E1360: HF Radio Nets - Who Owns the Frequency? - podcast episode cover

E1360: HF Radio Nets - Who Owns the Frequency?

May 31, 202416 min
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Episode description

Who owns the frequency on the HF Ham Radio Bands? If a Net runs every day at a specific time, does that mean they "own" the frequency? Do you have to move off of "their frequency" if you are using it before they start their net? This is an article that I found very interesting - stick around to hear my insights and opinions on this topic

This video is sponsored by M&P Coax - Save a 10% discount with code HR2CABLES at this link - https://hr2.li/cables - Some product links are affiliate links which means if you buy something we'll receive a small commission.

Links in the video: original article: https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/1c4ypng/ive_angered_the_maritime_mobile_net

follow-up article: https://www.reddit.com/r/HamRadio/comments/1c5670l/maritime_mobile_service_network_discussion

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ham-radio-2-0--2042782/support.

Transcript

Hey, before we get started, be sure to head over to ham Radio two dot com forward slash email dash sign up to join my email list of over nineteen thousand subscribers, where I like to send emails about upcoming events, upcoming shopping deals, keep you updated with all the stuff going on with my videos. Once that list reaches twenty thousand, I will be doing a giveaway of another HF radio sign up today and thank you for the support on the

HF radio waves. Does a net take precedence? Does a net take a priority over you a de expedition operator, a PODA or a SODA operator, or just a general overall amateur radio operator, general or extra class? Does a net take precedence over you being on their frequency? Once again, this is an article from Reddit, and I love these articles. Not every article I find on Reddit is good, but many of them are. Many of them are quite fun and quite hilarious to read, you know what. And

sometimes the article isn't even the best part. Sometimes the best part is the comments, and I think the comments on this one are pretty good. This

is actually two different pages on the reddit. The amateur radio subreddit on Reddit and this one I had to link back to this one because this is the first one I found Maritime Mobile net service network discussion, okay, and he says I recently came across this discussion, and he links back to the original discussion right here, which was kind of a discussion, but then some comments and whatnot. So this is this is where it starts. Though. Today

a friend and I were operating PODA at US zero six two nine. Okay. This was seventeen days ago, so this is twenty twenty four, very recent. He died a few frequencies to find an open spot, and when we did, he asked if the frequency was in use three times over a period of about a minute. I've done this myself numerous times. Most of the time. You don't get any answers, no response. He passed the mic and I called c Q PODA immediately. I get this twenty over nine

station. In other words, very very loud station giving me the business, give me visitess Okay, sounds like something my grandpa would say. I thought he was going to call in the coast Guard for a ship to shore bombing. Lol. My friend checked for a clear frequency and no one spoke up. I didn't see the VFO or I probably would have suggested a change, but holy cow, the angler my one single CQ caused. I had no idea I was in violation of the holy sacred mm N Maritime Mobile Net.

They were on fourteen dot three hundred, so IQSY to a different frequency. We had a great activation. Anyhow, if you are the archangel Lord protector over the realm of fourteen dot three hundred and were the lid to get all up in my jimmy today around thirteen hundred hours, all I have to say is you didn't identify your transmission. Okay, So this guy, this guy gets on the frequency, says is this frequency? And used three times no

answer. They call CQ poda, and this guy Maritime Mobile Net comes along and runs them off. I don't know what was said. He didn't say in the article what was said, but he runs them off. But apparently he never identified his own call sign. Okay, well, violation number one there, my friend. I have had people, to my knowledge, I've never activated PoTA on fourteen dot three hundred. But let me tell you a little secret here, and we're gonna get to this. I'm gonna show you

some examples of this here in just a minute. No one owns fourteen dot three hundred. If your net is running on fourteen three hundred or any other frequency on any band, you don't have any more right to that frequency than I do as a licensed damage RADO operator in the United States or outside of the United States or overseas or somewhere. If you have access to that frequency, you have no priority over that frequency over me, and I don't have

