so i finally worked up the nerve to check in to my local 2m net last tuesday and i think i messed it up but im not totally sure. the net control said QRZ and i just said my callsign and my name and that was it, but then a couple other people checked in and they also gave their location and said whether they had traffic or not. nobody said anything to me about doing it wrong but i felt kind of embarrassed after. is there a standard way to check into a net or does it vary? i looked it up a little bit online but got kind of conflicting info. also at one point i keyed up while someone else was already talking which i didnt realize until i heard the squelch tail and felt like an idiot. just want to make sure im not annoying people before i try again next week

oh dont worry about it honestly, everyone does that stuff when they first start checking into nets. the doubling thing happens to everybody, the timing just takes some practice especially if you're used to how things sound on a handheld versus a mobile or base rig where the audio is totally different.

as for the format, it really does vary net to net. some nets are pretty formal and they want you to say your call, name, location, and whether you have traffic or announcements. other nets are super casual and just want to know you're there. best thing to do is just listen for a full cycle before you check in next time so you can hear how other people are doing it and just match that. net control usually doesn't mind if you ask either, most of them are happy to help especially with newer folks. you didn't do anything wrong, you just didn't know the local custom yet which is totally normal.

yeah same thing happened to me my first few check ins lol. i was on a net where they wanted signal report, location AND whether you had traffic and i had no idea, just blurted out my callsign and my name like i was on a phone call. the net control was really nice about it and just asked me the questions directly which was kind of them. now i always listen to a few check ins before jumping in on a new net just to get the feel for it