category 3 storm. Winds were reported up to 120 miles
per hour (mph) before the storm began weakening back to tropical storm status
early Tuesday. Life-threatening flash flooding is expected across portions of
southern Mexico during the next few days.
Tropical Storm Helena
Meanwhile, hurricane and storm surge watches cover much of the Gulf Coast of
Florida Tuesday morning as a system churning in the Caribbean Sea was just
designated as Tropical Storm Helene and is projected to strengthen into a major
storm. Residents should ensure they have their hurricane plan in place and also
follow the advice given by local officials.
Florida declared a state of emergency for 41 counties along and near the
state's Gulf Coast because of threats from the storm. If the storm makes
landfall as a hurricane, it would be the fourth landfalling hurricane in the
mainland U.S. this year, joining Beryl, Debby, and Francine.
The Hurricane Watch Net[1] is making tentative plans to activate Thursday for
what is expected to be Hurricane Helene, currently forecasted to be a Category
3 hurricane at landfall. With its fast forward speed, it is expected to remain
a hurricane well into southern Georgia before weakening to a tropical storm.
HWN Activation Plans:
Thursday
o 20 meters: 14.325 MHz (USB) at 10:00 AM EDT (1400 UTC) until we lose
propagation at night.
o 40 meters: 7.268 MHz (LSB) at 10:00 AM EDT (1400 UTC). We will remain
active on this frequency throughout the day and overnight for as long as
propagation allows. If propagation allows us to operate all night, we will
suspend operations at 7:30 AM EDT Friday to allow the Waterway Net to conduct
their daily net.
Friday
o 20 meters: we will resume operations on 14.325 MHz at 7:00 AM EDT (1000
UTC).
o 40 meters: we will resume operations on 7.268 MHz at 8:30 AM EDT (1230
UTC).
Any change to the Hurricane Watch Net plans will be on their website,
www.hwn.org[2], and social media page.
ARRL will report current updates and amateur radio activations as the storms
move inward.
[1]
http://www.hwn.org/
[2]
http://www.hwn.org/
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