The Considerate Operator's Net

The Lost Island DX Society is proud to announce a new on-air activity. The LIDS are sponsoring the Considerate Operator's Net, an event to celebrate the public service, friendship and utility of the plethora of nets, formal and informal, that operate throughout the amateur radio bands.

The burden of calling, controlling, and guarding the frequency of a net falls upon the shoulders of a handful of dedicated net control stations. The Considerate Operator's Net's goal is to train new net control operators as well as celebrate participation in nets.

Participants in the Considerate Operator's Net are encouraged to train as net control operators by finding a frequency and calling their own net. The suggested procedure is to call "CQ Considerate Operator's Net Test". This is somewhat unwieldy, so it is expected that many participants will shorten this to "CQ CON Test".

Participants not actively training as net control stations are encouraged to check into the nets being called by the net controllers. It is recommended that net control stations give check-in stations a signal report and indicate their approximate location by announcing their CQ zone number. Likewise, check-in stations should also give the net control station a signal report and their CQ zone number. The net control station may then dismiss the check-in station from his/her net and allow them to proceed to check into other nets while the net control station continues to take additional check-in stations to his/her net.

Net control stations and net participants are encouraged to maintain a log of all nets checked into and net check-ins that occur during the activity period. Certificates will be awarded based on the number of total net check-ins and nets checked-into. There is no differentiation between checking into a net or being a net controller and taking check-ins. Both activities count equally. Net logs will be collected and the activity reported at a later date.

Final details and timing of the Considerate Operator's Net activity have not been determined at this time, but preliminary planning indicates the last weekend in October might be a good date for the activity. If it proves popular, we might expand the Considerate Operator's Net test to other weekends.