NOAA's hurricane hunters fly specially equipped WP-3D Orion aircraft into the upper levels of hurricanes in the Atlantic and the Caribbean. More than any other source, these flights provide the National Hurrican Center with up-to-the-minute information with which they can accurately determine a hurricane's vital meteorological statistics. This raw data is also the basis for predictions concerning a particular storm's trajectory and strength. The hurricane hunting aircraft are equipped to relay vital data to Coral Gables via several differing paths. Some reporting aircraft are equipped to telemeter data to either of the two Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES). GOES East is positioned at 75 degrees W, and GOES West at 135 degrees W. Some voice comms are routed via NASA's ATS-3 Satellite. Another system, called Hurricane hunter Aircraft Packet Project (HHAPP) involves the use of an airborne packet radio digipeater, which puts out 10 watts of power on the 2-meter hamband. Fortunately for the casual SWL, voice comms are still quite active on the HF bands. Here are several frequencies to watch: Air-to-ground from recon aircraft: 3407.0, 5562.0, 6673.0, 8876.0, 10015.0, 11398.0, 13267, 21937 Air-to-Air recon aircraft: 123.05 mHz (primary), 304.8 mHz (secondary), 4701 kHz (backup) HHAPP digipeater: 145.01 mHz Air-to-GOES satellite recon data uplink for NOAA P-3 aircraft: 405 mHz GOES satellite-to-ground data: 1614 mHz In order to transmit as much information in as brief a time as possible, NOAA uses several different reporting codes. RECCO is used for telemetry comms, AFOS code is used in the HHAPP system, and VORTEX code is used for voice comms. RECCO REPORTING CODE Group # Format 1 9XXX9 2 GGggi(d) 3 YQL(a)L(a)L(a) 4 L(o)L(o)L(o)Bf(c) 5 h(a)h(a)h(a)d(t)d(a) 6 ddfff 7 TTT(d)T(d)w 8 /jHHH 9 1k(n)N(s)N(s)N(s) 10 Ch(s)h(s)H(t)H(t) 11 Ch(s)h(s)H(t)H(t) 12 Ch(s)h(s)H(t)H(t) 13 1K(n)N(s)N(s)N(s) 14 Ch(s)h(s)H(t)H(t) 15 Ch(s)h(s)H(t)H(t) 16 Ch(s)h(s)H(t)H(t) 17 4ddff 18 6W(s)S(s)W(d)d(w) 19 6W(s)S(s)W(d)d(w) 20 7I(r)I(t)S(b)S(e) 21 7h(i)h(i)H(i)H(i) 22 8d(r)d(r)S(r)O(e) 23 8E(w)E(l)c(e)i(e) 24 9V(i)T(w)T(w)T(w) GROUP 1 9XXX9 (9's are non-significant group indicators) 222 Sec One Observation without radar capability 555 Sec Three (Intermediate) observation with or without radar capability 777 Sec One Observation with radar capability GROUP 2 GGggi(d) GGgg Time of observation (hours/minutes UTC) i(d) Dew point indicator: 0 No dew point capability/acft below 10 km 1 No dew point capability/acft at or above 10 km 2 No dew point capability/acft below 10 km and flight level temp -50 C or colder 3 No dew point capability/acft at or above 10 km and flight lvl temp -50 C or colder 4 Dew point capability/acft below 10 km 5 Dew point capability/acft at or above 10 km 6 Dew point capability/acft below 10 km and flight lvl temp -50 C or colder 7 Dew point capability/acft at or above 10 km and flight lvl temp -50 C or colder GROUP 3 YQL(a)L(a)L(a) Y Day of week (Sunday=1) Q Octant: 0 0-90 [deg] W Northern 1 90W - 180W Northern 2 180 - 90E Northern 3 90 - 0E Northern 4 not used 5 0 - 90W Southern 6 90 - 180W Southern 7 180 - 90E Southern 8 90 - 0E Southern L(a)L(a)L(a) Latitude, degrees and tenths GROUP 4 L(o)L(o)L(o)Bf(c) L(o)L(o)L(o) Longitude, degrees and tenths (hundreds omitted from 100 - 180 deg.) B Turbulence: 0 None 1 Light turbulence 2 Moderate turbulence in clear air, infrequent 3 Moderate turbulence in clear air, frequent 4 Moderate turbulence in cloud, infrequent 5 Moderate turbulence in cloud, frequent 6 Severe turbulence