As been identified on the HRWB I am more of a propagation ham I will spend hours/days building something make a contact and then put it in a box. Then start the next thing. I'm not too much for rag chewing.
Currently I'm trying to learn CW but it seems this might be a little much for me we will see.
Hope to make some new friends and contacts here.
@kc9zmy Yeah, I'm the same way and I go through spurts with it. I got my WAS award earlier this year, and almost immediately after that my station went quiet. Ragchewing is fine, but it's not my thing, especially since I'm not the typical ham demographic.
@roadriverrail @kc9zmy There are more hams who are not "the typical ham demographic" than one would think. They are just less visible, because they talk less.
@kc9zmy @roadriverrail ??? What is a station "powerful enough to be a standard net control"?
@roadriverrail That is not how radio works. Coverage depends on propagation which, by its very nature, is unreliable. And if you chose a particular more which is somewhat reliable, let us say 80m in the evenings for an area about 500km wide, then you will not be alone.
@dl2jml @roadriverrail if Kit doesn't have confidence in the station, it may not be a great experience for everyone.
@M0YNG @W1CDN @dl2jml My point is that I do not believe my 100 watts and a wire dipole, especially one that can't do 80m, is going to be sufficient to reliably run a net. It seems a lot of net controls run legal limit and can reposition their antennas to get their best lobe to cover where most of the people for that net are at a given time. But I could be wrong. I'm happy to be corrected.
@roadriverrail @M0YNG @W1CDN My point is actually that I don't understand what you are trying to do when you say "run a net". You mean: "have regular skeds with a group of people"? How far would they be geographically speaking? Is that something which is common where you live?
@dl2jml @M0YNG @W1CDN A net is generally a little more than a multi-party sked. They have generally-dedicated times and frequencies, their geographic extent is typically "anywhere", they sometimes even have streaming bridges or recordings posted online. They also typically have a station that serves as "control", similar to a moderator, so that discussion is orderly and without signal interference. They're a fixture of HF worldwide. You can search for them or go to https://www.netlogger.org/.
@roadriverrail @W1CDN @M0YNG I tried netlogger.org, but it does not appear to have a list of nets and only shows 4 (which I understand to be presently talking). As I said before, HF is not really adapted to such a project (although maybe in the USA it would somewhat work in the lower bands). So: yes, you would need more watts and a good antenna, but that is because that particular project is a difficult one.
@dl2jml @W1CDN @M0YNG I'm not sure I'd say it's "not really adapted" to something that is a known common use of HF. There might be 4 talking *now* but there are lots and lots of them. Please just Google "list of hf nets" if you don't believe me. It typically takes powerful stations to be consistent presences on them, yes, and especially to be a net control, but your first-principles reasoning is steering you wrong.
@M0YNG @W1CDN @roadriverrail I believe you. I am discussing with you, so that I find out what these "nets" are. So I went to google and found this list: http://hamnetlist.blogspot.com/p/hf.html The list only has north American nets and in the lower bands.
@dl2jml @M0YNG @W1CDN Appreciated that your intent is to discuss, but please be aware you've mostly been explaining why something that exists wouldn't work. Looking at your call, I'm presuming you're in Germany; a little digging did turn up the Euopean Marine Mobile net at 14.297 as well as the Transatlantic Net. Perhaps they're less common in Europe or perhaps my searching in English isn't helping.
@W1CDN @roadriverrail @M0YNG I did not say it would not work. I said the way HF works makes such Nets difficult to implement. Which is actually exactly what you say, when you note 100W and a small antenna is not sufficient.
@roadriverrail @dl2jml @W1CDN @M0YNG
Jerome, there are more nets than you found at that list. https://www.iaru-r1.org/about-us/committees-and-working-groups/emcomm/scheduled-nets-2/ shows those I know about for emergency groups but I know other special interest groups have their own nets or activity periods.
The difference is in the geography where here 100W and a dipole is enough to cover a country with NVIS or Groundwave. This is different in the USA depending on the area the net needs to cover.
@W1CDN @M0YNG @roadriverrail @g0dub Yes, the difference in required coverage is what I was thinking about.
@roadriverrail @dl2jml @W1CDN @M0YNG
Kit, practically what service area were you thinking of for your social SSB net. Thinking of the Maritime Mobile Service Net with it's many net controls to cover the area because of skip distance, is this something you start on a band with what you have, then grow other net controls to relay for you in areas you don't have coverage?
@roadriverrail @g0dub @M0YNG did you see, this, shared by someone recently? https://prideradio.group/
@roadriverrail @W1CDN @M0YNG , the link from Matt notwithstanding, the various net directories ( don't forget the ARRL net directory ) may find you communities to join, also the small ads section of the magazines like QST/CQ occasionally contain net details, and then there is enquiring on the different soclal media groups if there is an existing net, or if not then whether there is interest in having one.
@M0YNG @roadriverrail @W1CDN But maybe you could make the project work by using networked relays and hotspots. Let us suppose that you use DMR and Brandmeister (C4FM or D-Star being other options). You can simply define a talkgroup, and likely minded people could use it, either using existing relays or by using a personal hotspot. That seems easier to implement.
@W1CDN @dl2jml @roadriverrail yes, I guessed that Kit had had some experience in the past that suggested their station wasn't well suited to being net controller, and that they did understand the foibles of radio propagation.