so i finally worked up the nerve to check into the local 2m net last tuesday and it went okay i guess but i kept second guessing myself the whole time. like when the net control asked for any further traffic i wasnt sure if i was supposed to say something or just wait. ended up just saying my callsign again and saying nothing further which felt weird. also i wasnt sure how long to wait before transmitting after they call for check-ins — i jumped in at the same time as another guy twice and we doubled up. net control was really nice about it but still felt embarrassing.

is there like a general rule for how long to pause before you key up? and is it rude to just check in and say nothing further every week or is there an expectation that you actually bring traffic or a comment or something? i dont want to be that guy who just checks in to pad the count but i also dont always have something to say

Oh man yeah that doubling thing happens to everyone at first, dont stress about it at all. The pause thing is kind of feel by feel honestly — on most nets i wait about a second after net control finishes before I key up, sometimes two seconds if the band sounds busy. Some guys count to like half a breath and just go for it. You'll start to get a sense of the rhythm after a few weeks.

And no, checking in with nothing further is completely fine and totally normal. A lot of people do it every single week just to be counted and support the net, that's actually kind of the point. Net control knows who you are after a while and it's all good. The main thing is you showed up and made the effort, that counts for something.

yeah i was the same way my first few nets, felt like i was doing everything wrong. one thing that helped me was just listening to a couple nets before actually checking in so i could hear how people were doing it. the doubling up thing really does just take practice though there's no magic trick for it. some repeaters have more lag too which makes timing harder so that might've been part of it