Amateur radio nets: when a frequency becomes a community

An operator at the microphone of station HB9O, at the Swiss Museum of Transport (Verkehrshaus) in Lucerne, in April 2019. Photo: Valanagut, Wikimedia Commons, licence CC BY-SA 4.0.

📡 What exactly is a "net"?

The English word net comes from network. But here the network is not made of cables: it is a human network of radio amateurs linked by the same frequency at an agreed time. In French-speaking Switzerland, people tend to speak of a regular QSO, a section QSO or simply the "evening QSO".

In practice, a net is an organised gathering of stations on a given frequency, often a VHF or UHF repeater, sometimes a direct (simplex) frequency or an HF frequency. A net control operator keeps things moving. They open the QSO, call the stations, hand over the floor and make sure everyone gets a chance to speak. Some nets are highly structured; others are more like a group of friends around a virtual café table. With one advantage over the café: nobody argues about who pays the bill.

Equipment matters little. A full station worthy of a DXer and a simple handheld take part in the same meeting. Operators may be a few kilometres away or at the other end of the country; for the duration of the net, they share the same invisible meeting place.

To give you an idea, here is what an evening QSO in French-speaking Switzerland might look like. This is an example, as HB9V does not organise an official QSO for the time being.

🗓️ Much more than a roll call

The simplest net is the check-in net. The net control operator announces the opening and invites stations to check in. Each one replies with their callsign, sometimes their first name, their QTH or a short comment. It sounds ordinary, and it is. But this routine serves a valuable purpose: it gives you a reason to switch on the radio.

Without a meeting, you switch on, listen for three minutes, hear nothing of interest and switch off. With a QSO scheduled every evening at a fixed time, there is somewhere to go. Regularity creates habit, and habit creates enthusiasm. You end up planning your evening around the QSO and looking forward to it. As Mark Haverstock, K8MSH, mischievously puts it, radio then becomes a social network, but without endless scrolling, without adverts, without algorithms and without political arguments.

🤝 Everyone has a place

A good net brings together operators of all levels. The brand-new holder of an HB3 licence often has stage fright when it comes to pressing the PTT. The net gives them a friendly setting for their first contacts. They know someone will answer, they know how it works, and nobody will judge them if they stumble over their callsign.

The experienced operator, for their part, has a chance to pass on knowledge by explaining a procedure, answering a question or slipping in a tip, without making the newcomer feel they have wandered by mistake into an advanced physics lecture.

This matters all the more because, seen from outside, amateur radio can be intimidating: antennas, power supplies, SWR meters, coaxial cables, digital modes, propagation maps, regulations, and enough abbreviations to resemble a secret society. A welcoming net sweeps all that aside.

👂 Voices that become faces

After hearing the same people again and again, something funny happens. You recognise the voices before you even hear the callsigns. "Ah, here's Marie. I bet she'll talk about the weather again." You end up knowing where everyone lives, which radio they use, which antenna they have and which one is currently undergoing the most widely practised maintenance procedure in amateur radio, namely waiting for the parts to arrive.

You also pick up snippets of people's lives. A newborn grandchild, a POTA or SOTA activation set up during the holidays, an antenna finally finished after three weekends. These details turn callsigns into people. That is the moment a frequency becomes a community.

🎙️ The net control operator, conductor of the net

Every good net needs someone to run it: the net control operator (Net Control Operator, NCO). They are traffic warden, host and referee all at once. And keeping an amateur radio conversation on track is no small task. A simple "How are you this evening?" can lead to a detailed discussion of antennas, lawnmowers, solar panels, old valve sets and the weather for the next seven days.

A good net control operator does not cut the conversation short, they keep it moving while letting everyone enjoy their turn. Organised without being authoritarian, warm without letting the net descend into cacophony.

Headphones on and hand on the tuning knob: an operator from the Monroe County Amateur Radio Club during Field Day 2014 (United States). Photo: Doug Butchy, Wikimedia Commons, licence CC BY 2.0.

📋 Your first net, step by step

Every net has its own customs. Listen to one or two sessions before joining in. Here is the most common format on a repeater or on direct in VHF/UHF.

1. Listen first. Note the frequency, the time, the net control operator and how the others check in.
2. Wait for the call. The net control operator opens the net and invites stations to check in. Do not talk while they are calling.
3. Give only your callsign, clearly and without rushing, using the phonetic alphabet if needed. No speeches at this stage: the operator is taking the list.
4. Wait your turn. The operator calls you back by your callsign. Then give your first name, your QTH, a report and, if you like, a few words.
5. Hand back by ending with your callsign and passing the floor back to the net control operator, or to the station they indicated.
6. Announce your departure if you leave the net before the end: a simple "I'm signing off, 73" followed by your callsign is enough.

