Texas HF Net

STXARES
1

I would like to make a suggestion about the operation of the Texas HF Net. When the South Texas Districts are called,
the sequence of check-ins is always District 1 through to District 15.

It would be nice and more democratic if the sequence was reversed on alternate Net dates. Call District 15 first and then all
others sequentially to District 1. Changing the sequence of check-ins would not only keep the members on their toes but would
also prevent those in the double-digit Districts from identifying with the subject in John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
“For They also serve who only stand and wait”.

David, K5RAV
District 15

2

Not a lot of folks quoting Milton these days…….refreshing. As for the subject I agree completely.

Regards,

Peter S. Aronstam
KW5PA
AUXCOMM, COML, COMT
paronstam@mac.com
+1 832-875-8235 Cell

3

Works for me.
Howard Benham, N5SMS

4

I am with District 12 and in the past and would have agreed with you. I’ve started checking in with Bexar County ARES net which usually is very short. I am usually free from the Bexar County ARES UHF net before district 5 is called.
Lloyd
KF5ZHW
District 12

5

Great idea. I never check in because I am not willing to wait until area 14.

Jim Monroe
K4HJL

6

Jim - I always turn on my rig at 8 pm and the net is always at or around D12 check-in so I do not wait that long.

Patrick W0PCW
D14 NW

7

Unfortunately, the BCARES (Brazoria County ARES) net starts local time 8pm, we are district 1. I am sometimes NCS, so it would be hard to run local net and wait for time to check into HF net. No matter what is changed, someone will get left out. Want to make it interesting, start and call the districts randomly, everyone would have to listen to the net at least until your district is called.

8

NE ARES HC uses a call out net check in using suffixes in alpha order

One night, NC read off the list in reverse.

I think some of these nets need to be shaken up every so often. But I think that is best on local repeater nets. Local conditions can change at a snap of a finger. And repeater coms is usually stable.

HF nets, due to radio propagation, need to be more stable in their OP’s. Plus they may be carrying radiograms.

Now that may be an idea. Run some Radiograms on the Monday night net.

Do not think it is out of the question. Oak Forest ARC handled Radiograms during a 2m club net !

9

I agree with Dave, K5RAV that with all the other local ARES nets as well as other nets that take place all on the same night and around the same time as the Texas HF Net that it needs to be changed. After reading the responses here, it appears that most local ARES nets are being given priority over the Texas HF Net due to the length it takes to get to all the Districts.

There should not be a system in which ANY Amateur decides not to want to wait for their District to be called and decides to leave for another net. I think it is a good thing we have this many Amateurs to be on both types of nets in the same night, but the price is a trade off of numbers for the Texas HF Net due to band conditions.

Would it be such a disastrous idea to rotate the Districts as Dave - K5RAV suggested. just so the ones that have always waited and ran out of either time or the band goes away before they can check in?

I say, let’s have some friendly discussion and let’s see where it goes from there.

10

You could divide by three and rotate like that.
Just move a third down each week and after three weeks you’d be back at the top.
Just a thought.

11

I would kindly suggest taking the opportunity to act as net control to better understand the effort to call the Texas ARES HF net before suggesting drastic changes which may or may not complicate the effort.

73,
Dave WB5HJV
‘Current’ NCS 1st Mondays Texas ARES Net

12

The Texas ARES Net follows the Texas Traffic Net. Any traffic handling activities ought to be handled first during the Traffic Net, leaving the ARES Net strictly for ARES-related discussions and check-ins. We would unduly ruffle some feathers if we started letting one net bleed into the other.

A few years ago, I remember some ruffled feathers when the net was called in reverse order. In the spirit of, “You can’t please everyone,” some folks are just happy with consistent, predictable operations because they can plan their meals and Matlock reruns around it, whereas others may be consistently and predictably frustrated by schedule conflicts with other nets.

Perhaps the solution is to maintain the current status quo with the exception of perhaps (dare I invite the pandemonium?) introducing the following into the net script at 19:50 (or, right after District 9): “Are there any stations that need to check in before 20:00 and cannot wait for their district to be called? Come with your call sign and district. Over.”

I would not want to take ‘early check-ins’ before the net because 75% of the stations would jump on that deal in a New York minute. But, a call at 10 to 8 could accommodate stations who have 8pm obligations to another net or Matlock rerun.

Question: Who owns the net & net procedure? Would that be the currently-vacant position of Net Manager?

Russ WP2AHG
P.S. (Please, forgive my ineloquence and lack of Milton references.)

13

I would assume that Jeff W is the ‘owner’ of the Net, in absence of a Net Manager. I might be incorrect.

It wasn’t all that long ago that we ‘reversed order’ of Districts and caught a bunch of negative feedback for it.

I run about 5-7 nets per week (NOT counting when I ‘sub’ for the TX ARES HF net) and I can affirm that there is NO WAY to make everyone happy with the format we use.
It is equally as difficult to decide what the majority wants.