any priority over you. And I'm gonna give you some examples of this here in just a minute, so stick around. But I have personally been on a Poda activation and had someone come by, and most of the time these guys are polite. Most of the time. I've had a couple of rude guys combined. But most of the time we'll say, hey, man, we're starting to net here in like fifteen twenty minutes. If you don't mind,

we do this do this net every day. And you know what, if they're polite, I'd be like, sure, man, I'll move, no problem. My wife found a Poda art or found an article in the Poda face group, and she's like, this was a heated discussion about changing frequencies when you're on Poda for nets and I'm like, yeah, that's that's been a thing for a long time. So I had to kind of tell her how it was, and she's like she kind of rolled her eyes at her. She's like, oh, boy, men, who can stand him?

Right? If the operator is polite and asks me to move. Sure. Now, I had one guy one time I was in Costa Rica. I was searching for QSO's. I was not calling cicqu. I was searching and pouncing. I found a station that was somewhere in South America. I don't remember where he was, and he was calling CQDX CQDX with a foreign call sign, with a with a dx call sign, and I went back to him two or three times with my Costa Rican call sign tango India,

seven stroke, Quilo, Charlie five hotel, whiskey, Bravo. And after three or four or five times going back to him, he wasn't hearing me. I don't think I ever made contact with him. But after like the fourth or fifth time I tried to go back to him, this loud station came back to me and says, hey, can you move because we're about

to start a net And I just ignored him. So I was listening to the d X station call CQQ DXCQDX, and I'd say, tango India, seven stroke kilo, trolley five hotel, whiskey, bravo, go back to him. He wouldn't hear me. I tried it a couple more times, and the other station once again, Hey, hey man, hey tango Indy a seven station. Can you please move, We're about to start a net. And I went back to the guy. After two or three times, I kind of got I got a little bit irritated. I don't think I

was rude, but I might have been. But I went back to the guy and said, dude, I'm not on this frequency. I'm calling back to a DX station that's calling CQ. His call sign is this. I'm trying to work him. If you would shut up long enough for me to work him, i'd move and qsy And he comes back to me and he says, well, can you ask him to move? We're about to start

a net. And I'm like, no, I'm not gonna ask him to move, because your stupid ass net does not take precedence over this DX station that is working been working a pilot for the last thirty minutes that I know of he's probably been on there for a couple hours, So why don't you ask him to move? Oh you can't hear him, Not my problem. Change your dumb ass net to another frequency, or maybe don't do it one day. You don't have to hold the net every freaking day of the year.

These net guys get really pissed off during context weekends, and they really don't like pode operators because pode operators have flooded the bands. Well, guess what. You either use the bands or you don't. Which one is it gonna be? Do we want to use our frequencies and have them available to us or do we want to not use our frequencies and get them taken away from us? Say, well, the net is using the frequency. Yeah, the net is using the frequency every freaking day at the same time.

Give me a break. I used to love checking in the nets, okay, but I don't like to check into a net and say, okay, we've got you on the list, we'll get back to you, and then thirty forty five minutes later they circle back to my call sign and they're like, hey, did you have any traffic? I'm like, well not, now I've moved I've moved away. I don't have an hour to sit there and list in your freaking net and get weather reports from people all over the

country. If I wanted to know what the weather report was in Cincinnati or Florida, I'd freaking look it up on the internet. Give me a break with it. I don't mind the nets. I don't mind. I'm not saying you shouldn't have nets. I'm not saying nets are wrong. But you don't have precedent or some kind of higher privilege or authority over the frequency than I do. Either qs y your net, find it, find a second or a third alternate frequency that you can qs y two if someone is on

your frequency, and get the heck off of the radio man. So the second part of this that I found that was maritime Mobile service network discussion. This guy posted like it looked like. One day later he's like, I recently came across this discussion, and then he had to create a new article instead of replying to it. I don't know why he did that, but okay, and he linked a few articles in here, and he tries to make the case that a net has precedence, but it doesn't because his argument

