[CQ-Contest] Hurricane Ike and the September VHF Contest

[Richard DiDonna NN3W]

I have to agree with Dave.  There will be some very serious stuff going on down in the Gulf starting tonight and tomorrow, with a high possibility of loss of life, damage in the hundreds of millions of dollars (especially if Houston take it on the nose), and lots of traditional communications routes that will be down.

As far as I am concerned, it is imperative that operators in the contest be cognizant of the emergency ops taking place above 14.300, and should, frankly consider avoiding that swath of 20 meters this weekend.

I'm a strong proponent of using the bands when normal conditions exist, and believe that many nets are insufferable in their complaining, but this situation is quite extraordinary, and the contest community will get a SEVERE black eye if there is a perception that the contest has interfered with actual health/welfare or emergency traffic.

My thoughts...

73 Rich NN3W

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Robbins K1TTT" <k1ttt at arrl.net>
To: "'Kutzko, Sean, KX9X'" <kx9x at arrl.org>; <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 5:51 PM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Hurricane Ike and the September VHF Contest


> Also, wae ssb is this weekend, so watch out for the hurricane watch net and
> other relief nets that may be on the hf bands.  For Europeans listening
> split in the upper parts of 40m, if you are told you are listening on a net
> frequency or hear a net on your listening frequency please pick a new one.
> Stateside operators should be sure to listen on the qsx frequency to make
> sure you aren't stomping on a net.  This may also be a problem in the upper
> parts of 20m where various nets may also be operating during the day.
> 
> 
> David Robbins K1TTT
> e-mail: mailto:k1ttt at arrl.net
> web: http://www.k1ttt.net
> AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net
> 
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:cq-contest-
>> bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Kutzko, Sean, KX9X
>> Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 17:26
>> To: cq-contest at contesting.com; VHF Contesting Reflector;
>> vhf at w6yx.stanford.edu
>> Subject: [CQ-Contest] Hurricane Ike and the September VHF Contest
>> 
>> Hi folks-
>> 
>> Hurricane Ike is currently slated to land near Houston, TX early
>> Saturday morning. While there are no known emergency communications
>> taking place on any VHF+ SSB or CW frequencies, please be mindful of the
>> situation in Texas and the Gulf coast during this weekend's ARRL
>> September VHF QSO Party; if you find yourself being asked to QSY because
>> of traffic in or out of the affected area, please be cooperative and
>> understanding.
>> 
>> Thanks for your help.
>> 
>> 73,
>> 
>> Sean Kutzko, KX9X
>> Contest Branch Manager
>> 
>> ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio
>> 225 Main Street
>> Newington CT 06111-1494
>> Telephone: 860-594-0232
>> Fax: 860-594-0259
>> email:skutzko at arrl.org
>> 
>> 
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> 
> 
> 
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