Here is a thought… (although I am gonna get slapped by some for positing it)

When I run the TX ARES HF net (and ALL of my nets for that matter) I use NetLogger. Although I am fully cognizant of the fact that it is Internet-Dependent, it makes MY life as an NCS a lot easier. If we could get the Lion’s Share of the TX ARES peeps to download and use the program, the Instant Messenger feature could be used (much like the OMISS Nets) for stations that wish to check-in early and/or out of order (In-And-Out/Mobile)\

If there is a station that cannot stick around, but wishes to get credit for participating, in the AIM window they could type 'CI/CO Short Time.
Although this would not accomplish the main purpose of the weekly ARES net (HF Connectivity), it would at least give everyone a chance for their callsign to be counted as a participant. Which would make the ARES Powers-That-Be happy with Statistics. If/When TSHTF (TEOTWAWKI) and we are called upon to run an ACTUAL TX ARES Emergency Net, the Lords of Propagation will decide who can check in and participate. So, technically, no harm done if we use a NetLogger type system.

And, furthermore, at the risk of sounding 'Holier Than Thou" (not my intention) I agree with Russel and Dave, in that being an NCS is NOT an easy task. I suggest everyone with the radio capability try it at some point, then suffer the slings and arrows of those who criticize your efforts. We do the best we can, and fight with the Army we are given. There is no way to make everyone happy. And we DO feel bad about everyone who we cannot hear, or check in.

MY Milton quote: “Truth and understanding are not such wares as to be monopolized and traded in by tickets and statutes and standards.”

Off the SoapBox, I remain,
WA5LEE - Tomball, TX
D1 DEC, D14NW AEC/Net Manager

14

Addendum to my previous:

NO RADIOGRAMS.
Our served agencies (at least down here in the H-Metro area) are NEVER going to request us, as HAMS, to use a Radiogram. With all due respect to the League and the NTS, the ICS comms plan is what THEY follow, and should they ask us to help them, they will expect us to follow the ideals of AUXCOMM. Plain and simple.

SITREPS, Hospital Occupancy, Local WX/Conditions, etc. will be the order of the day. We can no longer delude ourselves into thinking that the Radiogram, in it’s present form, serves a purpose for our served agencies. H&W is another story. The ARC, SATERN, etc. will accommodate us as HAMS using radiograms. If that is the route you, personally, wish to assist with, then by all means, become an expert in ARES Traffic Handling using a radiogram. It never hurts to become fluent with radiograms.

My focus is EMCOMM. Like it or not, the world is a different place for ham radio operators post-911. The infrastructure has been enforced such that they no longer need HAMS to support most city’s EM efforts. Thats the bare truth. Like it or not.
To remain relevant as HAMS we need to adjust our thought processes to move beyond the ‘It’s the end of the world, and only us Ham’s will be able to communicate’ to: If the end of the world happens, we will be much too busy protecting ourselves and our loved ones to play Ham Radio.

With all due respect to Ron B. and Sheree H., who no doubt will throw things at me after this. HIHI

Keep the RadioGrams on the daily/weekly/hourly Traffic nets. ARES needs to move beyond that to serve a purpose in today’s world.

15

Just my opinion here…

I absolutely agree that NTS Radiograms are not the future of EMCOMM. However, I consider them a “gateway drug” - - teaching people how to send and receive formal, structured communication. Imagine my surprise when I got my first job after graduate school back in the early 1980s in Tankship operations, for the largest oil company at the time, that communication with our tankers (187 of them worldwide) looked an awful lot like Radiogram traffic. It took me about 10 minutes to adjust. From mastering Radiograms it is an easy step to ICS structured messages.

I’m not in favor of adding Radiograms to the Monday night net either, but I have no problem with using Radiogram traffic as part of the local 2M ARES net structure to teach people how to communicate more precisely. Our future is not in pressing the mic button and talking - - it is in communicating in an efficient, structured manner, whether that is done verbally or digitally (…not sure we would really ever need CW… as much as I like it…). But we need to bring people to that understanding.

So I think it does serve a purpose. It is hard enough to get new licensees, and once licensed, to get them into emergency communications. Having a stepping stone or a “gateway drug” is a good strategy. Emergency communications has evolved over the 40+ years I have been involved in it, and I feel grateful that, back in the 1970s, I did CW handling of NTS traffic…it makes the ICS 213 or ISC 205a a breeze. I respect what Ron and Sheree are doing because if we simply threw people into the ICS training, most of them would quit - - they did this as a hobby - - we have to bring them into EMCOMM carefully and respectfully. And if we don’t then we will not have a large enough core of operators to be meaningful to our served agencies. Perhaps there are people who jump directly into the deep end of the EMCOMM pool, but I promise you that this is not the perspective of most people.

Just my opinion…

Wes Clavey, W5WMC

16

Much discussion of what we should and shouldn't do here.

There are a lot of things we "should" do here as net managers, but, especially now, we have to not be so "correct" that we lose too many participants.

The organization isn't useful if we don't have enough people participating when we have an actual communications emergency.

73 de WX5U

17

There was one time when I was NCS where I changed the order of checkins because of the propagation. I’d start with the closest counties to Harris and then went outwards because the propagation on 80m was going long during the winter. Then, there was the time where propagation was so bad that I decided to forget going by districts. It was a general call. Both had minimal success.

18

The agencies with don’t know how or don’t care how you deliver the message. Radiogram, CW or napkin, I don’t care. That is your SOP and SOPs lead to cohesive training. If you go into a group that is not your home or base group, then complain that’s not how we do it back home, it is because of lack of unified training. If you can’t adapt, then don’t play. As Lee points out, if you are only planning on being there when there is nothing else, you will be waiting a long time. Adapt, update, train and get busy.