Is this frequency in use?

Another interesting aspect to our “Summer in the Sea” is my becoming a net controller on the morning Sonrisa Net! Anyone who knows me knows how totally out of my comfort zone this is — I can’t even make telephone calls!

In the active boating months down here this is a very popular and busy amature radio net that many rely on for keeping in contact with other boaters and for information, most importantly the weather. You must have a radio license to participate but many others listen in. So it’s important to keep things up and running even during this low season — the show must go on!

The net starts at 7:30 am and the weather doesn’t come until 7:45 so those 15 minute leading into weather time need to be filled with check ins because it’s important to keep the start of the weather at the same time each day so that anyone needing that information can find it at the pre set time. But with so few boaters left in the Sea there aren’t very many ham radio operators that can check in to the net, so Terry & I started checking in regularly a couple months ago to help fill in the time and keep the net going.

As the days went by and the other net controllers left the Sea it came down to the summer net manager, Bill in Tucson, was having to do net control 7 days a week! To give him a break so he wouldn’t be tied down every day, I volunteered to do it 2 days a week. Now I’m covering Thursdays and Fridays every week and the 1st Tuesday of every month. As I said, not really something I’m real comfortable doing but it does get easier every day.

There is a preset script, or preamble for the net to keep things running smoothly. The most difficult part of the job is trying to fill in time when there are too few check ins before weather time. And some of those checking in can have a weak signal and it’s difficult to hear and that can be frustrating for both parties. And then there is the weather. Net control is responsible for doing the weather forecasts for the Mexican cruising grounds — or finding someone else to cover that for them. Luckily there is a NOAA forecast page covering these areas that is easy to open and read from (as long as you have an internet connection).

So my new volunteer net control position is challenging me and keeping me busy and on top of the weather so it’s a good thing and I am enjoying it.

This is Heidi, KC7OKM clear.