Radio nets for the non-amateur
I recently gave some training to the Ottawa County Medical Reserve Corp on radio use. Part of the training I was asked to provide is on a principle called radio nets. If you're familiar with working with a dispatcher, you'll be used to how radio nets function. You can see the presentation here . In a normal radio setup, everyone can talk to everyone else. There's no control except self-control. Under a net, that changes. All communications go through a Net Control station: Why? Three main reasons: It's clearer who is talking to who There's less talking over each other There's less confusion This ultimately results in a better response to emergencies. A net might seem slower than free-for-all, but it actually works out to be more efficient in the long run; like how a four-way stop works: if everyone treated it as a free-for-all, there wouldd be chaos and collisions. Instead, with the rules in place, everyone knows when to take their ...