is flawed, and I'll tell you why here in just one minute. But I want to tell you first, today's video is sponsored by Mezzi and Plony Coax. If you're gonna go on a d expedition, if you're gonna go activate PODA, if you're gonna run a net, I highly suggest you string up Mezzi and Plombi coax from your radio to your intenna, some of the highest quality made coacts in Italy. You can always save a ten percent discount with the code of HR two cables at the link I will leave in the

description. Blow. So thank Mezzi and Plomi the next time you see them in daytonhamvention or maybe at the next Hanfest, thank them for sponsoring him Radio two. So this guy says, let me put my comments here. Someone jumped on the fourteen three hundred Megga Hurtz Saturday for a contest and started calling CQ without even checking. Now, okay, you shouldn't do that. You need to check it. I don't care what the frequency is. You need

to check and see if the frequency is clear. I have called before is the frequency and use case five HW And I've had people come back to me and say, yeah, we're we're doing this or I've been on this frequency for a while, and I'm like, well, okay, you're not saying anything right now, but that's fine, and I'll just I said thank you

for answering me seventy three and I'll qsy. Not a big deal. The ones that bother me is after you call two or three times, they don't answer and you start calling CQ. So why I'm on this frequency obviously or not because you can't answer, Mike, is the frequency in use? Question? This guy started calling CQ without even checking. Same has been the case with potestations. I believe that. I believe that. So if you guys are photo operators, always check and see if your frequency is in use.

I just chalk it up to immaturity. Like a lot of hams today have if they even have licenses at all, most are concrete brains or lack any radio experience at all. Well, I can only assume that this the writer of this article is himself a concrete brain due to what he's about to say in this article. For your information, nets do take precedence, No they don't. Here is one person who lost their license and was fine for interfering

with a long established net just like MMSN Maritime Mobile Service Net. The net was posted online and operators knew the times at frequencies of the net. So he links an FCC dot gov document here and he says, and I think

I did a video about this guy. Okay. We proposed a penalty of twenty four thousand dollars against Philip Baldette for apparently wilfully and repeatedly interfering with the radio communications of Western Amateur Radio Friendship Association the wharf of Net while attempting to hold a regularly scheduled net, for failing to provide station identification amateur radio frequencies. Okay, will he failed to provide information and messing with an existing qso

whether it's a net or not is not permissible. Okay. The next one he links is an ABORL article that says license he hit with twenty four thousand dollars fine for jamming a net failure to ID. Okay, Well, if you're failing to ID, that's a finable offense. If you are jamming an existing qso whether it's a net or not, that's a finable offense. It has nothing to do with the fact that this was a net going on,

and the net tet precedence over anyone else operating on this frequency. The example of these two articles was the same person jumping into an existing net that was already ongoing and trying to jam it and not id That's just malicious intent, that's what that is. That's why he was fined. And then the guy gives other examples and he says, right, here's a jammer enforcement jammer. A jammer is not permissible, Okay, So he's linking jammer articles saying this

is why nets take precedence, because you can't jam it. Well, you can't jam anybody if I'm on there calling CQ PoTA for fifteen or thirty minutes and you come by and try to jam me. If the FCC is actually doing their job and actually doing what they are supposed to be doing and paying attention, and someone records them trying to jam me on PODA and sends it

to the FCC, they could get fined as well. It's not because it's a net, it's because it's illegal to jam someone who's already on the frequency. And he goes on to say the FCC has started monitoring and going after stations under the Radio Piracy Act. Again, the Radio Piracy Act doesn't have anything to do with nets. It has to do with being on pirate frequencies, frequencies you're not authorized for. Yes, established nets do have priority with

their operations are posted. Yes, the FCC will find you for interference. If you want to test the waters, you better bring your spear gun. Be sure to give your call signs for all to hear. So this guy has no clue what he's talking about. Sorry, your articles don't have anything to do specifically with nets. Your articles have to do with jamming and interference, which is not permissible to anyone at all. But the best part of this article are the comments, so Stuart Baker says, Lol, tell me

