The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has issued public advisories for Tropical Storm Isaias, which is forecast to pass north of the Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday, October 8, 2026, and approach the U.S. northern Gulf Coast on Friday. Landfall is anticipated late Friday night into Saturday morning. ARRL North Florida Section Emergency Coordinator Arc Thames, W4CPD, who also serves as the Amateur Radio Liaison for the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM), reports that the state Emergency Operations Center and county EOCs in potentially impacted areas will begin activating Friday morning, including their amateur radio emergency communications teams. Thames asks amateurs to give priority to nets and emergency traffic related to the storm.
Emergency communications teams will use frequencies listed in the National Interoperability Field Operations Guide (NIFOG), as needed and based on propagation: 3750 or 3985 kHz LSB; 7060, 7240, or 7290 kHz LSB; and 14300, 18160, or 21360 kHz USB. NIFOG advises that emergency communications networks in North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean are encouraged to establish operations within ±20 kHz of these frequencies.
“These activations are few and far between, and I urge all amateurs to pause their casual communications for a night and a morning to allow us to check on and ensure the safety of the impacted areas,” said Thames. “Our team works very hard to only activate and keep nets running shortly before and after the storm until we determine if traditional communications methods have been impacted.”
The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) is also monitoring the development and forecast track of Isaias. Based on the present forecast, HWN has made tentative plans to activate on Friday morning at 8:30 AM EDT (1230 UTC). Operations are planned on both 20 and 40 meters; 14325 kHz USB, and 7268 kHz LSB. During activations, HWN collects and relays measured or estimated weather information directly to NHC forecasters. Any changes to these tentative plans will be posted at www.hwn.org and on HWN’s Facebook and X social-media pages.
In coordination with the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN), HWN also handles health-and-welfare traffic before, during, and after the storm, and is prepared to provide backup communications for EOCs, Red Cross shelters, and other official agencies, and to relay significant damage-assessment information to government and NGO partners as requested.
Follow also the VoIP Hurricane Net and WX4NHC, the amateur radio station at the National Hurricane Center, which will be activated and monitoring the nets.