🚀 go-pugleaf

A number of years ago, I was involved with the skywarn operations
in the Minneapolis area.  We used a RACES station WC0AAA at one of
the suburban EOC's.  All of the net control operators were
aware of the restriction of transmitting to a non-registered station.
But what are we goint to do when a non-reg station is in the right
place, and the right time, and is a competent meteorologist!  Ignore
the information?  Of course not.  I'd guess that more often than
not, we let the restriction slide.  Running another net worked for
a while, but then who could you depend on?  Which net was better run
than the other?  They both served the public interest and safety, but
one was always better than the other because of circumstances and
net control operators.  This is not to say that the NCO's were bad, just
different.  At one time the RACES net would be the one to listen to,
at others, the ARES net was the one.

Since radio amateur communications have no right of privacy on the
airwaves (personal comm with FCC legal staff, 1988), and their
messages are not privledged (sp?), even the media and other EOC's
listened in.  The nets commonly had only 50-100 stations on at a
time, but if a storm system was headed across the 10-county area,
several times that many would check in (rare cases).  Codes were
not used because of the number of non-amateurs that were
gathering information from the net.  We tried condition codes
for net operations, but usually had to explain what they meant, so
plain english was adopted to eliminate most of the confusion.

I can't speak with full authority as to how the system runs in
1996.  Dave Johnson, N0KBD, will have to address that topic if he
chooses.

My personal thoughts are that codes are often misunderstood and
misused by new members.  They DO, as Chris Novy pointed out,
simplify the communications in a busy net situation.  Who the net
serves is a big factor in determining how it operates.  I've heard
different nets in many parts of the country, and consider very few
to be better than any others.  It all boils down to who you serve.
Match that with your capabilities, and you have a winner.

Tom Nelson, N0GQA
former director of Metro Skywarn, Minneapolis

currently Associate Scientist
          FMA, Inc.
          Ft. Collins, CO
tnelson@aster.com