ok so ive been licensed for about three months now (general class) and i finally worked up the nerve to check into a local 2m net last tuesday. went fine i think but im still not totally sure i did it right. like when the net control came around i just said my callsign and gave my name and said i had no traffic. is that the right way? nobody corrected me or anything but i felt like maybe i was too short with it.

also theres this one guy on the net who always gives like this really long check-in with his location and equipment and signal report request and it goes on for a while. is that normal or is he just kind of doing his own thing. i didnt want to ask on air because i didnt want to embarrass anybody.

basically just trying to figure out what the unwritten rules are. the handbook covers some of it but real life feels different than reading about it

honestly what you did sounds completely fine. most nets are pretty simple and net control just wants your callsign, maybe your name, and whether you have traffic or announcements. short and clean is usually better than rambling. the guy who goes long with all the details isnt wrong exactly but its kind of a personal style thing and some net controls will actually ask people to keep it brief if the net is busy.

the main things i'd say are just listen before you jump in, wait for net control to acknowledge you before you start talking, and dont kerchunk the repeater while someones still finishing up. you'll pick up the rhythm pretty quick just from showing up regularly. the fact that you were nervous about doing it wrong is honestly a good sign, the people who dont care are the ones who step on everyone

same boat here six months ago lol. i was terrified my first check in. the long winded guy on your net sounds like every net has one of those, ours does too. i think he just likes the hobby a lot which is fine but yeah net control sometimes has to kind of move things along. you did fine trust me, short check ins are totally normal