(FOR SCRIPT SCROLL TO BOTTOM or DOWNLOADABLE DOC HERE).
THERE ARE WEATHER WARNINGS INTO THE TIME OF THE NET (E.G. LIGHTNING REPORTS, THUNDER IS HEARD - YOU CAN SEND OUT A TEXT OR WE'LL SEND ONE OUT - WE WILL CANCEL THE NET, YOU CAN DISCONNECT YOUR ANTENNAS).
Purpose of net control:
- Operators
practice using their equipment
- Help people get
comfortable on the air
- Practice working
with others
Net control operational requirements:
- Licensed
- Equipped to run net control – recommend 50W mobile unit at least (H/T’s aren’t recommended) preferably at least ½ wave antenna so you can reach as much of the stake as possible.
- If you don’t have a ½ wave or 50w of power, you’ll want some elevation or a good place to operate from so you can be heard, VHF, UHF is our backup.
- I’ve run net control from up by the repeaters
on the hills even in getting familiar with the area.
- Need to know
your equipment (RTM - Read The Manual,
set aside time to learn it or play with your equipment – e.g. Sundays after/before church, net, if mobile,
while driving).
- Need to have
tested your equipment ahead of time, the weeks where you don’t have net
control, or outside of ERC
Salt Lake
wants everyone to run on emergency power as much as possible for exercises – battery
packs, vehicle power, solar power, generator. Commercial is nice for “reliability” but it’s
not what we’re going to be using during a power outage.
- Roster of call-signs (text the stake specialists if needed)
- Clipboard or
place to write on
- Pens or pencils
to log information (two is one, one is none).
- Fan/air
conditioning/ventilation to keep radio cool for a heavy duty cycle (I turn on defrost
/foot with AC over radios to keep them cool during net control).
Net control pre-checks (~ ½ -1 hour before)
- Radio work?
- Antenna
connected and functional? (loose connections, water, ice, frost, vertically
mounted?)
- Have right
frequency?
- Radio set to
operate on that frequency (i.e. offset, P/L, CTCS/encode)?
- Have right power
level? (medium/high?)
- Volume up?
- Squelch down to
minimum required?
- Set for
wide-band operations?
- RCTCS or receive
continuous tone coded squelch (or Encode - reads "ENC" on some radios) turned
off?
- Mic properly connected?
Net control skills
- LISTEN – every
person has their own style, listen to others, you’ll develop your own, this is
about getting comfortable.
- LISTEN – focus
on suffix of call-signs when you’re new or things are fast-paced, AZK is easier
to remember than KM7AZK
- NATO PHONETIC
ALPHABET – know it, live it love it.
- SPEAK – clearly,
loudly enough, slow enough, put mouth close to microphone, be concise
DUTY CYCLE – max
~60 seconds with a break – 3-8 seconds – allows stations to break in for
emergency or priority traffic, reduces strain on equipment, slows you down /
reduces stress. I usually do about 2-3
lines in the script – you’ll run full power for net control so your radio will
be more sensitive to being overworked and it may shut down on you or fade out on you.
- HANDWRITING LOGS
– write neatly, fast + illegible = useless/pointless (SLOW IS SMOOTH, SMOOTH IS
FAST) – don’t feel pressure to go fast.
Net control functions:
- ANNOUNCE NET 5 MINUTES BEFORE - "This is (Call Sign), stand by for the Ontario Stake Emergency Response Communications Net beginning at (time)."
- Start on time –
or say “(call sign), standby for net control” - if nothing is able to be heard and net control can't be reached, backup net control will take over at 3 minutes past start-time.
- Listen for weak
or noisy call-signs, things like picket-fencing, reverberation such as from
having two radios close to each other or a feedback loop, coiled wires running
too close to each other.
- Start
geographically closest to you so you know if you’re getting out
- Relays – when
asking for relays, easiest to designate a call-sign you could hear, minimizes
confusion, helps ensure right people getting heard.
“KK7BKR, will
you call for any relays in the Ontario wards?”
“This is KK7BKR
calling for net control to see if we have any stations that have not been heard
by net control who would like to check in, please come now.”
“This is
KK7BKR, we have KM7AZK reports being on emergency power, no traffic” OR “This
is KK7BKR, I heard no stations check in.”
