NET-104 Part 2
Operating in a
Tactical Radio Net
Author: Dick Rawson, N6CMJ
Updated 1 Jan 2020 & 30 Nov 2025
The original of this version was obtained from the Santa Clara County, California ARES/RACES Website http://www.scc-ares-races.org/operating_in_a_tactical_net.htm and was edited for this training. Other versions are also on the Internet. For more information, Google “Tactical Net” +”Amateur Radio”
Getting the Traffic Through
As participants in a net, there are a number of things we can do to ensure that urgent traffic gets through when necessary:
- Keep all transmissions short
Short transmissions allow other stations to interrupt if they have more urgent traffic. Similarly, it lets Net Control exercise its control more promptly. Less time is lost if the transmission was partly or completely unreadable due to radio problems, simultaneous transmissions (doubles), local noise, etc. - Stop transmitting when you stop talking
Always release the push-to-talk button if you need to pause for any reason. You may need to think of a street name, remember something else you needed to report or listen to an urgent message that someone is trying to pass to you. When you pause, others should stand by and wait for you to resume; they shouldn’t just jump in and start transmitting. However, if something more urgent does arise the other station should interrupt while you are not transmitting…that’s the point of allowing breaks between transmissions! Just remember not to crowd in and transmit just because it’s quiet. The original station may not be finished passing its traffic; just pausing. When you have traffic and you haven’t been monitoring all along, listen for at least 5-10 seconds before calling net control. - Avoid unnecessary transmissions
If you make a call to a station and they do not answer, don’t transmit just to say that you are “clear”. If it is apparent from the context of your message that you are finished, it is not necessary to sign “clear”. Provided that you have identified with your FCC call sign at the end of your transmission, no further transmissions are required. - Don’t call endlessly.
If you get no answer to your first two calls, wait for a few minutes and let others use the frequency. Call again in a few minutes. If urgency warrants, however, disregard this advice. - Breaks
Wait several seconds before keying after the previous speaker. Give other stations a chance to break in – it might be urgent! - Contacting Net Control
When you need to contact net control, key your transmitter briefly, just long enough to ID or state something about the nature of the traffic. For example, “N6ABC, emergency traffic,” or “info.” If net control does not notice you in time and transmits at the same time that you do, nobody will be able to understand either one of you for the next 30 seconds or however long the two of you are “doubling”. Always make sure that net control acknowledges you before proceeding with your traffic. - Use short, simple phrases.
There are lots of ways to word an idea; pick one of the shorter ways. That helps you “keep all transmissions short”. It helps the listener, too; the fewer words you say, the fewer he has to understand. Again, establish contact before saying messages longer than 2-3 words. That may mean calling the other station and hearing it tell you to proceed or it may mean hearing the other station reply to Net Control’s call. Net procedures vary but don’t spend air time saying a long message which may be a double until you have reason to believe you have the other operator’s attention and that the channel is clear. - Acknowledge transmissions to you
Acknowledge transmissions promptly, even when it’s obvious from the context that you were asked to do something that you can’t do immediately. Until you acknowledge, people don’t know if you received the transmission and don’t know if a repeat will be needed. “Understood, stand by” works nicely. Once you acknowledge, the net can assume you will continue with your assignment and the frequency can be used for other traffic. - State questions in a positive form
Ask a question directly. For example, if you are asked “Should we go to Checkpoint Alpha?”, that question can be safely answered by “affirmative” or “negative.” Avoid turning it into a negative question. For example, “Shouldn’t we go to Checkpoint Alpha?” A yes/no answer to that question is ambiguous so the answer will have to be a complete sentence. - Answer questions as directly as possible; do not explain.
That is, avoid unnecessary transmissions. If asked a question, just answer it; do not volunteer additional detail or an explanation of why something is so. As always, use good judgment. You may believe that the simple answer is misleading or the question may indicate that the person asking it does not understand the actual situation. If you think it’s necessary, volunteer some more information but be brief, let the questioner ask for more detail if he chooses to. - Message Handling
Most messages handled during public service events will be relatively short, simple and easily handled and answered. For example: “Has the SAG van arrived at your location yet?” This is easily answered with a “Yes” or “No”. It is important that all messages are entered into your log however.
As you copy a message, consider what you are going to do with it. If it is not obvious, then ask the station that is sending it; this may be the most expedient way for you to learn how to handle it. The sender might even notice that the message should not be sent to your station after all, and cancel the message. Other messages may be more complex and contain information you might not understand. These require special procedures for sending, receiving and documenting.
Note that there are no contractions in this section. When you transmit messages it is not good practice to use contractions like “isn’t”, “can’t”, “shouldn’t”, etc. Practice this on the traffic nets. - Let third parties speak over your radio
This is often better and faster than passing messages back and forth. It is just as legal as passing third-party messages. However, do not expect to reserve the frequency for several minutes while one of the operators gets someone to come to the microphone. Instead, agree with the other operator about who is needed at each end for the contact and then release the frequency for others to use until everyone is available. Remember that you are responsible for what gets transmitted and remind third party users that they must use good English at all times. - Do not answer too many stations at once.
As Net Control, if two or more stations call you to check in at the same time or to pass traffic and you miss or garble some of the call signs, just answer the stations that you copied. When done with those, ask if there are any other stations? This is faster and simpler than trying to call stations with fragments of their call signs such as “the station ending in XZ”, particularly if it was really W6XYC! Doubling often happens during net check-ins and any missed stations will realize the problem and check in again.
THIS CONCLUDES PART 2 OF ‘OPERATING IN A TACTICAL RADIO NET’ and tonight’s training.
Are there any questions, comments or suggested additions to this material?
Thanks, this is (callsign) clear to net control.