Palo Alto Emergency Communications
SPECSNet

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SPECSNet Welcome for New Hams

We would love to have you participate in our weekly roll call as regularly as is convenient for you. The process is designed to be as brief as possible while providing the opportunity to connect each week. By checking in, you test that your equipment is working and you let everybody else know that you are out there and interested in emergency communications.

We realize that talking on the air can be intimidating when you are new. You are most welcome to just listen at first if that is more comfortable. We do encourage you to take the plunge and press that microphone button though! Try not to worry about making a mistake. We will just be happy to hear you and will try to help you along.

Detailed Instructions

You will need a radio for the so-called '2 meter band' such as a handheld radio (often called an HT) with an antenna. Most people in or near Palo Alto will be fine with just a handheld and the antenna that came with the radio. If you have the chance, you may want to program the frequencies into memories of the radio in advance. Consult the manual for the radio for detailed programming instructions. In fact, you will probably need the manual at first just to figure out how to tune the radio.

Any Monday evening at 8 PM local time, tune your radio to the frequency for the SPECS main net, which is 145.270-. The minus sign means that this is a repeater output frequency and your radio must be set to transmit on the input frequency 600 KHz below the output (600 KHz is the standard offset for repeaters on the two meter band). This means that the transmit frequency will be 144.670 MHz. Most modern radios will automatically set the offset when you tune to 145.270 MHz. This repeater also requires a 100 Hz PL (or CTCSS) tone. Check your manual for information on how to set the tone.

Note that normally there is no reason for you to transmit on the main net, so as long as you can tune the radio to receive 145.270 you can participate. Here's what to do:

  1. Tune the radio to the main net repeater frequency at 8 PM Monday.
  2. Listen to the first part of the net to hear announcements and check-ins of officials.
  3. When it comes time for the Palo Alto and North roll-call, someone will give a local frequency. When you hear this, change your radio to the frequency that is given. That will almost always be the Palo Alto simplex frequency of 147.540 MHz. Because this is simplex and does not involve a repeater, there is no offset or tone to worry about.
  4. Listen for a check-in invitation, then hold down the transmit button and say your call sign. Release the transmit button and listen to hear your call sign repeated back as an acknowledgement. Using simplex, it is quite likely that some other people will not be able to hear your signal directly. If you do not hear your call sign acknowledged, try again at a suitable break. Someone else may relay your call sign if they heard you but the person taking the roll did not.
  5. After the local net ends, change your radio back to the 145.270 repeater frequency to listen to the end of the main net.

I'm looking forward to hearing you on the air.

From Jim Thornton, KE6SZJ, AEC Palo Alto and Past-President of SPECS

This page was last updated   3/09/03