you didn't read your sources or regulations without telling me willfully. Interfering in faillered ID is different from using an open frequency that some net has laid claim to. You can't reserve a frequency for a net. But his courtesy to qs Y if you want to have an intelligent discussion of regulations, a courtesy i'd recommen avoiding insults very well. Said. If there's a station using the frequency that a net is typically gone, they have the obligation to do like anyone

else and qsy they don't get special privileges or allocated frequencies. Every regular net I've ever taken part in sends emails or posts online that a net is at X time and s frequency plus minus based on activity. Nets don't get assigned frequencies. Very well said. And then this guy VK four h AT's he quotes the original article. He's that wrong. The FCC does not own me. If you're a VK four, the FCC certainly doesn't known you because you're

in Australia. But the FCC is not the one who gives the nets. The net picked their own frequency long long time ago when they started the net. The FCC doesn't assign frequencies. In fact, banned allocations overall, banned allocations for where we do sideband on an HF frequency or FT eight or PSK or CW or phone or AM transmissions. Those banned allocations are actually done by

a doublerel that's not an FCC thing. The FCC doesn't care if you do f T eight on a sideband frequency or if you do FT eight on an FM frequency on ten meters. The FCC doesn't care about that. The FCC says, this is your band from this frequency to this frequency here, you go use it, and then banned allocations are done by ED doubler organizations like

a double ORL and ITU. So banned allocations are a gentleman's agreement across nations, across hand raid or operators worldwide, so that you know where to find stations on CW stations, on FT eight stations, on PSK stations, on READY stations, on AM stations, on upper and lower sideband. Okay, we use a upper sideman on ten twelve to fifteen twenty meters and we use lower sideband on forty meters in down, but I could use upper sideman on

forty meters if I wanted to. In fact, I've done it. There's one guy I know who's a FedEx pilot that has a forty meter HF radio in his airplane when he's a cargo FedEx pilot, but it only goes to upper sideband. So we got on forty meter up F sideband and talk to him. Mike Qusos, there's nothing wrong with that because the FCC doesn't care what transmissions we're using or where the banned allocations are that's done by us MT to operas IU and people do that. That's not an FCC thing, so

that argument's invalid anyway. This is probably the best one right here. Yeah, yeah, so wrong. The FCC does not own me, and he's like, is it frequency and use fourteenth three hundred net? Nothing heard? Frequency is mine cqcq tough luck to the net. They can go qs I like everyone else. No one owns a frequency. Net can ask politely find mind moving mostly I would. But if they think they can talk over me cause deliberate QRM and just ignore me as they calm down the frequent, they

can just deal with it. Finally, it was a de expedition from Liberia on body mic boat face nets frequency body boat face. FCC has no jurisdiction in Liberia and need and the net needs the qs Y. Yeah again, FCC has nothing to do this. Guy quoting FCC articles is wrong. FCC has nothing to do with this at all. Okay, so forget that about the FCC. That has nothing to do with this specific topic. No one owns a frequency. It's in usef to qs I even bodymcboth face net and

then bodymcboth face net. This needs to be spread far and wide. No, mate, nets don't take precedence, especially with that stupid maritime one. The frequencies are open to all and not owned by self assigned net operators. So well said, nets don't own the frequency. You don't own the frequency. If you go out and activate PODA every day and you always pick the same frequency, But one day you get to the park and someone's on that frequency. You need a qsy. You can ask them to move. They

can say no, they don't own the frequency, neither to you. If it's an emergency hurricane net, then maybe maybe so. If it's some sort of emergency net, emergencies themselves take precedence over amateur radio, and that's one of your questions in your testing when you get your first license. That's when emergencies always take place. But a regularly scheduled net for just check ins and telling each other how the weather is that you could easily find on your smartphone.

No, sorry, that's the way it is. But more topics on that, check out these videos right here. Seventy three

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