West Central Florida Section and Some Local Nets

.

WCF NETS ON THE NI4CE REPEATER SYSTEM AND ELSEWHERE
NI4CE REPEATER SYSTEM
WCF SKYWARN NET:
This net meets on Tuesday evening at 9:00 PM. Operated with the cooperation and amateur radio licensed personnel of the Ruskin NWS Office, this net provides information and some training for Skywarn volunteers including amateur radio operators. Upcoming Skywarn Training sessions are highlighted and questions about the specifics of the Skywarn Program are answered. All amateur operators are invited to check into the net.
WCF TECHNICAL NET:
The Tech Net meets at 9:00 PM on Thursday evening. Its purpose is to provide a forum for amateur operators to meet, ask questions about the technology that creates and surrounds amateur radio. This may include, but is not limited to, problems with the radio equipment used by the amateur operator, computers and software, operating procedures, designing and building equipment to be used in any and all aspects of amateur radio. Technical Specialists (ARRL members who are appointed to that position by the Section Manager because of their special skills or knowledge about some aspect of amateur radio) are on hand to field these questions. Answers may also come from other operators during the net because they have seen and handled the specific problem before. All amateur operators are encouraged to check into the net.
WCF ARES and INFO NET:
The Amateur Radio Emergency Service Net meets on Monday evening at 7:30 PM. The Net Control Station is normally the Section Emergency Coordinator. This net provides information and training for the ARES County Emergency Coordinators and ARES members throughout the section. Information about upcoming training opportunities and other meetings and events of interest to those in the emergency communications community is presented. All amateurs are welcome to check in. This net has been combined with the WCF Info Net that used to run on Sunday night.
WCF EAGLE NET (NTS TRAFFIC NET):
This net meets every evening at 8:30 PM even on weekends and holidays to pass formal written message traffic both within the Section and to and from other areas of North America. Various operators who check into the net (and all are welcome) take the incoming messages for delivery to the person the message is intended for. This delivery will usually be by telephone, but other methods of delivery are permitted. Operators with outgoing messages will transmit them to a liaison station if going outside the section. If intended for a recipient inside the section, they may be delivered to the recipient operator (if they check in) or to another operator who will deliver the message to the intended recipient. The purpose of all of this is several-fold. To provide experience and practice in handling formal message traffic, to keep the national and local message handling system in good operating shape, and to prepare the amateur radio community with skills that will be vital in the event of a local, regional or national emergency due to natural or other disastrous occurrences such as hurricanes, fires or the like.
OTHER REPEATER SYSTEM NETS:
Elsewhere, on the West Central Florida Section Web Site, there is a listing of many of the nets that occur with regularity on many of the repeaters within the section. Many of them are local amateur radio club information nets, some are local nets devoted to some specific aspect of Amateur Radio like Skywarn or ARES/RACES. A few are devoted to swaps or "Traders Nets" so that operators can buy or sell used radio gear. The nets that occur in your local area are there to be of benefit to you, the operator. The operators of these nets put forth considerable effort to make these nets interesting and informative. That benefit is lost if you do not participate, so whenever possible, participate in your local and section-wide nets whenever possible. For a full list of all nets that may be active in West Central Florida, I suggest the WCF Section web site www.arrlwcf.org . In my local area, Bradenton, There are three nets of interest.

MARCI INFORMATION NET at 7 PM on Sunday evening on the 146.820 repeater. Tone 100 neg offset

ARES NET at 7 PM on Monday Evening on the 147.195 repeater. Tone 103.5 pos. offset

SKYWARN MANATEE COUNTY NET also on the 147.195 repeater at 7 PM on Thursday night.

All are welcome to check into any net in the section. Just pay attention to and follow the directions of the Net Control Station on any net. The process for each net can be different. Some allow a string of check-ins before responding, others like to respond to each check-in as they check in. Some use a county roll call others want to check in certain stations before general check-ins