How do I participate?
If you've got yourself set-up to use the repeater, just keep a few things in mind.
- You can only successfully participate if you are within range of
the repeater. The repeater does not cover all of the metro area, so it's
possible that you have your gear configured correctly, but we still
cannot hear you. Don't despair, you might be in range of another amateur. During F-troop I'll give some instructions on how to participate.
- While you're talking on the repeater, you're not going to hear others, so bear in mind that sometimes you'll get an unexpected result if others haven't heard you and appear to be ignoring you. Normally someone will hear the conflict and call you back. (See Example)
- Wait until the repeater beeps after a transmission stops, then wait
1 second to allow others to announce themselves. If someone announces a
call-sign just before you're due to talk, leave a little gap, then
start your planned transmission, just acknowledge the call-sign you just
heard. Hand control back to the host who will deal with the new caller. (See Example)
- If you want to announce yourself, use the 1 second gap between
beep and the next person to announce your call-sign. If you were heard,
your call-sign should be acknowledged by the next person. (See Example)
- F-troop is run as a hosted net, that is, it's not a "normal
group", in which there is a group of people talking in a circle, handing
over the the next person in line. To keep it simple, F-troop is managed
by a single person who will answer all calls. So, if it's your turn,
the controller will announce your call-sign and invite you to contribute.
When you're done, hand it back to the controller by announcing their
call-sign, followed by yours. (See Example) The current controller is VK6FLAB, Onno.
- If you get confused, don't worry, breathe, take a moment, compose
yourself and start again. Yes, there are rules on how you must legally
conduct yourself on-air, but during F-troop, we're trying to help you
get confident, not tell you off.
- We encourage you to use phonetics to announce call-signs and spelling your name. Even if reception on the repeater is generally excellent, if you practice it now, it will stand you in good stead when you're barely being heard across a noisy band.
|
Recent F-news
-
20130126 - VK6 Portable Field Day
The VK6 Portable Field Day in 2011 was a great success and rumours of another one being organised are true. Thanks to the encouragement and support of Allen VK6FLUX we ...
Posted 25 Jan 2013, 19:43 by Secretary H.A.R.G.
-
20120827 - Guest Host and other News
Echolink and IRLP are working well and we're getting more and more people coming on-air to say hello. If you feel inclined, feel free to join in the ...
Posted 26 Aug 2012, 15:51 by Secretary H.A.R.G.
-
20120729 - F-troop on Echolink and IRLP
F-troop runs for about an hour every Saturday morning at 08:00 WST, or midnight UTC and as of two weeks ago you don't need to be in ...
Posted 28 Jul 2012, 19:35 by Secretary H.A.R.G.
-
20120512 - F-Troop outing: "Echolink/IRLP Friday Night Technical Net"
Every Saturday morning at the same time as we hold F-Troop, there is another Net on air. It's called the Friday Night Technical Net and it has been ...
Posted 11 May 2012, 19:38 by Secretary H.A.R.G.
-
20120512 - IRLP Nodes
During F-Troop this morning, Eddie VK6YA gave us a tip on IRLP node availability. The link provided is:http://status.irlp.net/?PSTART=5&country=15
Posted 11 May 2012, 18:16 by Secretary H.A.R.G.
|