Hurricane Irma is currently progressing through the USA state of Florida and Hurricane Jose is still threatening the Carribean. At the same time Mexico is still dealing with the after effects of the Earthquake which affected that country earlier this week and the remains of Hurricane Katia. To add to the problems, an X8.2 solar flare  is causing a major HF blackout in the Americas which will potentially affect communications until Monday (UTC).

As Hurricane Irma progresses through Florida there will be more HF frequencies in use by local ARES groups but these will lie mostly outside the IARU Region 1 band allocations ( West Central Florida planning to use 3940, 3950 and 7247 kHz for example ). More information on this should come from the ARRL .

Updates to frequencies in use are;

Mexico;

7060 and 7080 kHz to deal with the Earthquake and Hurricane Katia

St. Maarten

14290 and 7190 kHz ( Voice or PACTOR )

US Wide Area traffic handling

14115, 7115 and if necessary 10115 kHz ( all CW )

Carribean Emergency and Weather Net ( CEWN )

3815, 7188 and possibly 7162 kHz

FNRASEC in France are reaching out to French speaking areas in the Carribean on 14132kHz.

As Irma moves away from the Carribean islands, Radio Amateurs are entering the area to help. The Red Cross asked for assistance on Sint Maarten where communications had been badly affected. Tom Braam PJ2DD volunteered for this task and left September 8th on one of the first relief flights to Sint Maarten with a Pactor HF station and 9 VHF/UHF handheld radios to start providing communications. Frequencies in use are as above.

As always, please listen carefully and avoid causing QRM to frequencies in use for distress and emergency traffic. The operators in the affected areas already have a difficult job, please give them as much room as possible to work.

The National Emergency Network of the Mexican National Society (FMRE) declared on 8th September that they would be using the following frequencies as they prepared for the arrival of Hurricane Katia.

With the magnitude 8.1 Earthquake hitting Mexico at 0449UTC today, assume that these frequencies are in use now as they respond to that disaster.

20m      14,120  kHz
40m        7,060  kHz
80m        3,690  kHz

14325 kHz was also expected to be used to co-ordinate with the USA Hurricane Watch Net.

Various Winlink nodes may also be used to deal with the emergencies.

With HF propagation disturbed after the X9 solar flare on Wednesday, please take all steps to avoid interference to emergency communications activities in the Caribbean. 

Hurricane Irma is getting widespread news coverage and will affect many countried in the Carribean. There are the usual American nets set up to gather information on the storm on 14.265 and 14.325MHz. Cesar Pio Santos, HR2P Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator for IARU Region 2 also reminds is of the following frequencies which may be in use in the area.  As always, for those frequencies within the Region 1 frequency allocations, please take steps to avoid interference to emergency operations.

Dominican Republic
80 meters 3,780 kHz
40 meters 7,065 Khz

Cuba
40 meters Daytime 7,110 kHz as primary frequency, and 7,120 kHz as secondary frequency
Frequencies 7,045, 7,080 kHz for Provincial Network.
80 meters Night time 3,740 kHz as primary frequency, and 3,720 kHz as secondary frequency.

Puerto Rico
80 meters Primary Frequency 3,873 kHz 3,815 kHz Secondary Frequency
40 meters Primary Frequency 7,182 kHz 7,255 kHz Secondary Frequency
20 meters Primary Frequency 14,330 kHz
15 meters Primary Frequency 21.360 kHz
10 meters Primary Frequency 28.330 kHz

Lesser Antilles (Windward & Leeward Islands)

Caribbean Emergency and Weather Net (CEWN)
80 meters 3.815 kHz
40 meters 7.162 kHz when needed

As Hurricane Harvey approaches the Texas coast in the USA, various nets are activating as part of the emergency response. In addition to tropical and hurricane-force winds along the Texas coast and further inland, the main concern with this storm is heavy rain and flooding in an area which has not has a hurricane make landfall for 9 years.

Many of the frequencies used will be outside Region 1 allocations in 80m and 40m but there are some in 20m which may suffer from European QRM if operators are not careful.

The US National Hurricane Centre station WX4NHC will activate at 1900UTC 25th August on 14.325 MHz

The Hurricane Watch Net is operating from 1500 UTC on their daytime frequency of 14.325.00 MHz. When the 20 meter band closes they are likely to move over to 7.268.00 MHz or from 0000 UTC.

VOIP Hurricane Net likely to activate at 2 PM EDT/1800 UTC on Friday 25th August

The Southern Territory SATERN Net will activate for one day (so far) on Saturday, 26 August 2017 during local daylight hours on its regular frequency of 7.262 MHz.

Radio Amateurs are encouraged to listen carefully before transmitting to avoid QRM to Emergency activities.