A Better Net???

Your questions are excellent and I hope others will provide additional feedback.

My response below comes from my experience as an LDS ERC (Emergency Response Communicator) and active service with a very well structured ARES district with a lot of activity including wild fires, severe weather (NWS storm spotting), public service communications, simulated emergency tests and inter-agency operability exercises.

Nets are normally performed by organized groups such as ARES (may also be referred to as AUXCOMM). Those groups will define guidelines as to when they activate a net and under what conditions they maintain the net. They will define operational periods, schedules primary and ancillary net control operators.

They will also define primary, secondary and tertiary operating frequencies. Including Repeater, Simplex and digital modes. If they are following ICS, they will publish an ICS-205 form which will include frequencies for served entities/agencies as well as less “Ham Radio” items like phone numbers for defined operating positions and even Fax machines. (remember, we are communicators and phones are legitimate modes of communication!) Frequently if they are serving multiple agencies they may publish a 205 form for each agency or activity.

The surest way to “know how and when” to participate with a given group is to be part of the group. Being qualified, equipped and trained per the group’s standards demonstrates to them that you have the knowledge and ability and that you are aware of your role.

When a disaster or emergency strikes, organized groups like ARES will not allow you to just crash the party. If you aren’t part of the group ahead of time they will have to make due without your assistance. They may have obligations to served agencies (municipal agencies, Red Cross, etc) they have to meet like providing individuals who have background checks and minimum levels of training.

There are plenty of nets that are simply operated on a schedule for whatever purpose they define. Normally it will be stated whether visitors are welcome to check in and when.

All this said, if you have emergency traffic and the running net is the only way you can communicate the status and needs, you need to follow appropriate etiquette to pass the traffic.

If it’s life and death, listen for a pause in the comms and key the mike and call BREAK – BREAK  –  BREAK followed by your call sign. If someone can hear you, they will respond allowing you to pass your traffic.

Sometimes when you try to communicate with a Net, you may not be able to reach the net. You may be heard by another station with better radio gear or better propagation (higher antenna / better line of sight) who can help relay your message. If you cannot reach the repeater, you can try transmitting simplex on the output frequency of the repeater. Someone local to you may be able to hear you and handle the relay for you.

If it’s important enough to provide to the Net then you call the Net Control operator followed by your call sign. They will acknowledge you when they can take your traffic.

Keep in mind the ‘ABC’s:
Accuracy – Do not use special language, generalize information or pass approximations. If you receive a message to be passed on, pass it on exactly as received without translation or abbreviation.
Brevity – Don’t use 120 words when 30 will do.
Clarity – Be careful in the words you choose, if you have to use words that sound similar to other words, spell them using the appropriate** phonetic alphabet.

** Different served agencies may use different alphabets. If you are communicating for ARES on a Ham frequency you will use the NATO Phonetic Alphabet. If you are serving a public law enforcement agency and using their radios you will use a Law Enforcement Phonetic Alphabet.

Hopefully this provides some good information to get you started and help someone else!

Robert – WB7SGL

Does the church stil have a HF net for the United States?