Hi folks-

Hurricane Ike is currently slated to land near Houston, TX early Saturday morning. While there are no known emergency communications taking place on any VHF+ SSB or CW frequencies, please be mindful of the situation in Texas and the Gulf coast during this weekend's ARRL September VHF QSO Party; if you find yourself being asked to QSY because of traffic in or out of the affected area, please be cooperative and understanding.

David Robbins, K1TTT, also pointed out on the CQ-Contest reflector today that this weekend is the Worked All Europe SSB contest on the HF bands. This is also the weekend of the North American SSB Sprint, the Arkansas QSO Party and several other events.

PLEASE keep in mind that there will be net operations going on in the upper portions of 80m, 40m and 20m for the affected Gulf Coast area in the path of Hurricane Ike. If you find yourself being asked to QSY because you're on a net for Hurricane Ike operations, please cooperate. Do you part to keep net operations free of QRM during this critical time.

Thanks for your help.

73,

Sean Kutzko, KX9X

ARRL Contest Branch Manager