So I finally got my general ticket about three weeks ago and ive been lurking on the 2m repeater here in town but havent really done much with it. A buddy at the club mentioned there's a Wednesday night net that runs on the local repeater and apparently there's also some kind of state-level HF net that ties into it or something? I honestly didnt fully understand his explanation.

Anyway I want to start checking in but im a little nervous about messing it up. Like do you just wait for the net control to call for check-ins and then say your call sign and name? Is there a specific format or will they get annoyed if i do it wrong? Also I saw somewhere that there's a special event station activation this weekend for some kind of anniversary - W1AW or something similar - and i have no idea how that works either. Is that the same kind of thing or totally different.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, just trying to figure out how all this works before i key up and embarass myself

Not a dumb question at all, everyone goes through this. For the net check-in, yeah basically you wait for net control to call for check-ins - they'll usually say something like "QRZ for check-ins" or just ask for stations to check in, and then you unkey, wait for a pause, and just give your callsign phonetically, your name, and your location. Some nets want a signal report too but net control will usually tell you what format they want right at the top when they open the net. If you mess up the format a little net control will just ask you to repeat something, no big deal, nobody's going to yell at you.

The special event station thing is kind of different. Like the W1AW Centennial stuff or anniversary activations - those are more like regular on-air contacts where you call the event station and they log you. You get a certificate or a QSL card sometimes. It's fun but it's not a structured net, more like a pileup if it's a popular one. Check the ARRL website for the operating schedule because W1AW runs different bands at different times throughout the week and they publish it all ahead of time.

Just jump in on that Wednesday net. Worst case you fumble a little and net control helps you out. That's literally what they're there for.

yeah what he said. i was terrified my first check-in on our local traffic net and i completely blanked on my callsign phonetics halfway through lol. net control just waited patiently and i got it sorted. they really dont care as long as you're trying.

the HF tie-in thing your buddy mentioned might be a NTS traffic net - National Traffic System - where local nets pass message traffic up to section and region nets on HF. its actually pretty cool once you get into it, handling formal radiograms and stuff. bit of a different vibe than just a ragchew net but worth checking out eventually if you get HF going.