Florida Hurricane Net

The Flagler County ARES members with the North Brevard Amateur Radio Club has organize the Florida Hurricane Net using D-Star and REFØ34A for a State-Wide EmComm Hurricane Net.

"ARES" Amateur Radio Emergency Service is a registered trade mark of the American radio Relay League, Incorporated and is used by permission.

Public Service, Training and Emergency Communications are an integral part of the Goals of the Hurricane Net.

Any Amateur Radio EmComm operator or organization is welcomed to participate in the net.

The nets will be hosted by each of the 3 ARRL Florida Sections on a rotating basis which also spreads the training so that all are prepared and can back-up each other when a hurricane strikes Florida.

Brevard County will be using the Brevard D-Star repeater KJ4OXT located in Cocoa, Florida on the frequency of 147.030 with a positive offset. The repeater will automatic link at 8:55PM to REFØ34A for the nets.

All participating repeaters and Dongle users should connect directly to REFØ34A. We will hold nets and pass traffic from the ARES Groups to the County Emergency Management Agency's.

The goals of the Hurricane Net include monitoring Weather Advisories and Tropical forecast, hold nets to gather information and pass it to our County Emergency Management Agency's, help assist in disasters and to work with the damage assessment teams to pass information to the served agency's.

Click on image to enlarge:

Flagler County ARES members meant with the North Brevard ARC ARES members at the Daytona Ale House to form and organize the Florida Hurricane Net (FHN) on May 8th, 2010

Both ARES Groups saw the need for a State-Wide hurricane net used as a training and emergency communications net to pass traffic back to emergency management agencies in the disaster area. It was also decided that the net would benefit the Damage assessment teams in the field by sending damage information and pictures back to the served Agencies using D-Rats.

D-Rats is a multi-platform integrated tool for emergency communications. Thanks to KK7DS for the development of this software.

It was decided that the Florida Hurricane Net should be held on Monday evenings at 9:PM starting on May 10th, at 9:PM. All participating repeaters and Dongle users should link directly to REF034A. The net has moved to REF034A starting June 21st. See Florida Hurricane Net News below.

Left to Right
Phil K5BBC, Doug N4FPS, Rob KG4HUF, Eddie KJ4LRB, Bob N6USP, Cindy KDØEQN, Mike WB6RTH, and Gary KJ4BOJ. Rick KC2HFL is not pictured, he is the camera man. Thanks Rick for the good picture.

Note: The above PDF files to be downloaded is in ".PDF" format and requires Adobe Acrobat© Reader--available free for most computer platforms (just click below):

Net Protocol and Purpose

The Florida Hurricane Net is a D-STAR net that meets each Monday night at 2100 ET. The Net is currently held on D-STAR Reflector Ø34A.

The primary purpose of the Net is to provide training to ARES members in the three Florida ARRL Sections and hurricane emergency communications in the State of Florida for Served Agencies if a hurricane is threatening or strikes Florida. Although this net is focused on training and support for ARES members and their served agencies, any Amateur Radio EMCOMM Operator or organization is welcome and encouraged to participate in the net. In addition to hurricanes, the net can and will be activated by any major emergency of state wide or regional significance where it would be necessary to provide communications for and to served agencies and / or the State Emergency Operations Center.

To participate in the net, repeaters and Dongle users should connect directly to REFØ34A. D-STAR stations using their local repeater should have their radio programmed for local use with CQCQCQ in the UR field and their local repeater's gateway in RPT2.

The net will take check-ins using the Quick Key Format to transmit your Callsign. When your Section is called, key your radio or Dongle for one second only when the frequency is clear. Net Control will acknowledge all check-ins seen. If your station is not acknowledged, be patient, Net Control will ask for additional check-ins.

Florida Hurricane Net News

ARRL SET 2011

D-Star will be included in the 2011 SET involving the ARRL South Eastern Section.

N6USP will be conducting a Florida Hurricane Net.

The Scenario for 2011 will be a hurricane will hit the East Coast of Florida and will run up the Coast line into GA.

Objectives for the 2011 SET using D-STAR and D-Rats on the FL-EOC reflector.

Establish a net on KJ4OXT repeater using Reflector D-Rats FL-EOC reflector
Establish contact with all EOC’s in the Southern Florida Section
Establish contact with all served agencies that are participating in the SET
Attempt to communicate with all participating shelters
Traffic will be sent using D-Rats by linking to Tallassee K4WAK-B repeater using fl-eoc1 reflector

All D-Star Operators are encourage to participate in the net for training

Net Control Operators are being sought to help run the Florida Hurricane Net. If you are a Florida ARES member and wish to help with Net Control duties, please send an email to the net Manager Bob Jones, N6USP and he will provide your contact information to the appropriate Florida ARRL Section contact. Net Control responsibility is rotated among the three Florida ARRL Sections.

Current Radar Conditions for Florida

FLORIDA HURRICANE NET (FHN)