Fall 2002 Issue

Improved Results for the
Directed Directional Weak-Signal Net

Have you ever tried to check into a weak-signal net only to have to work through an HF-type pile-up, then find out that the net control station has his antenna pointed away from you? Or, as the net control, have you ever had trouble managing a geographically widely dispersed net?
CQ VHF Features Editor Gordon West, WB6NOA, presents some great ideas on how to hold down the confusion that sometimes may occur on a
weak-signal net.

By Gordon West,* WB6NOA

Sunset photo of the antenna setup of alternate Western States
Weak Signal Society net control Gordon West, WB6NOA.

West Coast 2-meter SSB weak-signal net controllers typically may pull in over a hundred stations. With a directed directional net, this can be accomplished in less than an hour!
The weak-signal nets normally begin with news and announcements. Net control will start with the news that he or she knows. The net control then will ask for any net station with additional news to tell the story briefly. The net control may paraphrase that announcement so that everyone can hear.
When it comes time for roll call, everyone tuned into the net most certainly wants to check in and be acknowledged. If roll call is carried out alphabetically, everyone has an approximate idea of when he or she may be called. However, the problem that the operator of a big-antenna net control station has is continually rotating the beam to pick up the first station down south, the second one maybe due north, and the third station to the east. By the time the net is finished, the rotator is probably as hot as a firecracker.

One technique adopted by Sidewinders on 2 and Western States Weak Signal Society Northern California Net Manager Larry Hogue, W6OMF, is to call roll by geographic sectors. He begins by calling those stations he knows he can hear and who can hear him, regardless of his beam direction. Once Larry checks in the “locals,” he then runs a directed net roll call to the north, then to the east, then to the west, and about 55 minutes later, to the south. This method allows the more distant stations to anticipate when the net control operator is going to turn the big beams in their direction. It might also allow time for those distant stations to conduct their own roll call, and then stand by for the more distant net control station to come up on the frequency.

Here in southern California, David Peters, KI6FF, became so popular with his every-Sunday-evening Western States Weak Signal Society 2-meter SSB net that when he called for anyone wishing to check in, the pile-up was several minutes long. Signals were coming in all at once from any and all directions. As a result, David adopted the directed net by calling stations alphabetically, and by calling them in sectors, as he aimed his beam in their direction. This minimized the pile-up effect and maximized the capabilities for stations hundreds of miles away to squeak in a signal on 2 meters SSB, knowing they would have a good chance of getting through because his powerful beam antenna would be headed in their direction.

 

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