The LIDs on the 10 Meter Net

     First, let me apologize in advance for any grammar or typo issues in this post - I started writing it on my phone, and then switched back and forth between my phone and PC while I wrote.  As a father of young kids I have to write in short bursts when there are quiet moments.

     Second, I am going to apologize for writing this post, but I couldn't help myself - I've really only written one other "behavior" post in the past (this one) and sometimes these topics upset people.  As the type of person who tries to be a "peacemaker" however, I am writing this in the hopes of reaching out and reminding people that as ham radio operators, we should have more that brings us together then we do that drives us apart.  We should also strive to be thoughtful and elegant in our behavior at all times, so that we don't scare others away.

With that out of the way, let me describe what happened that gave me the "sads" while listening to my club's 10 meter net one night. Actually, before I get there, let me describe the net, how it came to be, and some of the people that participate.

The club that I belong to is one that exists primarily to support the repeater that is in our town. For that reason, most of the club activities revolve around "repeater related" things. I joined the club a couple years ago because I use the repeater quite often and wanted to contribute. Because of my work travels, I don't get participate in a ton of club stuff, but I try to whenever possible. In the time that I have been a member (and maybe longer), they have organized some HF activities - primarily doing a small setup on Field Day, Winter Field Day, a small portable setup in one of the local parks a couple times a year, and since last fall, a 10-meter net.

     Even though the "club" as an organization hasn't tackled an HF net before (that I'm aware of, due to my short time with the club) I think it is awesome that they are branching out a little more into HF activities.  It helps to broaden horizons, and doing a 10 meter net gives new local hams a place to get a taste of HF on their technician licenses, since outside of local contacts, there isn't much activity on 10 meters at this point in the sunspot cycle.

One "Mistake"

Here's the deal though - they did make 1 decision that some might see as a mistake when they started organizing the 10 meter net (which I admit I didn't even realize at first.) I'm not going to tell you what that decision was till closer to the end, however, because that decision isn't really the focus of this post - the reactions of a couple hams (and I'm using the term loosely here) is really the focus.

So let's start by talking about the people that are involved from my club. First, there is me! If you are a regular reader of my blog you probably have a pretty good idea of what I'm about, and the types of things I do. Because I travel quite often, most of my operating is portable, and I'm generally on 20/40/80 ssb and digital, with just a touch of cw now that I've been learning it. I don't go to 10 very often. When I do go to 10, it is usually to participate in the 10 meter net. It is also often done from my portable set-up, tossed up in the few minutes right before the net starts. This means sometimes things aren't quite optimum, occasionally I'll have RF in my signal for whatever reason, or I am barely heard because my antenna is only 4 feet off the ground, etc. Even though someone doesn't know these details, or anything else about me, they would be completely justified in calling me one of "a bunch of LIDs" based solely on hearing me 1 time, say "nothing for the net tonight, back to net control N3VEM" with a less than perfect signal, right?

How about the others? Our Net Control is an operator who does mostly CW. He also works on RF systems as part of his career - and he's good at it! His company sends him all over the world to figure out the tough ones. To help out the club, even though he prefers CW, he runs the net in SSB, using an old Ten-Tec rig that had been a non-working flea market find, which he fixed himself. I think it's a cool rig, and awesome that he fixed it himself - I don't know the model off hand, but it is a tube based, 100% analog radio. That means he isn't always spot-on frequency, but he's the net control, so everyone zero-beats to him, as he kicks off the net. That's how its supposed to work, right? It even gives some of the new guys a chance to use some of the "other" buttons on their radio's, like the RIT control. Or is he a "LID" running a "BullS#!t net" because he's "...not even on frequency - he's like 5hz off?"

What about the folks checking into the net? Well, some of them are brand new, and are just learning. Are they "LIDS" for learning the ropes of operating on HF, in the technician portion of the bands, which is there specifically to give new operators a taste of HF voice?

