Secrets to a great ragchew net?

[K3MRI]

I've always wondered what the secrets to a great ragchew net are. Net control gets on and calls for checkins... so what does it take to have a critical mass of operators and keep the net alive for years. Thoughts?

[WA2WMR]

Frank. He was always there and had a wide range of knowledge of not only ham radio but also guitars, music, movies, old radio. 

He is missed.

[K3MRI]

He really was. So the secret is that you need a retired, passionate, intelligent, broad minded anchor!! Someone who is there often and happily so.

I’m sure I’m not the only one: the other day, no more than a month ago, I called AA4ZS!!!

[WA2WMR]

Back when he was alive, if he didn't call the CW round table, I would and many times it was just a matter of him oversleeping and he would come check in while I ran it. (After Tom died, he and I would be the only ones there unless Dave joined in). Now, when I call the round table, it's sad knowing he won't be there. However, Bill is now a regular. That makes it all worth while.

[WA2WMR]

Frank AA4ZS (SK)

Edited August 20, 2019 by WA2WMR

[KD9TGU]

Now if we could get our weekly club net to have more than just check-ins and a couple of shack reports, that would be great.

I was net control last week and put out a question but only got 3 replies. 

Seems that most of the folks checking in only want to hear the ARRL news and that is it.

I am told that the net has grown in the past year or two, but I would like to see it become more interactive.

 

Any thoughts?

 

73

Bob KD9TGU

[K3MRI]

Hey Bob. You ask the quintessentially most frustrating question, how to get a net going, and then how to keep it alive. I cannot give you an answer as to the how you can succeed, but I can tell you what I have seen to work over the years.

Frankly, the only time I have seen a weekly net work is when the repeater is busy all week long. Busy repeaters tend to equate with a busy weekly net. People rarely swarm a weekly net when that's all that's happening on the frequency. Now, one might ask, how do you get people to keep a repeater ultra busy? That's where I have seen the one and only successful ingredient: an anchor. A repeater needs that one retired guy, or gal, who's always 'there'. Or, if not always, at least for extended periods of time on any given day. At K4US, we used to have Frank (SK). Frank, AA4ZS, would be there every single day from ±1500 to 1700 which he called the 'witching' hour. It was actually when he had to get off to get his meds and then have dinner. On the local MARC repeater in MD, there are a couple including Vince; always there to answer the call and engage on any topic. Do traffic nets work? Weather nets? Question nets? Kinda, sorta, IF, and only IF, there is, as mentioned, ongoing activity.

Open to hearing other opinions, but for me, in the VHF/UHF realm, that's the answer.

HF nets? That's a different story.... The magic ingredients are different.

Not sure if this helps 😇

[K3MRI]

On 8/19/2019 at 10:51 PM, WA2WMR said:

Frank AA4ZS (SK)

I stumbled back upon this post and this photo of Frank. I'm happy that a few of us were able to give him fun, comfort and enjoyment in his last months. He was particularly fond of these mini-outings we organized.

[KP4CI]

To answer the question: "'I've always wondered what the secrets to a great ragchew net are?",

For me, I have participated or listen to many nets (mostly VHF / UHF) in States or Territories I have visited or lived in. My experience has been, location, education of and experience of the individuals, who is the group, what is the group about (ARES / RACES / Skywarn /Social), and what topics are being brought forth. As for the Emergency Nets, I beleive we all know these are not rag chew and they are to the point, BUT! discussing how to improve them? how to train others? I think would be a great net.

One example was a daily net in the Greater Dayton , OH area. They met everyday and discussed the Jerry Springer TV show. Good number of participants, but, not everyone's cup of Tea. Another net that was fun was in a Metro Town that had more than 4 repeaters tied into the network. Here topics based on Amateur Radio where asked. One night they brought up Antennas, and it's fixtures (as in towers), and what Federal, State, County and Association R&R and laws were in place, and how everyone had dealt with them.

Talking to YL's at the Orlando Hamcation this year, they mentioned that simple Q&A of Food, Restaurants, Hobby Stores and other simple none technical was their favorite nets.

Now, since I made a left hand turn and not answered the Question directly, I have to say that a good net requires dedicated, enthusiastic, disciplined NC Op's with great tact and feal for who is participating, their years of experience and knowledge.

 

 

 

[K3MRI]

Hi Bobby. Well said and useful. I think what stands out the most from your post is that 'it depends'. There is, indeed, no universal perfect net.

