• William Feist

SATERN Activating For Hurricane Lane

NHQ – Alexandria, VA (08/24/2018) – As Hurricane Lane continues to threaten the island state of Hawaii with tropical force winds and heavy rain resulting in major flooding and landslides, the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) is activating its International SATERN SSB (Voice) Net. 

Beginning Friday, 24 August 2018, the Net will be active on its’ regular frequency of 14.265 MHz from 1:00 PM (Central) / 1800 Z through 6:00 PM (Central) / 2300 Z. 

The primary mission(s) of the Net activation is to:

1. Receive and deliver Health & Welfare messages from the State of Hawaii to people outside of the impact area.
2. Support The Salvation Army if needed or requested.
3. Support our partners, including emergency communications partners, if needed or requested.

All amateur radio / SATERN operators, particularly those on the West Coast of the United States that regularly hear Hawaii, are asked to help by checking into the Net on 14.265 MHz beginning 24 August.

It is likely that the Net will be active on both Friday and Saturday, 24-25 August.  Each day, a decision will be made about whether to activate the Net the next day based primarily on the following factors:

1. Scope of damage to the State of Hawaii – especially its communications infrastructure.
2. Amount of messages coming from Hawaii into the Net.
3. The needs of The Salvation Army.
4. Requests from other partners communications.

SATERN is working in coordination with its emergency communications partners such as the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Voice-Over-IP Weather / Hurricane Net (VoIPWX.net), the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN), the National Hurricane Center (WX4NHC), and the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS).

American Radio Relay League (ARRL):

ARRL Emergency Preparedness Manager Mike Corey (KI1U) reports that the Hawaii Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) has activated its network.  Hawaii ARES is engaged with Hawaii VOAD and on standby to assist shelter operations.  ARES is also assisting the National Weather Service and the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HIEMA). 

ARRL Puertor Rico Section Manager Oscar Resto (KP4RF), who was in charge of the ARRL’s response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017, is visting in Hawaii and has offered to assist as well.

ARRL Headquarters is working to deploy seven (7) HamAid (amateur radio equipment) kits to Hawaii ARES. 

A current ICS-205 (Communications Plan) can be found at:  http://bit.ly/2o3sN9v

VoIP Weather / Hurricane Net (VoIPWX.net):

The VoIPWX.net Net Manager Rob Macedo (KD1CY) is providing regular weather and damage reports from their digital weather reporting system.  The VoIPWX.net has supported Hawaii and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) in the past (most recently in 2010) as there are many digital amateur radio weather stations on the islands.

Latest rainfall reports from Hawaii transmitted to the VoIPWX.net range from 3.89 to 31.34 inches.  Wind gusts reported range from 40 mph to 74 mph.  74 mph is the low end of a category 1 hurricane.

The network also provided weather information reported by Buoy #51002 in the Pacific Ocean which went through the eyewall of Hurricane Lane earlier.

The VoIP Hurricane Net management team continues to monitor the situation and will gather key weather reports periodically.

Hurricane Watch Net (HWN):

HWN is currently on standby to support partners such as SATERN and the ARRL.  It is also supporting the Maritime Mobile Service Net which has handled some requests out of Hawaii.

National Hurricane Center Amateur Radio (WX4NHC):

The National Hurricane Center amateur radio station (WX4NHC) is on standby to assist with communication between the NHC and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) if needed.

Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS):

U.S. Army MARS reports that they have not received any requests for support at this time and remain on standby.