The hurricane season is upon us.

One just slammed through Florida. Although the weather pros downgraded it from "hurricane" to "tropical storm" status, it was a destructive storm nonetheless. And there are likely to be more chewing up the coasts of the US in the coming weeks as the hurricane season progresses.

So, batten down the hatches and tune in to the Hurricane Watch Net Web site where you can listen to streaming audio of the on-the-air net whenever it is active.

The Hurricane Watch Net and the operation at WX4NHC at the National Hurricane Center in Miami are manned entirely by volunteers for the purpose of providing communications to and from hurricane-affected areas. They activate on 14.325 MHz whenever a weather system achieves hurricane status and is within 300 miles of populated land mass, or at the request of the National Hurricane Center.

The net has been serving the National Hurricane Center since 1965, so it has lots of expertise on the subject that is reflected in the information and tools that are available on its Web site. You would naturally expect the Web site to contain information concerning current storms and up front on its home page, you will find the current status of "Active Storms." Up front, you will also find links for hurricane preparedness, storm reporting, storm tracking maps and such.

Check out the Web site now and familiarize yourself with the net before the next storm hits your area.

Until next time, keep on surfin'!

Editor's note: More than once, Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, has battened down the hatches and turned on the ham radio in anticipation of a storm. To communicate with Stan, send him e-mail or add comments to his blog. By the way, every installment of Surfin' is indexed here, so go look it up.

Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor