Hey everyone,
There's a tool on the site now for logging nets, and it makes keeping a record of check-ins quick and painless. If you ever run net control, here's how it works:
You'll find it on the Net Check-ins page — there's a "📻 Log a net" button near the top. You just need to be logged in.
When you open it, you pick which repeater's net you're running from a dropdown (Bellingham 550, Lookout 725, Sumas 675, or Lynden 650). The date fills in to today on its own, and the net-control box fills in with your call sign.
The Start and End time boxes each have a "Now" button next to them — tap it and it drops in the current time. Handy to hit when you open the net and again when you close it. There's also a spot to note any emergency or priority traffic.
The main part is the check-in list. For each station you put in their call sign, name, location, and whether they're holding traffic. A few things that make it faster as you go:
Call signs get capitalized for you. The location box suggests local towns as you type — Bellingham, Ferndale, Lynden, Sumas, Mount Vernon, and so on — but you can type anything you like. A fresh blank row appears on its own the moment you start filling in the last one, so you can just keep working down the list. (There's an "Add check-in" button too, if you'd rather.) Below that there's room for announcements, a topic of the week, and any notes.
When you hit Post net log, it saves everything as a dated entry in Net Check-ins — titled with the repeater and date, and laid out as a clean, readable log anyone can look back on. Times show in each person's own local time, so nobody has to do any conversion.
If you'd like something to read from while you run the net, there's a ready-made net-control script and a blank log template in the Wiki (under New to Radio).
Give it a try on your next net, and tell me if anything's confusing or missing — happy to adjust it.
— Tyler
There's a tool on the site now for logging nets, and it makes keeping a record of check-ins quick and painless. If you ever run net control, here's how it works:
You'll find it on the Net Check-ins page — there's a "📻 Log a net" button near the top. You just need to be logged in.
When you open it, you pick which repeater's net you're running from a dropdown (Bellingham 550, Lookout 725, Sumas 675, or Lynden 650). The date fills in to today on its own, and the net-control box fills in with your call sign.
The Start and End time boxes each have a "Now" button next to them — tap it and it drops in the current time. Handy to hit when you open the net and again when you close it. There's also a spot to note any emergency or priority traffic.
The main part is the check-in list. For each station you put in their call sign, name, location, and whether they're holding traffic. A few things that make it faster as you go:
Call signs get capitalized for you. The location box suggests local towns as you type — Bellingham, Ferndale, Lynden, Sumas, Mount Vernon, and so on — but you can type anything you like. A fresh blank row appears on its own the moment you start filling in the last one, so you can just keep working down the list. (There's an "Add check-in" button too, if you'd rather.) Below that there's room for announcements, a topic of the week, and any notes.
When you hit Post net log, it saves everything as a dated entry in Net Check-ins — titled with the repeater and date, and laid out as a clean, readable log anyone can look back on. Times show in each person's own local time, so nobody has to do any conversion.
If you'd like something to read from while you run the net, there's a ready-made net-control script and a blank log template in the Wiki (under New to Radio).
Give it a try on your next net, and tell me if anything's confusing or missing — happy to adjust it.
— Tyler