The VoIP Hurricane Net is looking for Amateur Radio operators who have an EchoLink or IRLP node near or in the projected path of Hurricane Ike. The VoIP Weather Net works in conjunction with WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center.

"What we are looking for is stations that are either in the affected area that can relay reports to our Net or those just outside of the disaster zone," said VoIP Hurricane Net Director of Operations Rob Macedo, KD1CY. "These folks may have contacts in the affected area either through other hams via 40/75 meter HF or friends and family that may be in the affected area able to relay reports via the typical SKYWARN reporting criteria. If they can relay from local EOC traffic from VHF/UHF nets, that is also extremely helpful." Reporting criteria is available on the VoIP Hurricane Net Web site. Macedo said activation information will also be posted.

"If you can't connect to us directly due to local operations," Macedo said, "any assistance in providing liaisons to our Net, or ability to send liaisons to your links, would be extremely helpful. We are willing to coordinate that as needed."

The VoIP Hurricane Net meets on the *WX-TALK* Node: 7203/IRLP 9219 reflector system. According to Macedo, a call-up of Texas Gulf stations and stations outside the affected area that have contact with the affected area will be done at 9:30 PM (EDT) on Thursday evening, September 11. There will be a full Net activation starting Friday morning or early Friday afternoon that will last through Saturday night and into Sunday morning as long as Ike is a hurricane.

As of 8 AM Thursday, Hurricane Ike, currently a Category 2 storm, was 575 miles east of Brownsville, Texas and about 270 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), if Ike follows its current track, the center of the storm will be approaching the northwestern Gulf of Mexico coast sometime late Friday, possibly intensifying into a Category 3 hurricane over the next day or two.