Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr !!!!

OK, that does it! I am officially ticked off!

I was on 80 Meters last night, having a nice QSO with Jack N1XGB. We're there minding our own business when KW1U and some other station come right on frequency and start passing traffic. Not so much as a "QRL?" beforehand. Heck, not so much as a "?" beforehand !!!!!!

OK guys. YOU CAN'T DO THAT !!!!!! I don't care if your net has been meeting on that frequency every night since Moses was set afloat in the basket - YOU DON'T "OWN" THE FREQUENCY !!! You have to play by the rules just like everyone else and listen before you transmit. If you don't, you are committing willful and malicious interference and I have half a mind to send a letter to the FCC about this, naming names and callsigns!

And before I get any flack on this, I have a right to be really, really ticked off about this. I understand the importance of the National Traffic System and message handling. I have in fact, put in my time and payed my dues by participating in the NTS. I have been a Net Control Station, an Official Relay Station; and an Official Bulletin Station. I have been an assistant Net Manager and have spent many hours passing messages on CW and VHF traffic nets, back in the day.

And we always, always, ALWAYS took extreme care to make sure that we would not interfere with Amateur Radio operators who were engaged in a QSO on our regular meeting frequencies. Nets were NEVER called up without making sure that the frequency was clear. We may have "QRL'ed" it to death; but we always knew that we did not "own" the net frequency.

What the heck is going on? Can't anyone display even the most simple common courtesy anymore? Maybe it should be called "uncommon courtesy" in this day and age.

73 from a highly annoyed W2LJ who is sick and tired of having QSOs busted up by traffic nets who think they're above the law.