Last night, I had the Wouxun in scan mode; and settled in on a conversation taking place on one of the local repeaters. As it closed upon 10:00 PM local time, the Hams in conversation were quite rudely interrupted by other Hams informing them (VERY impolitely) that the daily traffic was about to begin.
As long as I have been a Ham, this net has taken place religiously on that frequency at 10:00 PM. But that's a tradition and shouldn't be etched in stone. No one owns a frequency. The Hams in question could and SHOULD have been informed in a way more polite and friendly manner that a net was about to begin.
It's a bad reflection when someone comes on frequency without identifying themselves and starts shouting into the microphone, "Net, Net, NET!!!!"
I guess it just goes to show that we have more than our share of idiots, also.
72 de Larry W2LJ
I heard a local repeater with a conversation going, and it was someone with a need, and the people usually involved in the net, one of them knew a specific answer, and everyone was very nice and cordial and the net was late, it took like 10 15 minutes, and it was all okay. Everyone was heard, and the person even apologized after the net was over, but they said no apology was needed. It can also be really nice too. I even heard a net where everyone stepped way back from the professionalism to talk about all kinds of net-related and even some tangents. This was all 2M, training net, naturally, but I would hope that most on 2M try to take this approach at least a little bit. Some of the net people are rigid (as I would probably be, god help us if I ever run a net) but the "rigid" person I'm thinking of was the first to be welcoming and very nice about everything. We just need to focus on being positive I think rather than a) screwing up the net or b) focusing on the sometimes self-importance feeling of the nets. Just my 2c! Great blog as always.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is exactly the kind of public shaming that needs to happen. Too bad you didn't identify the operator by call.
ReplyDeleteRob,
ReplyDeleteThat's part of my point. The idiot who screamed out "Net, net, NET!" did so without gracing everyone with his call (naturally).
72 de Larry W2LJ
Lest I be thought of as a "Net Curmudgeon" a little background is in order. I was an NCS and assistant Net Manager for years for the "Old Bridge Trash and Traffic" VHF net (now known as CJTN or the Central Jersey Traffic Net). I was also very active on the NJN (New Jersey Net) both slow and normal speed CW versions. I enjoyed my time participating in the NTS; but never thought the idea of the nets were important enough to attempt to throw Hams off frequency. It can all be done with tact and diplomacy as our "Anonymous friend" above has confirmed.
ReplyDelete72 de Larry W2LJ