TS/Hurricane Milton Master Thread

[StoliRaz]

I've been listening to Florida's SARNET for the past 2 days. There's some fool on there who keeps meowing, open keying and was mocking the state operator. I can't wait to read the press release when the FCC finds him. Some other ham was cursing him out earlier this afternoon 🤣

It's a good source of information though, heard the N Ft Myers tornado called in by a ham down there. He sounded really shaken up

 

[batdude]

Hearing reports of significant tornado damage down in St. Lucie County.

 

[Computrguy]

Palm Beach County Fire had a call for a tornado touch down. Number of people injured and over 100 houses damaged.

 

[Nasby]

This has to be one of the most annoying feeds online. Non stop clicking and squelching mixed with static and chopped transmissions from Baofeng operators that can barely hit the repeater.

 

[StoliRaz]

This has to be one of the most annoying feeds online. Non stop clicking and squelching mixed with static and chopped transmissions from Baofeng operators that are barely hitting the repeater.

SARNET? Yeah, half of the annoyance is that, the other half is people asking for a mic check which isn't allowed once the state takes control over the system for the storm response, it's supposed to be as open as possible for emergency use only. It was doing the clicking a lot more today than yesterday. I wasn't sure if it was the Baofungus bunch or that troll guy keying up constantly to annoy everyone. Things don't sound as crisp today as they did yesterday probably due to the storm. (Could be the feed provider's feed or antenna)

 

[batdude]

I had my rarely used AnyTone 2/70cm mobile powered up on SARNET today. I turned it off. Whoever controls that network needs to take a really hard look at how and who is using it - and disconnect problem sites.

 

[dave3825]

Hearing reports of significant tornado damage down in St. Lucie County.

Sadly it’s on the news that there have been some deaths as a result of those tornados. St Lucie first responders and Florida national guard were sifting through rubble in before the bulk of Milton arrived.

 

[MTS2000des]

This has to be one of the most annoying feeds online. Non stop clicking and squelching mixed with static and chopped transmissions from Baofeng operators that can barely hit the repeater.

Yep, lots of unlicensed Bowelturds with roger beeps filling up the network. Shame. Might be a good reason for them to consider overhauling that system to MotoTRBO with RAS- put the brakes on the kiddies and unauthorized users.

 

[Nasby]

Yep, lots of unlicensed Bowelturds with roger beeps filling up the network. Shame. Might be a good reason for them to consider overhauling that system to MotoTRBO with RAS- put the brakes on the kiddies and unauthorized users.

Hopefully they do something. It’s a pretty pathetic setup.

 

[OpSec]

Well the SARNET streamer seems to be quite put off...

UPDATE: This connected network has been taken over by the government and is used by them exclusively when a hurricane hits! They kick amateur radio operators off of amateur radio dedicated frequencies. They limit Amateur Radio Licensees use of the spectrum that they have been licensed to use. The elite few that run this system love to power trip on amateur radio operators that violate the rules! I may be discontinuing the feed in the future as the system has become useless. No weather reports, no damage reports, no welfare communications, no important updates, and no discussion of any kind! There is really no reason to stream it anymore. During hurricane’s Ian, Helene, and Milton, 80% of what you heard is power tripping state officials and self appointed managers scolding amateur radio operators, and warning them off their system! This is a sad situation. Give Back Our System! ​

 

[dave3825]

Been listening for 10 minutes and have not heard anything other than a few beeps and static.

 

[dave3825]

Totally understandable, but still unimaginable not seeing any planes on the ground at any of the major FL airports. 1 or 2 here and there but that's really it.

 

[StoliRaz]

Well the SARNET streamer seems to be quite put off...

UPDATE: This connected network has been taken over by the government and is used by them exclusively when a hurricane hits! They kick amateur radio operators off of amateur radio dedicated frequencies. They limit Amateur Radio Licensees use of the spectrum that they have been licensed to use. The elite few that run this system love to power trip on amateur radio operators that violate the rules! I may be discontinuing the feed in the future as the system has become useless. No weather reports, no damage reports, no welfare communications, no important updates, and no discussion of any kind! There is really no reason to stream it anymore. During hurricane’s Ian, Helene, and Milton, 80% of what you heard is power tripping state officials and self appointed managers scolding amateur radio operators, and warning them off their system! This is a sad situation. Give Back Our System! ​

LOL..apparently he's been put off for awhile. 2 days ago was the first time I ever listened to it. Never knew the history behind it.

 

[KF6DGN]

Authoritarians in government always looking for more power. Why would any radio club put a repeater on SARNET? Shut them down!

 

[bravo14]

I left Wed morning and headed north into Baker County. I left this Fri morning head back home. Traffic was good on 75 til i4 than home. i4 west bond had atleast 15-20 miles if not more back up. I got home and looked outside and no damage beside a fence and no water came in and have power and internet. I was looking at the radar Tues night into Wed morning before I left and the eye kept going over my place. During landfall it shifted south of me.

 

[billy2047]

I'm seeing alot of power company trucks (southwestern electric power for example) coming in from other state to assist and I saw a few keying up their radio but i don't see anything pop up on my local 800 MHz trunking system. Are they using simplex? if so what band should I be monitoring? Thanks

 

[AK9R]

AES Indiana sent some trucks and crews today.

 

[bravo14]

I'm seeing alot of power company trucks (southwestern electric power for example) coming in from other state to assist and I saw a few keying up their radio but i don't see anything pop up on my local 800 MHz trunking system. Are they using simplex? if so what band should I be monitoring? Thanks

Depends sometimes they are patched or use the city/county radios. If you have a scanner can do Close Call you can try that.

 

[dave3825]

I'm seeing alot of power company trucks (southwestern electric power for example) coming in from other state to assist and I saw a few keying up their radio but i don't see anything pop up on my local 800 MHz trunking system. Are they using simplex? if so what band should I be monitoring? Thanks

The ones you saw tx'ing were most likely in simplex and talking to others from their agency, and not the agency they are helping. Catch the entities name and state and look them up in the database and program their freqs into a temp scan or favorites list. Custom band searches might yield some results also.



Help coming from as far North as Canada.

 

[batdude]

I'm seeing alot of power company trucks (southwestern electric power for example) coming in from other state to assist and I saw a few keying up their radio but i don't see anything pop up on my local 800 MHz trunking system. Are they using simplex? if so what band should I be monitoring? Thanks

short of using a Uniden with CloseCall, get the name of the company, their home location, and do an FCC lookup + look them up on the RR dB. Chances are they are using simplex on one of their already licensed services.

that said, I heard (?) FPL gives portable radios to some of the crews, based on where they are going. The FPL system did very well during and after the storm. I just scanned the 900 band with DSD+ and none of the coastal sites down to the Broward area are reporting offline. YMMV

If anyone is in the Tampa area, how is the TECO system operating?