so last tuesday i finally worked up the nerve to check into our local 2m weekly net for the first time. ive been licensed for about four months now and just been listening forever but i figured id actually do it. and wow i was way more nervous than i expected to be, my voice was shaking a little when i gave my callsign.

the net control guy was really patient but i did mess up a couple things. i forgot to say my name and location after my call (apparently thats just what you do around here?) and i also keyed up right when someone else was finishing and caused a double. felt bad about that. nobody was rude about it at all but i could tell i fumbled it.

anyway i stuck around and listened to the whole net after that and it made way more sense the second time through. just wondering if there are any kind of unwritten rules i should know about before i try again next week. like how long do you wait after the last transmission before you key up, is there a standard pause people use or is it just feel

dont be too hard on yourself, literally everyone does something awkward their first few check-ins. the double you caused probably wasnt even that bad, those happen to experienced ops all the time especially on repeaters with a little bit of tail or a weird timeout.

the pause thing is kind of feel but a general rule of thumb ive always gone by is wait for the repeater to drop (you'll hear the tail or the courtesy tone if it has one) and then give it maybe another beat before you key up. on a busy net with a lot of stations that still doesnt guarantee you wont step on someone but it helps. the real trick is just listening to how the regulars do it for a few weeks and you start to get the rhythm of that specific net. they all have their own little quirks honestly.

also saying your name and location is just local custom, not every net does it. some just want callsign and signal report. your net control will usually tell you at the start what info they want in the check-in but its easy to miss if youre nervous and not catching every word.

oh man i remember my first net check-in, i completely blanked on my own callsign for like a full second which was embarrassing. you'll get comfortable with it pretty fast though, after maybe 3 or 4 times it just feels normal.

one thing that helped me was having a little notepad with my check-in info written out so i wasnt trying to remember everything while also being nervous. sounds silly but it actually worked