Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (B)
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Oct 13 2017 08:21 am
HAMS MEET THE CHALLENGE OF NATE
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Elsewhere, tropical storm Nate built to hurricane
force, and ARES command centers were prepped, as we hear from Bobby
Best, WX4ALA.
BOBBY: Tropical storm system Nate left its deadly mark on portions
of Central America; with torrential tropical rains, flooding, and
storm surge. The Southeastern U.S. was spared what, in the last
hours before landfall, was feared would be a far stronger storm,
but amateur radio operators were there to offer communications
assistance from Nate's unorganized appearance on satellites, the
southeastern Caribbean sea, as early as October 2.
Nate was officially upgraded from a trough of low pressure to a
tropical depression at 1500 Zulu on October 4.
Early on, National Hurricane NET station WX4NHC, along with hams
from Central America, and monitoring stations in the States, were
doing their best to relay both storm reports, and calls for help,
from Central America.
Nate was upgraded to a minimal tropical storm at 1200 Zulu on
October 5th, and moved ashore in Nicaragua shortly thereafter.
By the time Nate had moved off shore, and was passing through the
very warm waters off the Yucatan, it had already left just under
40 deaths in its wake. By October 7th, then Category 1 Hurricane
Nate had not only broken the record for the fastest forward moving
hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, but weather models continued to
change their forecast with almost every update.
States of emergency were declared for portions the Florida Panhandle,
the entire state of Alabama, multiple counties on and near the coast
of Mississippi, and multiple parishes of Louisiana.
These declarations put ARES command centers in all four states,
especially Alabama, on alert.
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said "Nate was going to be an Alabama
hurricane" and late fears were predicting that by Saturday afternoon,
Nate was expected to make landfall along a path similar to Katrina
in 2005, and Camille in 1969, but as a Category 2 hurricane.
From my vantage point, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa County ARES
members manned station WA4EMA at The Tuscaloosa EOC, monitoring, and
relaying traffic from ARES members at the state EOC in Clanton, and
on the coast in Mobile.
Fortunately, Nate never reached Category 2 strength, and landfall was
made just before midnight Saturday night in extreme Southeast
Louisiana, and secondary landfall was made just West of Biloxi,
Mississippi at 12:30am Sunday as a Category 1 hurricane.
Nate then rapidly moved North-Northeast in Alabama, but by 10:14 am
Sunday morning, inland tropical storm warnings were already being
canceled in west Alabama, as far north as Tuscaloosa.
In the U.S. it seems damage was limited to high surge waters along
the Gulf Coast, inland flooding mainly close to the coast, and trees
and power lines down, with just over 100 thousand customers at any
given time without power.
Because of Nate's fast forward movement though, and quick downgrading
in strength, first responders and power company officials were able to
quickly respond, and all in the Southeast were very lucky, considering
late fears.
ARES members' pre-planned emergency drills and actual deployment, came
through in great fashion though. S.E.T. drills are what help ARES
members to be prepared for the real thing, like Nate was.
The only U.S. deaths reported were; a rain soaked road related traffic
accident on I-24 in Tennessee, and a firefighter struck and killed
while cleaning up road debris in North Carolina.
Reporting from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm
Bobby Best; WX4ALA.
**
ARRL FOUNDATION ACCEPTING SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: If you know a young ham with a promising future, this
report by Geri Goodrich, KF5KRN, is for you.
GERI'S REPORT: If you're a licensed amateur, planning to pursue a
higher education - or if you know someone who is - you might start
thinking now about the ARRL Foundation Scholarship program. There are
some new opportunities, and new scholarships for the 2018 award year.
More than 80 scholarships are being made available, with funding in
the range from $500 to $5,000. Each scholarship has different
requirements and qualifications, so you'll need to visit the ARRL
Foundation Scholarship Program page on the league's website, to sort
through the list. The new scholarships being offered include the
Ladies Amateur Radio Association of Orange County Scholarship, the
Medical Amateur Radio Council Scholarship, the Harry A. Hodges W6YOO
Scholarship, and the Old Man International Sideband Society Scholarship,
among others. Applicants should complete the form available on the ARRL
website, and have until Feb. 15 2018 to send along their most recent
academic transcript. Please note, however, that the applications
themselves must be received by the ARRL by the 31st of January.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Geri Goodrich, KF5KRN.
(ARRL)
**
PARACHUTE MOBILE'S UP AND ON THE AIR AGAIN
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: You may remember Newsline's report this summer about
Parachute Mobile's 28th mission, held in August. Well, the skydiving,
airplane-jumping hams are ready to call QRZ from the clouds again on
Mission 29. It's taking place Saturday, October 21, in conjunction
with PACIFICON, ARRL's Pacific Division Convention. This time, they're
going all out, convention-style: In addition to having volunteers at
the Drop Zone in California, and at the relay location, the team will
have a table at the convention site, to keep attendees posted on what's
happening. If you're going to the convention, check them out. Or, if
you're going to be on the air, be listening on 20 meters and 2 meters,
for the big leaps when they happen. For details about the mission,
visit their website parachutemobile dot org (parachutemobile.org)
(ROB FENN KC6TYD)
---
� Synchronet � The Thunderbolt BBS - wx1der.dyndns.org
