Ham radio and Hurricane Matthew

Amateur radio is once again playing a role in disaster communications, as the southeastern U.S. copes with its largest hurricane in a decade.  As of this posting, Hurricane Matthew, a slow moving powerful cyclone, was moving up the Atlantic coast of Florida and is expected to impact Georgia and South Carolina over the weekend.

Mass evacuations were ordered along coastal Florida and South Carolina, forcing millions of people to move inland. At the same time, the Hurricane Watch Net, which provides real-time reports to the National Hurricane Center, went on the air with its highest (Level 5) state of alert.

HWN, using ham operators dispersed throughout the U.S and  Caribbean, provides information to WX4NHC, the ham station of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The daytime HF frequency is 14.325 MHz, while nighttime shifts to 7.268 MHz. Listen to spotter information via steaming audio at this link provided by Broadcastify.com.

In addition, ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) was activated across all of Florida on Thursday, with local hams directed to the the SARNET linked UHF repeater system, a cooperative venture of the state of Florida and the ham radio community.

 "This net is for life safety communications," ARRL Northern Florida Section Manager Steve Szabo, WB4OMM, stressed. "This net is not for collecting weather data, idle conversations, or 'chit chat.'" The Statewide Amateur Radio Network (SARnet) also has been activated for statewide use for life safety communications, continuing until terminated.

ARRL also provides this information about frequencies that may be used by FEMA:

"The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced it may use several 60 meter frequencies for interoperability with other authorized stations, federal government stations, and amateur radio stations during the Hurricane Matthew response. It is requested that all stations stay clear of these frequencies unless they have emergency traffic relative to Hurricane Matthew. The amateur radio service has secondary status on 60 meters.

The suppressed-carrier frequencies (dial frequencies) are 5330.5 kHz, 5346.5 kHz, 5357.0 kHz, 5371.5 kHz, and 5403.5 kHz (USB).

FEMA Region 4 in Atlanta will be using the amateur radio call sign KF4EMA to allow FEMA-licensed amateurs to provide situational awareness on various amateur radio nets within Region 4 relative to the Hurricane Matthew response."