A Liaison station is assigned to to act as an the contact or connection between units of the ham radio or of any other organization in order to ensure concerted action, cooperation, nets, and resources.
Liaison stations provide the communication link between two nets. They will generally be limited to two nets so they can maintain good communications between the nets.
Liaison stations need to have at least two radios, each with their own antenna. These antennas must be operated sufficiently to NOT interfere with the other radio when the operator transmits on either frequency.
Liaison stations will be appointed by NCS or the staffing officer, usually from trained operators.
Typical duties:
Example Liaison stations
The Racine ARES net is established to provide emergency communications during disaster, significant events, and severe weather, before the net has started choose a back-up, and Winlink liason.
This is [your callsign] net control for the WI9RAC Racine County ARES net. A directed net is now called. All communications will be carried out at the direction of this net control. Your backup net control is [BNC callsign]. The Winlink Liason is [Callsign@winlink.org], utilize Winlink protocols to check into the net.
Pick the appropriate net purpose:
Reiterate the net purpose occasionally, and ID your station per FCC rules.
The purpose of this net is for the handling of traffic, announcements and other forms of training.
The purpose of this net is for support of [disaster and/or agency]. This net is designed to co-ordinate logistics during an activation and handle any traffic the stated situation dictates. ARES stations monitoring are encouraged to check in with availiblity, resources at thier disposal. (Include a small description of type of traffic expected, usually EC or net manager will advise you.)
Examples:
WB9USI HF, winlink availible until 8 PM.
N9TRI VHF, winlink and portable kit.
The purpose of this net is for the forwarding of severe weather observations to the National Weather Service based on the folowing:
The recommended format of reporting is the NWS_TLCS_Reporting_Format for the above criterion.
All emergencies and no other traffic should be offered unless specifically directed to do so by the net control.
The purpose of this net is for the forwarding of observations to law enforcement agencies. All participating stations are asked to observe and report, and not to intervene. You should consider the suspect as a danger to yourself and others. The only action you should take is to observe and report.
This information would include:
When checking into the net, please listen first to avoid doubling. State your callsign followed by TRAFFIC or NO TRAFFIC.
This Net control will get the destination of your traffic.
Should your station be called by net control, please respond with your callsign.
Once checked in, please remain on frequency listening attentively until secured.
Should you need to leave before the net has concluded, call net control with the word CHECKOUT, followed by your callsign.
Please wait until net control has secured your station.
In case of a repeater malfunction, all stations are to report to 146.460 MHz simplex.
I will now stand-by for stations with emergency, priority or time valued traffic.
Stand-by for any stations that have an immediate need to the repeater. Handle any emergencies appropriately.
Are there any stations with formal written traffic for the net? Please call [your call].
Winlink liason please come with your check-ins.
Call digital liason's callsign. Net control checks for digital check-ins' are, usually via winlink 2k, or packet net see those procedures for details.
You should assign a liason station or digital net control to take check-in's for extended periods , but net control usually is sent first check in messages, as well as net manager.
I will now take general check-ins for the net. Everyone is welcome to the net. Please take care to avoid doubling.
You may wish to break the check-ins into sections to help keep stations from doubling. Common methods of doing this is to ask for check-ins from specific geographic areas or to use alphabetical segments based on the suffix of the callsign. Common alphabetical groups are A-E, F-J, K-O, P-T & U-Z. You may use different methods, based on the situation
Call anystations with anouncement traffic and have them pass that traffic to the net
Stations with announcement traffic come now please, [Callsign]
This is [your call], net control for the WI9RAC Racine County ARES net. I would like to thank the Backup Net Control, the Lakeshore Repeater Association, for the use of the Repeater; and all of the stations that participated in this net. Your help is greatly appreciated.
All stations are now secured at (time) local time. This is [your call] now releasing the repeater for normal use.
At the conclusion of the net, prepare a net report to be sent to the Net Manager. The information to be included in the net report consists of the following: