Hurricane

September 17, 2020 -- The FCC has granted ARRL's request for a temporary waiver to permit amateur data transmissions at a higher symbol rate than currently permitted by section 97.307(f) of the FCC amateur service rules. The FCC acted to facilitate hurricane and wildfire relief communications within the US and its territories.

ARRL sought the waiver for amateur radio licensees directly involved with hurricane and wildfire relief via HF using PACTOR 4 modems for communication within the US and its territories, relative to several impending hurricane situations and wildfires in the western US. ARRL's petition noted that Section 97.307(f) of the amateur rules prevents the use of PACTOR 4, a data protocol that permits relatively high-speed data transmission. ARRL also noted that past FCC temporary waivers have allowed this protocol during similar events. The waiver is limited to 60 days and is for use by amateurs involved in communications in support of US western wildfire relief and hurricane recovery.

The Winlink Team asks that all amateur RMS stations capable of operating on PACTOR 4 please enable this capability immediately, and disable it in 60 days.

September 2, 2019--The FCC granted the ARRL's request, similar to past hurricane emergencies, for a temporary waiver of Section 97.307(f) through 5 PM Eastern on Friday, September 6, to permit the use of PACTOR 4 in response to Hurricane Dorian. The ARRL has published an article on this today.

--The Winlink Team

Ten years ago this month, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast of the US. Katrina was the deadliest hurricane to strike the United States since the Palm Beach-Lake Okeechobee hurricane of September 1928. It produced catastrophic damage and was the costliest U. S. hurricane on record, says the National Hurricane Center.

Below is an excerpt from "A Failure of Initiave", the report of a select committee of the US Congress to investigate the preparation for and response to Hurricane Katrina. Most say it is the ultimate "after action" report. The NCS is the National Communications System. SHARES is the Shared Resources High Frequency Radio Program, then run by NCS. Though Winlink was not used as a part of SHARES then, we are proud to say it is now integrated into the organization, and uses trained volunteer radio amateurs and government operators licensed through SHARES and the Department of Homeland Security. During the Katrina recovery, Winlink was fully credited for it's use by radio amateurs. ... (click 'read more' below)