I was on the radio a few weeks back (14.262 or something) and I heard a net that just rolled over a pota station that had been there for the last half hour.
They did not even try to accommodate(and they knew he was there) they just started the net over the top of them.
That kind of thing just infuriates me.
The net should have a fallback freq.
If they had just asked the guy politely to leave, that would have been different but they were just yelling “GET OFF POTA!!!” and “YOU HAVE GOT YOUR 10 CONTACTS LEAVE!!!.”
Apparently they forgot that no one owns the frequency.
For background I have been licensed for 56 years and amateur radio like everything else has it’s good and bad days. Even though I have been active for a long time I got called an idiot on the 20 meter band a few days ago. I immediately stopped transmitting and went to do something else. Did I like it, NO. Could I have said something back, sure I could. Can you imagine being 14 years old and listening to a bunch of adults call you a LID? A LID is what cw operators called a poor sending op back in my day. You have to acquire a thick skin for the insults that will surely come your way no matter what indeavor.
My advice to the POTA station. Be the better operator. Move to another frequency. As you leave tell the group you understand it is a net and that you will be glad to move and have a great net. There will be more that hear you doing that than you can ever imagine. You win, Check mate.
Enjoy your time on the air and learning not only about ham radio but about other people. That is true in radio as it is in life.
Hi Jedidiah,
I was just looking at your bio page and wanted to send you a note.
Congratulations on getting your ticket (what we called license back when I started) at 12 years old. Man you must be a smart guy. I saw you were looking for place to get better at cw. A couple I can think of is the Long Island CW club and the other one is CW Academy. Check both of those online. Now some advice or pointers from me a 70 year old CW guy.
First, learn sending and listening to code with each letter sent at 22 wpm. I saw you said you want 30 wpm and that is great but get your timing down first. I can copy code at 55 wpm but I can only send it with a nice N3ZN single lever paddle at 42 wpm and that is ok, most operators on the air stick around 28 wpm.
Second, Don’t give up. Try to make at least one contact each day on cw. You can do it.
I can answer any question you could ever come up with I’m sure so email me anytime you need help.