“Roger, I copy
no check-ins, thank you KK7BKR.”
Log – I do my
own shorthand, “EP0” = Emergency Power, no traffic, or “EP1” meaning emergency
power one traffic, and I log the traffic - “EP1, testing new radio” = emergency power,
one traffic, they were testing a new radio, “CP0” = commercial power, no
traffic.
Give signal
reports – let people know how they are coming in, this allows them to check
their equipment, “Full quieting” means on VHF that there is no background
noise, “Almost full quieting” means there’s a bit of static, you can give a
meter reading “you are coming in at a 7 on my meter”, they may have a full
signal but be quiet, this means they don’t have their mouth close enough to the
radio, they may have a weak signal but be clear (You’re coming in at a 2 on my
meter but you’re clear).
Training items –
log into idahoerc.org, go to recent-on-air-training-slides if you want to look
for an idea for training, or scan this blog, follow the spirit, training should be a few minutes.
Send log report
to Stake ERC Leaders, Millican, Montague, Turner, Shipley – text or email works.
Phonetic Alphabet and Numbers:
A: Alpha, B:
Bravo, C: Charlie, D: Delta, E: Echo, F: Foxtrot, G: Golf, H: Hotel, I: India,
J: Juliett, K: Kilo, L: Lima, M: Mike, N: November, O: Oscar, P: Papa, Q:
Quebec, R: Romeo, S: Sierra, T: Tango, U: Uniform, V: Victor, W:
Whiskey, X: X-ray, Y: Yankee, Z: Zulu
0- Ze-ro, 1-Wun, 2 -Too, 3-Tree, 4-Fower, 5-Fife, 6-Six, 7-Se-ven, 8-Ate, 9-Niner
Net control should not be so rigid as to be intimidating to new members, it should be flexible, fun, casual - it's an opportunity to learn and help people get comfortable working on the air and using their equipment.
This is a suggested script:
- This is (Your Call Sign) calling to order the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Ontario Stake Emergency Response Communications Stake Net, my name is (your name) and I'm located in (city where you are).
- This net typically meets weekly on Sundays at 5:30pm mountain time on 144.990Mhz, you can check the stake ERC blog at www.ontariostakeerc.blogspot.com for updates.
- <Break>
- This is an opportunity for operators to practice using their equipment, get comfortable on the air, and to get some experience working with others via amateur radio.
- This is a directed net, please do not transmit until directed to do so.
- This net will respond to emergency traffic at any time. If you have an emergency, say the word "Emergency" and net control will respond to you.
- If an operator cannot be heard by net control, say the word "Relay" and net control will acknowledge you by saying "go ahead relay", and you can relay the other operator's message, relay their call-sign and traffic.
- <Break>
- If you would like to comment on something you have heard or ask a question, say the word "Comment" and net control will respond to you saying "Go ahead comment" at which time you can communicate.
- Check-ins will be called by chapel and by call sign beginning with the chapel closest to net control and proceeding to the furthest. When you hear your call sign, give your report as to whether you are operating on emergency or commercial power, and whether you have any message traffic, by destination and count, and give a signal report on how well you hear net control.
- <Break>
- Beginning with (chapel closest to you, announce when you are switching chapels, move in order from closest to furthest)
- (Call sign, first name) your report, please.
- (Call sign) I have you (give signal report, strong, weak, full quieting, scratchy, weak but clear, strong signal but quiet).
- Do we have any relays from (area)?
- Do we have any late or missed ERC operators who would like to check in, please come now.
When you compete one chapel roster - pick someone who has a strong signal to do a relay - (e.g. KK7BKR - Can you call for any missed operators in (chapel area)).
Go back up and redo process for next closest chapel.
- Do we have any visitors who would like to check in, please come now.
- We'll have a brief training item (selected by you, can be upcoming events, discussion question, or ask if others have anything they wish to discuss).
- Do we have any questions, comments or corrections, please come now.
- Thank you those of you who joined, and also those of you who are listening but couldn't check in who are still working on getting licensed.
- We invite those of you who want to join us at 7pm Mountain Time on the Bishop's Storehouse Net on 3.810Mhz. This is (your call sign) closing the Ontario Stake Emergency Response Communications net and opening this frequency back up for regular use.
No comments:
Post a Comment