Voice Procedures for Subnet Control Operators: Difference between revisions

Teams may need to contact other teams to share information or coordinate their activities.  These contacts may be (a) tactical communication using a frequency proposed by one of the teams; (b) tactical communication using a prearranged frequency; (c) formal messages between teams in the same region using NET Form 8; or (d) formal messages between teams in different regions. During the exercise you should expect some teams to use option (a).

The two teams usually won’t choose a frequency in advance. In this case, the team seeking to initiate the communication should find a frequency that appears to be available and ask the subnet controller for help in communicating the proposed frequency to the other team and asking if they are willing to change frequencies. The team may want to propose a UHF frequency or possibly a VHF frequency unless cell service is available.  Unless additional Amateur Radio operators are available to handle the direct communication, one or both of the operators may need to temporarily check out of the subnet and then check back in when they are finished with their direct tactical communication. In this case they should keep their direct communication as short as possible so they won’t miss important communications from the ECC.  

Tactical communication may be somewhat easier if the teams involved have agreed to use a particular frequency for such situations.  If that is the case they may proceed to attempt to establish communication using the agreed upon frequency, assuming the other team is monitoring the frequency.  Otherwise one team may need to use the regional frequency to let the other team know that they want to establish direct communication. Also, if either operator is currently checked into a regional subnet, that operator should find an alternate operator to take over with subnet communications or the alternate operator may handle the inter-team communication.  If the former is chosen, the operator currently checked into the subnet should inform the subnet controller before leaving the subnet frequency.  If no alternate operator is available and communication with the other team is particularly important, the operator can request to be checked out of the subnet and then check back in when they have complicated their direct communication.

The other major case is when a team has a formal message that they want to route to another team.  In some cases they may be able to do this using the tactical communication method above.  In other cases it may be better to route a formal message via their subnet controller.  If the team to receive the message is in the same region the subnet controller may be able to read the message to them.  Or, if there is a strong simplex communication path between the two teams, the subnet controller may give the originating team permission to use the subnet frequency to read the message to the receiving team.  

The situation is even more complicated if the team to receive the messages is checked into a different regional subnet than the originating team.  In that case, the subnet controller may need to route the message through the ECC radio room via the Tactical Net.  Alternatively, the controller could transcribe the message into a Winlink ICS 213 and route it to the other subnet via a Winlink gateway. The receiving subnet controller could then read the message to the receiving team.