M.A.A.R.C. 2 Meter Net

I'm NCS tonight on the M.A.A.R.C. 2 meter net. Due to the current Hurricane and other Tropical Storms in the Atlantic I think I will talk about the Hurricane Watch Net.
The Hurricane Watch Net was established in 1965 for the purpose of providing support to the National Hurricane Center during times of tropical storm emergencies. Through our associated network of Amateur Radio Operators, emergency communications support to the NHC is of primary interest.
The Hurricane Watch Net and the operation at WX4NHC at the National Hurricane Center in Miami are manned entirely by volunteers. We activate whenever a system has achieved hurricane status and is within 300 miles of populated land mass or at the request of the National Hurricane Center.

Net operations are conducted on 14.325 MHz.

The Hurricane Watch Net serves two purposes:

1. To disseminate the latest National Weather Service advisories on active hurricanes in both the Atlantic and Pacific side of the Americas. This includes transmissions to any maritime amateur radio operators that may be in the affected area.
   
2. To gather real-time ground level weather conditions from amateurs in the affected areas and to get these reports to the National Hurricane Center via WX4NHC in a timely and accurate fashion.
   

Along with these weather reports, often come reports on damaged roads power outages, structural damage, phone and communications links, and of course reports on injuries and deaths. These non-weather report items are usually relayed to other nets in operation on 20, 40, and 80 who are focusing on Health & Welfare, or by the crew at WX4NHC to the appropriate agencies that stay in touch with the National Hurricane Center.
For more info on the Hurricane Watch Net visit their web-site; http://www.hwn.org/