Relays During Radio Communication

The strength of communication will vary from exercise to exercise and operator to operator based on factors like location, elevation, available transmission power and sensitivity and selectivity of receivers. Note that there are many combinations of these factors in a region including a subnet controller who may be in a different location and team AROs in varying locations depending on who is available and the nature of the exercise or deployment.  This unpredictability of simplex communication means that you and the other operators must be ready to ask for and provide relays. There are three cases to consider.

1. You can hear the subnet controller but they cannot hear you but you can be heard by other AROs. Ideally this case will be covered by the subnet controller asking for relays and another station offering to relay your check-in or your responses. If the subnet controller needs more information, they will ask the relaying station to request it from you. This scenario is sometimes referred to as the subnet controller handing the “talking stick” to the relaying station.
2. You can hear other AROs checking in or providing information but you can’t hear the subnet controller. To cover this possibility the subnet controller may choose another station and ask them to relay your announcement or request. When this happens you will be responding to the other station because the subnet controller has passed the talking stick to them and they are temporarily acting as the temporary subnet controller.
3. Neither the subnet controller nor any of the other AROs in the region can hear you even though you can hear some of them. In this case your best alternative is to attempt to check into another regional subnet.