[WA2WMR]

On 2/26/2023 at 3:04 PM, K3MRI said:

I stumbled back upon this post and this photo of Frank. I'm happy that a few of us were able to give him fun, comfort and enjoyment in his last months. He was particularly fond of these mini-outings we organized.

I think he gave us far more fun when he held court during afternoon drive times. I also remember, when his health was a little better when he held court during morning drive times as well. There were usually seven or eight people (not including Frank), sometimes more, on these round tables. He is missed.

[KD3Y]

On 6/1/2019 at 8:04 AM, K3MRI said:

I've always wondered what the secrets to a great ragchew net are. Net control gets on and calls for checkins... so what does it take to have a critical mass of operators and keep the net alive for years. Thoughts?

Well, I can't tell you what makes a great ragchew net.  I can tell you what spoils it for me, is overzealous protocols.
I log on regularly to my clubs weekly net, and several other local 2 meter/440 nets I can reach with my rig.  There's one weekly net nearby that I avoid.  Their protocol is they do a "round robin" sort of thing with three rounds.  The first round you "Tell us what you did today and what you plan to do tomorrow".  The second round you "tell us what you ate today and what you plan on having for breakfast, lunch, and supper tomorrow", and the final round I forget because I only logged on the one time, then ran the other way.   What killed it for me was I don't want to be mandated what to say.   I really honestly don't care what 20 other guys had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and sitting there for 20 minutes listening to chicken pastry, "nanner" pudding, green beans, collards, grits, fried mullet, and fatback just bores me to the point that I want to stab myself in the eye with a rubber duck antenna.   I mentioned to one of my other buddies and he said the same thing and he avoided that net as well. 

My local club net each guy just talks about what he wants to when it's his turn.  I can bear the old goats complaining about their prostate, complaining about some guy on "their frequency" earlier in the day for a few minutes, but there's always variety and when he's done, he's done.

One of my favorite 40 meters awards net has a sort of untraditional way of going about it.  Usually, NC tells you that you can make one or two calls, depending on how many people are logged on.  But this net, the NC just calls on you and tells you to "take all you want, and let me know when you're done".  Unlike what you might suspect, I've never heard anyone abuse it.  Some make one call and some make 3 or 4, but I've never heard anyone just hog up the whole net, or go on and on to the extent that NC had to shut them down.   


Anthony, KD3Y

 

[NS7X]

Here in New Mexico, we have a 2 meter/70 centimeter rag chew net which is on a linked repeater system.  It meets on weekdays from 1445z to 1645z (and oftentimes longer.  A lot longer...)  It's called Rusty's Raiders and has been extant since the 1960's.  

So, how come has this net survived so many years?  Well, let's see...

First, I've been told that hams in New Mexico tend to be very active.  Personally, I think that's because we have a pretty "high-tech" population thanks to our scientific labs (Sandia and Los Alamos) and research labs tend to be fertile grounds for growing hams.  Additionally, we have a fairly high volume of tourists which increases the repeater traffic.  Also, we are very fortunate in that we are able to plant our repeater antennas a mile or so above their coverage area.  (Mountains make great towers...)

But what makes Rusty's Raiders work?  Well, for one thing, each day of the week has a different net control.  Monday is Merle's day, Tuesday you'll find Connie running the net, and so forth.  Each net control has their own NCS (net control station) personality, strengths, and foibles.  One net control apparently went to the Gary Cooper NCS school ("Yep.  Nope.") and another has diarrhea of the mouth.  One net control has a huge interest in the technical aspects of amateur radio, and another is happy to discuss his medical issues.  But, they all share one common trait - they love chatting with people who check in to the net.

There is no protocol on Rusty's Raiders.  No "Alpha through Foxtrot" or "Today's question is..."  It starts with a brief preamble ("Priority or emergency traffic, come now....Our linked repeaters have a time-out" and so forth. And then the net control says, "Anyone want to check into Rusty's Raiders?"  So for the next two hours, or so, the rag is chewed.

Topics on Rusty's Raiders range from, "Just wanted to check in for the numbers" to discussions about current amateur radio news, to conversations about digital versus film photography, weather talk - lots of weather talk, topics about the history of New Mexico, anecdotal stories about POTA, what's going on in the world of astronomy, and (of course) reports of liver and kidney function from the geriatric set.  Frankly, I think it's more fun to listen to Rusty's Raiders than it is to participate.  (But that's just because I'm more comfortable with a key than I am a mic.)

Personally, I think the secret to the longevity of Rusty's Raiders net is that we don't just like each other, but we also love talking to each other.  That's kind of what ham radio is all about, isn't it?  

[K3MRI]

I love this idea of a rotating net control operator.