so ive been licensed for about 8 months now and i finally worked up the nerve to check into a local net a few weeks ago, which went fine, but now im trying to branch out and find some nets on 40m that run on weekday evenings. a buddy at my club mentioned there's a pretty active one on Wednesday nights but i couldn't find much info about it online — or maybe i was looking in the wrong place.

also just general question about check-in etiquette, like when the net control calls for check-ins do you just say your callsign once or do you give your name and location too? i gave way too much info the first time and felt kind of dumb after. some nets seem to want signal reports, some dont, its hard to know going in what the format is gonna be.

any good resources for finding active nets? i found the WA7BNK net directory but half the links on there seem broken. theres gotta be something more current.

the check-in thing really does vary net to net and honestly the best way to figure it out is just listen for a round or two before you jump in. most NCS operators will tell you what they want right at the top — like "call sign and name only" or "call sign, name, and QTH" — so if you can catch the first few minutes of the net you'll know what format they're using.

for finding nets, the ARRL net directory is probably your best bet these days, its at least somewhat maintained. also a lot of state emergency nets and traffic nets post their schedules on their own websites. your local ARES group might also have a list of recommended nets for people trying to build their operating experience, worth asking at the next club meeting. i got started on the same thing a few years back and honestly just hopping around was the best education, you pick up the rhythm pretty fast.

oh man I know exactly what you mean about giving too much info on that first check in, I basically read out my whole QSL card the first time I checked into a traffic net and the NCS was very polite about it but I could tell lol. you kind of learn by doing I guess.

theres also a ton of nets that run on Echolink and some of the AllStar nodes if you ever want more options, some of them are pretty welcoming to newer hams. not the same as HF obviously but good practice for net procedure. also random thing but if you ever want to try something a little different, watch for special event station activations — a lot of them have their own on-air events and check-in nets tied to them, like around holidays or anniversaries of stuff. got my first contact with a /SE station through one of those and it was pretty cool.