in clear air, infrequent 7 Severe turbulence in clear air, frequent 8 Severe turbulence in cloud, infrequent 9 Severe turbulence in cloud, frequent f(c) Flight conditions: 0 In the clear 8 In and out of clouds 9 In clouds all the time (continuous IMC) / Impossible to determine due to darkness or other cause GROUP 5 h(a)h(a)h(a)d(t)d(a) h(a)h(a)h(a) Pressure altitude of aircraft reported to the nearest decameter d(t) Type of wind: 0 Spot wind 1 Average wind / No wind reported d(a) Method of obtaining wind: 0 Doppler radar or inertial systems 1 Navigation equipment and/or techniques / Navigator unable to determine wind or wind not compatible GROUP 6 ddfff dd Wind direction at flight level (tens of degs. true) fff Wind speed at flight level (knots) GROUP 7 TTT(d)T(d)w TT Temperature (whole degrees C) T(d)T(d) Dew point (whole degrees C)(wWhen encoding negative temps, 50 is added to absolute value of temps with the hundreds figure, if any, being omitted.) w Present weather: 0 Clear 1 Scattered (trace to 4/8 cloud coverage) 2 Broken (5/8 to 7/8 cloud coverage) 3 Overcast/undercast 4 Fog, thick dust or haze 5 Drizzle 6 Rain (continuous or intermittent precipitation from stratiform clouds) 7 Snow or rain and snow mixed 8 Shower(s)(continuous or intermittent precipitation from cumuliform clouds) 9 Thunderstorm(s) / Unknown for any cause including darkness GROUP 8 /jHHH / Indicator (insignificant) j Index to HHH: 0 Sea level pressure in whole millibars (thousands figure omitted) 1 Altitude 200 mb surface in geopotential decameters (thousands figure omitted) 2 Altitude 850 mb surface in geopotential meters (thousands figures omitted) 3 Altitude 700 mb surface in geopotential meters (thousands figures omitted) 4 Altitude 500 mb surface in geopotential decameters 5 Altitude 400 mb surface in geopotential decameters 6 Altitude 300 mb surface in geopotential decameters 7 Altitude 250 mb surface in geopotential decameters (thousands figure omitted) 8 D - Value in geopotential decameters; if negative 500 is added to HHH 9 No absolute altitude available or geopotential data not within + or - 30 meters/4mb accuracy requirements HHH Geopotential height/D Value or SLP per index j GROUP 9 1k(n)N(s)N(s)N(s) 1 Indicator (insignificant) k(n) Number of cloud layers N(s)N(s)N(s) Amount of clouds GROUP 10 Ch(s)h(s)H(t)H(t) C Cloud type: 0 Cirrus 1 Cirrocumulus 2 Cirrostratus 3 Altocumulus 4 Altostratus 5 Nimbostratus 6 Stratocumulus 7 Stratus 8 Cumulus 9 Cumulonimbus / Cloud type unknown due to darkness or other analogous phenomena VOICE VORTEX DATA MESSAGE _______________________________________________________________ A (hrs)Z DATE AND TIME OF FIX B deg N/S LATITUDE OF VORTEX FIX deg E/W LONGITUDE OF VORTEX FIX C mb/m (millibars/meters) MINIMUM HEIGHT AT STANDART LEVEL D knots ESTIMATE OF MAX SURFACE WIND OBSERVED E deg/nm BEARING/RANGE FROM CENTER OF MAXIMUM SURFACE WIND F deg/kt MAXIMUM FLIGHT LEVEL WIND NEAR CENTER G deg/nm BEARING AND RANGE FROM CENTER OF MAXIMUM SURFACE WIND H mb MINIMUM SEA LEVEL PRESSURE COMPUTED FROM DROPSONDE OR EXTRAPOLATED FROM WITHIN 1500' OF SEA SURFACE I C/m MAX FLT LVL TEMP/PRESSURE ALT OUTSIDE EYE J C/m MAX FLT LVL TEMP/PRESSURE ALT INSIDE EYE K C/c DEWPOINT TEMP/SEA SURFACE TEMP INSIDE EYE L EYE CHARACTER: closed wall, poorly defined, open SW, etc. M EYE SHAPE/ORIENTATION/DIAMETER: Code eye shapes as: C - circular; CO- concentric; E - elliptical. Transmit orientation of major axis in tens of degrees, i.e., 01- 010 to 190; 17 - 170 to 350. Transmit diameter in nautical miles. EXAMPLES: C8 - circular eye 8 miles in