The Q codes you will hear most

The full list is on our Q codes page.

🚨 Nets that serve the community

Not all nets are purely social. Some are used to pass formal messages from one station to another ("traffic"). Others are devoted to a particular activity: DX chasing, awards, contests, technical discussions, equipment, club life. And some are designed for public service and emergencies.

In the United States, Skywarn nets gather observations from radio amateurs during severe storms for the National Weather Service. In the United Kingdom, Raynet radio amateurs provide communications for events such as running races. When the usual means are overloaded or down, a trained network can collect information and pass it on to the emergency services.

A Raynet radio amateur at a checkpoint of the Omagh half marathon (Northern Ireland), in April 2019. Photo: Kenneth Allen, geograph.org.uk via Wikimedia Commons, licence CC BY-SA 2.0.

🌱 How to keep a net alive

A net can be technically perfect and still fade away. The secret is participation. Procedures that are too long put newcomers off, and too much formality turns a friendly QSO into a parliamentary committee meeting. You need just enough structure to avoid chaos, and enough flexibility to stay enjoyable.

A good idea, borrowed from K8MSH's local net: ask a question each week to get the conversation going.

The net is also the right place for announcements: club meeting, radio flea market, activation day, repeater news. Selling a transceiver in perfect condition? This is the ideal audience (and for a written ad there is also the Swiss amateur radio marketplace hbtroc.ch). Need volunteers for an event? This is where you'll find them.

🎧 The importance of listening

Taking part in a net does not always mean talking. Listening is very valuable, especially at the beginning. You learn when to transmit, how to identify yourself, how to keep it short and how to deal with interference.

Above all, you learn what no book or video really teaches: on-air etiquette. Being polite matters far more than being heard loud and clear. And nobody needs to hear your whole life story every time you press the PTT.

🏔️ A community without walls

The most remarkable thing about a net is that it creates a community without anyone having to travel. Your neighbour is there, so is someone thirty kilometres away, and depending on the band and propagation the group can reach much further. No walls, no parking problems. The only condition is that your signal reaches the meeting. Sometimes it is strong and clear, sometimes it arrives with so much noise and fading that people wonder whether you are transmitting from inside a blender.

Here, it is often the repeaters perched on the summits that act as the meeting room. They pick up signals from handhelds and mobile stations and retransmit them across a whole region.

The Cabane des Apprentis on the summit of the Pointe de Poêle Chaud (1,628 m, Vaud Jura), which in 2005 hosted a Franco-Swiss VHF amateur radio repeater. Photo: Serge Nueffer, Wikimedia Commons, free to reproduce with attribution.

And digital networks enlarge the room even further. The HB9V XLX reflector links repeaters and personal access points (hotspots), and networks such as Brandmeister on DMR bring together talkgroups from all over the world.

🇨🇭 Where to find a net in French-speaking Switzerland?

The easiest way is to start close to home, on VHF or UHF. Let's go back to our example:

A simple VHF handheld, here an Icom IC-V86, is all you need to join a QSO on a repeater. Photo: Game11454, Wikimedia Commons, licence CC BY-SA 4.0.

💛 Much more than radio

Ultimately, a good net is about people. The radios are only the tools that make the meeting possible. The frequency is the meeting room, the net control operator is the host, the participants are the neighbours, and the conversations are the reason everyone keeps coming back.

Over time, something changes. A callsign you hear has a face. You notice when someone does not check in. You hear a familiar voice again after a long absence and realise you had missed it. That is when amateur radio becomes much more than a technical hobby. A net turns strangers into friends, a group of operators into a team, and a number on a dial into a place where you feel at home.

Field Day evening at the Athens Radio Club (Georgia, United States), in June 2023. Radio is also about people getting together. Photo: Kmccook, Wikimedia Commons, licence CC BY-SA 4.0.

🇨🇭 A word from HB9V

At HB9V, the Club Radioamateur Suisse, we do not organise an official QSO for the time being. But the spirit of the evening QSO speaks to us: catching up on news, adjusting an antenna, talking about the next coffee-and-croissant meet-up and warmly welcoming those who have just obtained their HB3 or HB9 licence. If you have never yet dared to press the PTT, now is the perfect moment. Listen to a regular QSO near you for an evening or two, then simply give your callsign. Someone will answer, we promise. And if you are not licensed yet, listening to the QSO is an excellent way to discover what everyday amateur radio is like.

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