so ive been licensed about 3 months now (technician) and I keep hearing about these nets on my local repeater but every time I think about checking in I freeze up and just listen. I know its probably simple but I genuinely dont know what the protocol is. like do I just say my callsign when the net control asks? do i have to say my name and location every time? and is there some kind of list I should be on beforehand or do you just jump in?

also someone at my club mentioned there was a special event station operating near me this weekend for some kind of historical thing but I have no idea how to find out about those in advance. is there a website or something that lists them? sorry if these are dumb questions, just trying to not sound like an idiot on the air

not dumb at all, everyone goes through this. so for most casual nets the net control will say something like "all stations wishing to check in please give your callsign" and you just wait for a pause and say your callsign phonetically. some nets want name and location, some just want the call, honestly you learn which is which pretty fast by listening for a session or two before jumping in. if you miss the check-in window its usually fine to say youre late when they give another opportunity.

for special event stations, the ARRL website has a listing, its under operating resources I think. W1AW sometimes runs special events and there are a bunch of independent ones throughout the year tied to stuff like national parks, historical anniversaries, that kind of thing. QRZ also shows them sometimes. the one near you sounds like it might be a 13 Colonies event or something similar but without knowing your area hard to say. worth checking both sites though.

yeah what he said, also dont stress about sounding perfect. net controls hear nervous new hams all the time and honestly most of them are pretty patient. i remember my first check-in i said my callsign wrong like i jumbled the letters and the net control just calmly asked me to repeat and moved on. nobody made a big deal of it

one thing i'd add is if you can find the net's specific format beforehand sometimes they post it on a club website or the repeater's linked group. some nets are super formal with traffic passing and some are basically just a ragchew with structure so it really depends. just listen first like you've been doing and you'll figure out the vibe pretty quick