so i've been getting more into checking into nets lately, started with the local 2m club net on monday nights and then kind of fell down a rabbit hole. im now checking into like 4 or 5 different nets through the week and i made this whole spreadsheet with times, frequencies, net control callsigns, all that stuff. my wife thinks im losing it.

anyway the reason i'm posting is i recently heard about a special event station that was running for some kind of anniversary — i forget what exactly, might have been a lighthouse or a historical site thing — and i completely missed it because i had no idea it was happening. is there a good place people go to find out about upcoming special event stations and one-time nets? i check the ARRL website sometimes but i feel like i miss stuff. do you all just find out through word of mouth or is there a better system

the spreadsheet thing is totally normal, i have a notepad next to my radio with all my regular nets written down and my wife gives me the same look haha. for special event stations the ARRL has a page that lists them but honestly i find out about most of them through the W1AW bulletins — if you're not copying those yet, worth tuning in or just reading them on the website. also QRZ sometimes has announcements in the forums and club newsletters are goldmines for this kind of thing if you're on a few email lists.

one thing i started doing is just listening around on weekends when i have time. you'd be surprised how many special event stations you stumble across just by slowly tuning the HF bands on a saturday morning. caught a 13 colonies station that way a couple summers ago and had no idea the event was even going on until i heard them calling CQ

yeah i think lotw and qrz announcements are where i see most of the special event stuff but honestly i still miss a ton of them. there's also a site called ng3k.com that has a contest and special event calendar which i check every now and then, its not the prettiest website but the info is usually pretty complete. for nets specifically the net directory on the ARRL site is decent but some of the listings are way out of date so always worth verifying before you sit there waiting for net control that maybe stopped running the net two years ago lol. ask me how i know