diameter. E09/15/5 - elliptical eye, major axis 090-270, length of major axis 15 nm, length of minor axis 5 nm. CO8-14 - con- centric eye, diameter inner eye 8 nm, outer eye 14 nm. N deg N/S CONFIRMATION OF FIX: coordinates & time deg E/W time Z O / FIX DETERMINED BY/FIX LEVEL: FIX DETERMINED BY : 1 - penetration; 2 - radar; 3 - wind; 4 - pressure; 5 - temperature. FIX LEVEL (indicate surface center if visible; indicate both surface & flight level centers only when same): 0 - surface; 1 - 1500 ft.; 8 - 850 mb; 7 - 700 mb; 5 - 500 mb; 4 - 400 mb; 3 - 300 mb; 2 - 200 mb; 9 - other. P /nm NAVIGATION FIX ACCURACY/METEOROLOGICAL ACCURACY Q REMARKS VORTEX FIX: The location of the surface and/or flight level center of a tropical or subtropical cyclone obtained by reconnaissance aircraft penetration. MISSION IDENTIFIER AGENCY/AIRCRAFT NUMBER # MISSIONS/DEPRESSION # STORM NAME (NOAA + last digit of (or XX if not aircraft registration #) a depression or - or - greater) (AF + last 3 digits of tail #) examples: AF985 01XX INVEST (Air Force aircraft 985 on the first mission to investigate a suspect area.) AF987 0503 CYCLONE (Air Force aircraft 987 on the fifth mission on depression #3.) NOAA2 0701 AGNES (NOAA aircraft 42RF on the seventh mission to fix depression #1, which has acquired the name AGNES.) OBSERVATION NUMBERING AND CONTENT The first weather observation will have appended as remarks the ICAO four-letter departure station identifier, time of departure, and estimated time of arrival (ETA) at the coordinates or storm. Example: AF966 0308 EMMY OB 01 97779 TEXT TEXT...DPDT KBIX AT 10/2100Z ETA 31.5N 75.0W AT 11/0015Z 1988 ATLANTIC HURRICANE NAMES Alberto Beryl Chris Debby Ernesto Florence Gilbert Helene Isaac Joan Keith Leslie Michael Nadine Oscar Patty Rafael Sandy Tony Valerie Address for NOAA recon correspondence: US Department of Commerce NOAA O/L-G, HQ.AWS/CARCAH GABLES ONE TOWER - ROOM 631 1320 S. DIXIE HIGHWAY CORAL GABLES, FL 33146 Some other, non-NOAA frequencies to watch, reprinted from MONITORING TIMES, 8/88, from a CompuServe message by Dave Barnhart WB7OBG: Amateur Radio: 3862 LSB Mississippi Emergency Net 3935 LSB Central Gulf Coast Hurricane net (0100UTC) 3943 LSB West Gulf Emergency Net 3955 LSB South Texas Emergency Net 14325 USB Hurricane information net Government Frequencies: USCG Tropical storm bulletins: 4428.7, 6506.4, 8768.5, 13113.2 USCG and USN Hurricane warning: 7507.0, 9380, 13260 This collection of data has been provided to help you keep track of hurricanes from your shack. REMEMBER: you are FORBIDDEN BY LAW TO REPEAT THE CONTENTS OF ANY TWO-WAY COMMUNICATIONS TO ANYONE, INCLUDING YOUR LOCAL NEWS MEDIA. Besides being a punishable offense, this makes a lot of common sense...what you are hearing is raw data, which is weighed and incorporated into an ongoing database by NOAA. As a casual monitor or even an amateur meteorologist, you do not have the training or facilities to make any use of the bulk of this data. Only NOAA is qualified to reach any conclusions based upon recon data, so leave the job to them! Thanks to MONITORING TIMES for some frequency data, to CQ MAGAZINE for info on the HHAPP project (see 7/87 issue), and especially to Mr. Robert E. Thompson, chief, Aerial Reconnaissance Coordination, All Hurricanes (CARCAH), at the National Hurricane Center for a wealth of information. Any comments or additions should be directed to: AL QUAGLIERI/NN2U, PO Box 888, Albany, NY 12201-0888. E-Mail can be left on Compuserve (73170,3377), Pinelands BBS, Neverboard, the ANARC BBS, or the FIDO Shortwave Echo.