What a Great 2-Meter Net

Asking "what is on your workbench" really brought out the comments

I had an idea that I pitched to my local amateur radio club via an email reflector: let’s talk about what’s on our ham radio workbench! That concept got reinforced by the club president and was then picked up by our net control operator that evening on a weekly 2-meter net.

And it was, I believe, a smashing success. We heard much more in-depth comments from net participants and the conversations were longer, too.

I feel really good about this. Instead of talking about the weather or other things, we tapped into the love of amateur radio that our club members have. We met them where they are and they sure did open up.

The workbench focus let people talk about what was important to each of them. We heard about new radios and old radios. One fellow who was having trouble with a beep tone got help during the net that fixed his problem (and it made his audio sound better, too). We learned more about the several-second-long delay after transmissions through the club repeater. We heard about antennas for 80 meters, FT8 on 20 meters, and a telescoping fiberglass mast.

Throughout, everyone was respectful and interested. For me, it was one of the most magical nets we have ever held.

I think we should keep the workbench topic on a regular basis!