The IPAWS National Test


IPAWS National Test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA)

Click here for the IPAWS National Test Fact Sheets

The National EAS and WEA test has been postponed to the backup date of October 3, 2018, beginning at 2:18 p.m. EDT.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) on the backup date of October 3, 2018 due to ongoing response efforts to Hurricane Florence. The WEA portion of the test commences at 2:18 p.m. EDT, and the EAS portion follows at 2:20 p.m. EDT. The test will assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure for distribution of a national message and determine whether improvements are needed. Continue reading →

Frequencies to Monitor in Support of Hurricane Florence Recovery Efforts 

Hurricane Watch Net
Day: 14.325MHz
Night: 7.268MHz

SATERN (Salvation Army Team Emergency Network)
National: 14.265MHz
Southern Territory: 7.262MHz

Georgia ARES Emergency Plan
Primary Voice: 3.975MHz
Alternate: 3.982.5MHz, 3.995MHz,
5.330.5MHz, 7.287.5MHz
Special modes: 3.583MHz (PSK), 3.549MHz (CW)

North Carolina ARES Emergency Plan
Primary Voice: 3.923MHz
Alternate: 7.232MHz
CW: 3.573MHz

South Carolina ARES Emergency Plan
Primary Voice: 3.990MHz
Alternate: 3.993.5MHz, 7.232MHz

Concern Rising within Amateur Radio Community over WWV-WWVH Shut Down Proposal

ARRL members and Amateur Radio clubs are expressing increased concern over the inclusion of WWV and WWVH on a list of proposed cuts in the White House’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Fiscal Year 2019 budget request. The proposed cuts also would include the Atomic Clock signal from WWVB used to synchronize specially equipped clocks and watches. Online petitions soliciting signatures include one established by Tom Kelly II, W7NSS, of Portland, Oregon, who would like to see funding for the stations maintained. At this point, the budget item is only a proposal, not a final decision. That would be up to the Congress to decide.

Click here to read the rest of the story at QRZNOW.

Sending Packet P2P in WinLink

A lot of people have been having an issue sending Packet Peer-to-Peer (P2P) using WinLink. The main cause of this appears to be unfamiliarity with the software package (including yours truly).

When sending Packet P2P in WinLink, don’t forget to save the message as “Peer-to-Peer”. To do this, look for the pull-down menu in the top middle of the Message Screen, and select it, then Post to Outbox. You can save it in that format as well if you wish to send it later, or by using a timed connection.

When you run Packet P2P, the message will auto-send without any action on your part. It may take a while, but it will eventually disconnect.

WinLink has three separate message types in the drop-down list: WinLink Message, Radio Only Message, and Peer-to-Peer Message.  WinLink naturally defaults to “WinLink Message” as its preferred type, so if you don’t change the selection, Peer-to-Peer will connect but not forward the message.

Thanks to Ray Cook, WD4SEN, for his sage advice.

73,
Adrian
K4AWG