CW Nets: how do they work?

foggycoder

foggycoder

Super Member
This is really a spin-off thread from G0KKZ's mention of CW nets on his thread "Cormac CQ100" in the "Internet based CW operating" section, but this section seemed a better place to ask the question...

Voice nets are one thing, but CW nets...I'm not sure. I've had several three-cornered CW QSOs (over the internet) and they're dreadfully slow and clunky affairs (probably due to the slow and clunky operators, no doubt).

So, how do CW nets work? Is there a chairperson and it goes out from him like spokes in a wheel? Or does each participant take it in turns? How do you ask a question or put something to another participant out of turn order? Do CW nets ever occur on the airwaves or are they just an internet phenomenon? (if never on the air, happy for this thread to be transferred to the "Internet based CW operating" section)
 
I've heard references to them in the excellent dit dit FM podcasts, but I'm not entirely sure how they operate either.

I have heard the term Net Controller, which suggests one station is responsible for calling in other stations and regulating who is TXing, but I have no clue about the actual logistics.

The closest I've come is in voice "groups" on repeaters (analogue and digital) or on DV reflectors, but that's more like a circle than a net.

On them being clunky, I guess it depends on the speed of sending and the calibre of the net controller (if my assumption of what they do above is correct). Group chats on a repeater also feel clunky at first but do get easier with practice, so I presume a net would be the same.

It would be good if someone who has actually participated in a net more than once could add some insight.

Great question!
 
https://www.g8srs.co.uk/cw-nets-during-covid-19/

One 'method' here... http://www.vkcw.net/cwnets

Some American nets here... http://ad4dx.com/gtn/indexCWSN.htm Although these may not be heard directly in some cases, by using the appropriate online SDR receiver you can listen in.

Verulam-ARC http://www.verulam-arc.org.uk/club/nets/ mentions a 6m net (possible that as above an online SDR receiver might be available)...
Morse Improvers CW Net

The CW Improvers Net can be found at 20.30 on Sunday evenings on 6m on 50.040 MHz.

We are open for anyone to come in and join us no matter what stage they are at with their Morse.  So if you are looking to improve your CW, then please do join in no matter what speed we seem to be running at. If you find we are running too fast then please do ask us to slow down – and we’ll be happy to oblige.

We look forward to you joining us on air.
Click to expand...

Info here on American traffic nets... https://ema.arrl.org/basic-cw-net-procedures/

Much more than about three-four participants generally need a controller else the net will become chaotic. Also the overs need to short and concise. Unless they are traffic nets (passing messages), very often they are little more than greetings and signal reports. Much more than that and the whole cycle around the group gets too long winded. Very often in order to save time a token number might be issued, 1, 2, 3 etc. That way it saves having to repeat strings of callsigns. The number are allocated as stations check in, and generally the net controller would be number 1. Each station will identify at the appropriate time with their full callsign to comply with whatever licence requirements are for them.

Small informal nets are much looser, generally using names for quickness. It is useful to run full break in operation, or at least semi break in, so that you can be interrupted by anyone who wants to ask a question or ask for a repeat. You'll find it more useful to use the prosign BK rather than K, since anyone tuning around who is engaged in a QSO frenzy will hear the K and might wrongly assume it was the tail end of a CQ call. However, if you use BK anyone with half a mind should realise you are interrupting your transmission for some kind of response from another station. You can of course use KN if you have already named the station by callsign that you intend to pass transmission to.

So a three way net might go something like:-

Burt... hw r u today john bk
John...  bk fb om drinking tea hr hi hi bk
Burt... bk ok john fb on the tea hw r u fred? bk
Fred... bk got probs wid tx pse miss me out fer bit ok? bk
Burt... bk ok fred hpe u fix it om...

And so on...

The worst thing you can do is keep sending endless lists of callsigns, it REALLY slows the whole thing down and soon becomes as boring as hell!

You can see how quick flowing the above net moves, now try it with callsigns, and I've heard nets on CW like this...

de g3abc hw r u today john? g4xyz wid g2jkl grp de g3abc kn
g3abc de g4xyz r fb om drinking tea hr hi hi g3abc wid g2jkl grp de g4xyz kn
g4xyz de g3abc r ok john fb on the tea hw r u fred? g2jkl wid g4xyz grp de g3abc
g3abc de g2jkl r r got probs wid tx pse miss me out fer bit ok? g3abc wid g4xyz de g2jkl kn
g2jkl de g3abc r ok fred hpe u fix it om...

So we went from fast flowing with 124 characters total sent, up to an almost incredible 350 characters to say exactly the same thing.

At the same speed that's almost three time as long to send!

Hope that helps... :w:
 
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