so i finally worked up the nerve to check into a local 2m net last Tuesday and i think i may have done it kind of awkward. the net control called for check-ins and i just said my callsign and then kind of waited and wasn't sure if i was supposed to say my name and location right away or wait for them to acknowledge me first. the guy running the net was really nice about it but i felt like i stumbled through the whole thing.

also at one point someone was already talking and i keyed up anyway because i thought there was a gap — there wasnt, i just couldn't hear the other station well enough. net control kind of paused and said "please stand by" which i'm pretty sure was aimed at me. is there like a standard way nets usually want you to check in? i've read a couple things online but they all seem a little different and some of it is pretty old info.

also is it rude to just check in and then say you have nothing further and just listen? i wasn't sure if i was expected to have something to say or contribute to a roundtable or whatever they do after check-ins. i don't want to be that guy who just logs the contact and bails but i also genuinely didn't have much to report that night.

oh man i remember that feeling, dont sweat it too much honestly. most nets especially local club ones are used to new folks stumbling a bit and net control has usually seen it all. the general thing with most nets ive been on is you just give your callsign when they call for check-ins, then wait for them to come back to you before you say anything else. some nets specifically ask for callsign and name together from the start but they'll usually announce that before calling for check-ins.

the "please stand by" thing — yeah that was probably for you but it's not a big deal, you learn the timing by feel after a while. trying to find the gap on a net with lots of stations and varying signal levels is genuinely tricky especially on a new repeater you're not used to.

and checking in with nothing further is completely fine, like totally normal. a lot of people do exactly that. some nets are just a roll call with a bit of chit chat after and nobody expects you to have a traffic message or some big announcement. just being there and saying hi is the point half the time.

yeah same thing happened to me when i first started checking into nets, the timing thing specifically. what helped me was just listening to the net a few times before actually checking in so i could get a feel for how that specific net runs because they really do vary a lot. some are super formal with traffic and stuff, some are basically just a ragchew with a net control keeping order.

one thing i'll add — if you're on a repeater with a bit of delay or a long tail, that can make it really hard to know when someone stopped transmitting. sometimes what sounds like dead air is actually the repeater still going. that might have been part of what happened when you keyed up too early.