Practices and Procedures

Suggested Best Practices

1. Become familiar with your local ham community. This will help you in the event of an actual emergency.
2. Turn off or significantly reduce the squelch adjustment on your radio. Most of us are used to setting the squelch for repeater operation, but leaving this level as is can reduce your ability to hear local simplex transmissions.
3. Be prepared to serve as a Relay when requested. Volunteering to work as a Net Control Operator on a local net will help you build this valuable skill.
4. Learn your radio(s) as well as you can. Consider that in an emergency you may need to change frequencies, tones, squelch, offset, and other functions on the fly.
5. Strive to build a effective station capable of reaching other stations with simplex. It is highly suggested that you have your antenna as high up as possible to get a clear transmission. Having an elevated antenna can help you to login yourself directly, and may make you available as an effective Relay.
6. Prepare your radios to Scan local emergency frequencies in your area. Include the frequencies of your simplex communities in the event you can be of assistance.
7. If you are not part of a trained emergency service, always defer to emergency organizations who are trained for emergency service.