Courage Center Handiham System

Handiham Net Schedule, Effective May 12, 2008

Join our worldwide EchoLink net every day but Sunday. All licensed operators are welcome. The net is controlled but informal, and there is no need to be a Handiham member to participate. Sometimes the net control station will throw out a discussion topic to liven things up! Listen in a few times if you are shy, and then take the plunge and throw out your callsign.

Days: Monday through Saturday, and Sunday if anyone wants to take an informal session.

Times: 11:00 hours United States Central Time M-S and a second Monday session at 19:00 Central Time.

Frequency in the local Minnesota repeater coverage zone: 145.45 FM, negative offset with no tone in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul Minnesota.

EchoLink nodes:

KA0PQW-R, node 267582
WA0TDA-L, node 302454
N0BVE-R, node 89680

The Monday evening EchoLink net is at 19:00 United States Central Standard time, which translates to 00:00 GMT Tuesday morning during North American Daylight Time. In the winter, the GMT schedule shifts one hour to 01:00 GMT. Connect from any Internet-enabled computer in the world, and come out on Twin Cities repeater N0BVE on 145.450.

In the United States, we move to Central Daylight Time, at least in most places. That means that hours for our daily nets are adjusted accordingly, beginning with the midday EchoLink net, which is on at 11:00 Minnesota time. Since the local time has shifted ahead one hour, you will now find the net at 16:00 GMT Monday through Friday.

Similarly, the Monday nets all change hour GMT. The Monday morning 20 meter net on 14.265 MHz, is at 9:30 CDT (14:30 GMT). The 20 meter Handiham net always stands down for SATERN Net traffic and changes. The SATERN (Salvation Army) Net meets at 10:00 CDT, immediately following the Handiham net unless there is an emergency.

The Monday evening EchoLink net is at 19:00 United States Central Standard time, which translates to 00:00 GMT Tuesday morning.

A question we get every year at this time is, "Why do you change the net times to follow Daylight Saving Time? Wouldn't it be easier to just stick with GMT and not change the times?"

The answer is that we have tried staying with GMT in the past, but received complaints from net members who liked staying on their local time schedules. Also, we ran up against other nets using the same frequencies unless we maintained the "local" times.

Monday nets:

14.265 MHz SSB, 09:30 - 10:00 United States Central Time Mondays: Our most reliable net frequency, but remember that we stand down for the Salvation Army Emergency Net (SATERN) during their emergency operations on this same frequency. During the summer months, the 14.265 net will begin at 15:30 GMT on Mondays.

28.390 MHz SSB, 10:00 - 10:30 United States Central Time Mondays: This frequency may be open, especially on the north-south path. Listen following the 20-meter net. During the winter months, the 28.390 net will begin at 16:00 GMT on Mondays.

21.442 MHz SSB, 10:30 - 11:00 United States Central Time Mondays: This frequency may be open, especially on the north-south path, and may be a bit more reliable than 10 meters during diminishing sunspot activity. Listen following the 10-meter net. During the winter months, the 21.442 net will begin at 16:30 GMT on Mondays.

7.272 MHz SSB, 14:30 - 15:00 United States Central Time Mondays: This frequency is a good bet in North America during the quiet atmospheric conditions of winter, but not so much in summer. During the summer months, the 7.272 net will begin at 20:30 GMT on Mondays.

145.45 FM and EchoLink, 19:00 United States Central Time Mondays: Use your EchoLink search function and look for N0BVE. Connect from any Internet-enabled computer in the world, and come out on Twin Cities repeater N0BVE on 145.450. During the summer months, the EchoLink net will begin at 00:00 GMT Tuesdays (7:00 PM United States Central Time.)

There is also a 11:00 United States Central Time EchoLink net Monday through Saturday on the same node and repeater.

EchoLink nodes:

KA0PQW-R, node 267582
WA0TDA-L, node 302454
N0BVE-R, node 89680

Here are some other nets and times:

1.9 MHz SSB, 20:00 United States Central Time nightly except Tuesdays &
Thursdays: The Stillwater Amateur Radio Association (SARA/Handiham) top band informal net. The band should be open “long" for good communications across North America during evening hours. The stations on this net talk a long time, so be patient and they will let you in!

Friday CW Net:

7.112 MHz CW, 09:00 - 12:00 ET, plus whatever time is needed to wrap up the last contact: This is the Handiham Informal slow speed CW Net. Look for Paul, W8IRT. You may e-mail Paul at w8irt@aol.com with your ideas and signal reports, or to find out about schedule changes for the CW net. Paul advises us that the net remains true to local time, which means a one hour shift when changing to or from Daylight time in the Spring and Autumn.

If you have a correction in any part of the net schedule, please e-mail wa0tda@arrl.net.