Guess who else is in our club - former and current professional drivers. A couple of these retired drivers are Extra Class operators (and yes, before we get our knickers in a knot, some of them know CW) but because they spent 30 years of their career listening to CB's as they drove, they do occasionally use the "wrong" terms, and say things like "skip rolling in." (Although, since E-Skip is the proper term, why do we get so fired up when someone shortens that to Skip?) We all let the lexicon of the field we work in sneak into our every-day language, so if a career driver wants to use the terminology from his workplace from time to time, I think we owe it to him to just let it go. Is it fair to call an entire group of people "a bunch of CBers" just because you heard one person use the word "skip?" Is it fair to use "CBer" as a derogatory term?

     So, if you're keeping track, I mentioned some insulting phrases.  To sum up, here they are:

• "bunch of LIDS"
• "BullS#!t net"
• "the net control's not even on frequency - he's like 5hz off."
• ​​"a bunch of CBers"

The most upsetting thing about these phrases - they were all said over the air, interfering with the net, by someone who didn't identify themselves, who apparently felt justified in his behavior because of the 1 decision that he apparently disagrees with, which my club made when they started the net in the fall. What was that decision? Picking the "wrong" frequency.

As they were kicking of the net in the fall, 10 meters was dead. Not dead like there weren't many people on, dead like you were checking your antenna connections to make sure you were actually hooked up to something. Seemed like a perfect time to plan a scheduled event so some of the new guys could get on the air and make HF contacts, at least locally. I'm not sure exactly who was involved in deciding what frequency to choose, but it doesn't really matter - they decided to pick something in the technician portion of the 10 meter band so that everyone could participate - pretty thoughtful I think. It was going very well too, until a couple weeks ago when there started to be some small E-Skip openings. This week was the first I had listened in a while, and I had the pleasure of hearing and experiencing what I described above.

So what was the horrible frequency choice error that was made? The decision was made to choose something near the middle of the technician portion of 10 meters, so they picked 28.400. Ahhhh - some of you see the controversy now - 28.400 is an unofficial calling frequency on 10 meters. Depending who you ask though, it's either a backup calling frequency, the primary calling frequency, or there is no calling frequency at all. Per the actual rules we have to follow, there isn't such a thing as "calling frequencies". To quote a famous Pirate Captain (Barbosa - Pirates of the Caribbean) calling frequencies "...aren't really rules...They're more like guidelines."

I know for myself, I generally avoid calling frequencies, except for calling, but I didn't think about it before now because I'm not normally on 10 meters.  Also, because I get to participate so seldom (I think I've checked in 4 times since last fall) , I didn't really spend any additional time thinking about it.  Finally, since calling frequencies aren't rules, you almost have to go looking for them to find out what they are, and even when you do, there's some ambiguity about exactly what the frequencies are, and what the "normal" procedure is.

Notice however, that I said "normal" procedure and not "correct" procedure. Since calling frequencies are only a gentlemens agreement, there is no right or wrong way to use them (other than the power/frequency/mode restrictions from the FCC) - there's just the ways many people do use them, and the many ways people don't.

So I now pose this question - yes, in the eyes of some, a less then desirable frequency choice may have been made, but who are the LIDS in this situation - the people I described above that were following the FCC rules, or the person who appeared out of nowhere on a frequency that had been silent for 30 minutes prior to the net, just to interfere with the net and name-call its participants (without IDing) because he thought the frequency "belonged" to some other purpose?

To wrap up, I did recommend to the clubs activity director and the net controller that the net be moved to another frequency for the future, and they are considering that, along with a couple other options. No matter what they decide, I wanted to send a message to the club as a whole, and any other club or individual that may find themselves in a similar situation. Keep at it! We do things like this to improve, and "mistakes" will be made by us mere mortals, that the "perfect hams" will love to harass us for. Don't worry though, because nothing illegal was done. We just happened to accidentally stir up an angry badger who had been enjoying listening to a silent frequency, and apparently wanted to continue listening to a silent frequency, but couldn't reach his VFO (even though he seemed very capable of reaching his PTT switch...)