Weekly Nets (digital and voice)

WECG hosts or participates in several Emergency Communications (EmComm) nets throughout the week. In addition to those listed below, there are other local ACS (Auxiliary Communications Service) groups who host or participate in Ops 3 nets (“operations 3” nets are local nets) throughout the county. The weekly reports are sent in during the Ops 2 (county) net, and sent on to the Ops 1 (regional) net. Several nets operate Tuesday morning and Sunday evening. There is a WECG Ops 3 net that takes check-ins Tuesdays at 9 AM, and it is followed by an Ops 2 net (Whatcom county-wide) at 9:20 AM and an Ops 1 net (Region 1) at 10 AM. The primary Whatcom County Emergency Services EmComm net starts every Sunday evening at 19:00 giving amateur radio operators practice with emergency radio skills. Digital check-ins start at 18:00 (except during the summer). WinLink messages can be sent any time during the week. They are usually recorded as of Sunday at 6 PM, except during the summer when they are recorded by Tuesday 8:45 AM. If you don’t use WinLink already, learn how to send the ICS 213 form, a digital report developed for Incident Command System messaging. The schedule and details of nets connected with WECG are in the chart below, followed by check-in guides and how-to information. Upcoming net control operators are listed at the end of the page. Volunteers are always needed. Contact nco@wecg.org to volunteer to be net control operator for any of the weekly nets. See notes at the end of this listing.

What?	When?	Who?	Where?	Why?
Tuesday SJMC Ops 3 (reports to Ops 2 net at 0920 on 444.05 MHz)	Tuesday 0830	SJMC group volunteers and visitors.	Church Rd UHF repeater 442.825+ MHz, tone 156.7 Hz.	K7SJH, the WECG St. Joseph Medical Center Group takes check-ins and net control reports to the DMCC (Disaster Medical Center Control) Region 1 Hospital net at 0900.
Tuesday Emcomm Ops 3 (reports to Ops 2 net at 0920 on 444.05 MHz)	Tuesdays 0845	All WECG members	Church Rd UHF repeater 442.825MHz + MHz, tone 156.7 Hz.	Weekly Emcomm practice
Tuesday DMCC Ops 2	Tuesday 0900	DMCC net control stations	The net starts on the Lyman VHF repeater 145.19 MHz –, 127.3 Hz tone, and then moves to the Cultus UHF repeater 444.625 MHz + 103.5 Hz tone	K7SJH report for SJMC to the DMCC (Disaster Medical Center Control) Region 1 Hospital net along with other hospitals and medical centers in Region 1 (Island, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish and Whatcom counties).
Tuesday Emcomm Ops 2	Tuesday 0920	Local net control operators	Mt Constitution repeater 444.05 MHz+, tone 103.5, with Sumas Mtn 145.23 MHz, tone 103.5 Hz as backup for station not able to reach Connie.	Net control stations reporting to the Whatcom County Sheriff Office ACS Ops 2 net, WC7HQ.
Tuesday Emcomm Ops 1	Tuesdays 1000	Regional net control operators	Cultus Mountain UHF repeater 444.625 MHz +, tone 103.5 Hz.	Regional reporting
Digital nets are suspended from May 1 to August 31, except that a WinLink message can be sent to W7ECG anytime before 0800 Tuesday morning to be counted in the weekly digital count.
FSQ	Sundays 1800-1820	All licensed amateurs	145.020 MHz simplex mode FSQ	Practice the FSQ digital mode
Flmsg	Sundays 1820-1850	Amateurs affiliated with any EMCOMM group	This is Directed Net: Voice: Church UHF repeater 442.825 MHz, tone 156.7 Hz. Data: 145.020 MHz simplex. Mode varies. Get clearance from voice net control before sending your digital traffic on 145.020 MHz simplex.	Participants can practice sending and receiving ICS213 messages using Fldigi and Flmsg. Consider volunteering to be Voice or Digital Net Control for this net. Send email to w7ecg.wecg@gmail.com for information.
Voice	First Sundays 1845-1900	All licensed amateurs	Lookout Mtn. repeater 224.16 MHz, (-1.6 MHz offset), tone 156.7 Hz. Net Control may move the net to another repeater or simplex frequency after starting the net on on the repeater.	Exercise your 1.25 meter radio equipment. Consider being Net Control for this net. Visit http://wecg.org for details.
Voice	Sundays 1900-1920	All licensed amateurs	Simplex net on 146.55 MHz. For simplex to work, relay stations are key. Net control will call for relays in different regions of the county about every 10 names called.	Exercise your radio equipment. Consider being Net Control for this net. Visit http://wecg.org for details.
Voice	Sundays 1900-1920	All licensed amateurs	Church Rd UHF repeater 442.825 MHz, tone 156.7 Hz. Net Control may move the net to another repeater or simplex frequency after starting the net on on the Church Road repeater.	Exercise your 1.25 meter radio equipment. Consider being Net Control for this net. Visit http://wecg.org for details.
DMR	Sundays 1915	All licensed amateurs	Using Ferndale repeater 440.7375 MHz +, Talk group: 31538, Washington State ARES	DMR practice.
Winlink	Anytime during the week prior to Tuesday 0800	All licensed amateurs	Telnet or packet to a Winlink gateway	Practice using Winlink to pass messages. Bonus points for attaching a SitRep ICS213 to your message.

Notes: A plus (+) or minus (-) sign after a repeater frequency indicates the offset. Because repeaters are receiving (listening) and transmitting (broadcasting) at the same time, they require an offset to keep the radio frequencies from interfering with each other. The offset can be either positive (+) or negative (-). At two meters (the 144 MHz range), the offset is usually 600 kHz, at 220 MHz (1.25 meters), the offset us usually 1.6 MHz, and in the 440 MHz range (70cm), the offset is usually 5 MHz.

To download the check-in guide in pdf format, click here.
Weekly digital Flmsg Net How-to.
Weekly digital Flmsg Net Control Script.
If you are interested in remotely accessing the WECG Raspberry Pi stations that have been deployed around the county, please read the document at https://github.com/AG7GN/dwservice/blob/master/README.md for instructions. The relevant sections to read are:
– Initial Setup > Establish a DWService Account > Create Account
and
– Access and Control Remote Computers

The last Sunday of every month is a simplex net conducted on at 19:00 on 146.550 MHz. If you can hear a station that net control cannot, please provide your call-sign to indicate you have a relay. If you cannot hear net control whatsoever, but you can hear other operators, please wait briefly and then give your call-sign so someone can relay for you.

To download the SIMPLEX check-in guide in pdf format, click here. (It is to be used with the regular check-in guide here.) Note that these are older versions. Members of WECG have access to our Microsoft 365/SharePoint/Teams account and are able to enter check-in data directly into the spreadsheet. An updated version of this page may have a direct link to the updated sheets.