Query: Give examples of proper emergency net identification.

Reply: FCC Part 97.119(a) requires amateurs to ID with their amateur callsign every ten minutes and at the end of a contact. Although this is very clear, sometimes there is confusion over what is required in a net operation.

A NET does not require every station checked-in to ID every ten minutes for the duration of the event. Think of a net as a SERIES of individual contacts, coordinated by a net control station.

Query: Why do you use relay stations on the State ACS HF net?

Response: To maintain high quality communications.

HF propagation frequently dictates that only with a relay station is it possible to cover specific paths across the 800 miles of the length of the state, not to mention the physical diversity of its mountain ranges, valleys and sprawling cities.

The first 10-15 seconds of human contact is far more critical than many of us realize. In the first few seconds that someone sees us [either face-to-face or across a room] an involuntary assessment is made. If that assessment is unfavorable, then - unless the person is skilled at looking beyond appearances - it can be difficult or even impossible to overcome that by later action. It is recognition of such an evaluation that some communications reserve units require uniforms.

Tactical HF radio nets over areas of several hundred miles that operate on only one frequency may, in actual practice,  be generally unrealistic. Propagation,  operating conditions and ommunications needs often dictate that more than one frequency is necessary. Conditions over which the Net Control Station may have no control  frequently can ruin a net limited to just a single frequency.

Training can only go so far in the classroom. Some aspects and experience can only be achieved on the job. One way to do that is with a practice that is called double teaming.

Double teaming is the process of putting a less experienced person to work with an experienced one, particularly in operations, installations, and technical work. This enables the lesser experienced (or new person) to show their stuff under fire, be evaluated under pressure, and sometimes step up into the role of a more responsible position.

Query: do the benefits to RACES participants of a county program such as a credit union conflict with FCC Amateur Radio Service rules? 

Reply: The FCC rules do not apply to Amateurs for the use of a credit union by participants in a county benefit program as a result of a RACES program in and by that county. What it does do is to seek to prevent Amateur licensees from using the Amateur Radio Service FREQUENCIES incorrectly. It's not the Amateur LICENSE per se that the FCC is interested in, it's the improper use of Amateur Service FREQUENCIES it wants to avoid; i.e., pecuniary interest or pay for use of the AMATEUR frequencies (or any use of other frequencies improperly.)