[W1SMH] Public Service Reminder:

[Bruce Alexander]

Public Service Awareness

As I sat at net control for the Monster Challenge Triathlon on Sunday, I
recognized many things that I have heard at other events that we should
always be careful to avoid.  First, before starting a transmission, think
about what you want to say then start the transmission.  It is not necessary
to make lengthy transmissions to say something that could be communicated in
1 or 2 sentences.  Second, be sure that your communication is really
relevant, not an observation only of interest to you. The Net Control
Operator has enough to deal with concerning necessary traffic. Third, always
be as polite as possible; you never know who may be listening to your
transmission at another station or on a scanner, etc.  Often, event
organizers will be present at net control or have a shadow assigned to them
and we want to be showing our best side at all times.  Finally, it is often
being asked that because of event security, we make a firm commitment to
attending an event.  This has become evident at the Marathon and other large
events lately.  If you make a commitment to work an event, please make every
attempt to be there.  If you are not going to be able to keep the
commitment, notify the responsible party as soon as possible.  When we tell
an event organizer that we will be able to provide a number of operators at
a given event, we need to provide that number. It puts Amateur Radio in a
bad light when we can't provide what we've committed to and our credibility
suffers tremendously.

These are common mistakes that we all make and a regular reminder can do us
all some good.

Bruce, KA1IG