For almost as long as I can remember there have been HF nets that are based on helping people achieve various awards. The idea is that people that have checked in to the net can make contact with each other in order to make it easier to get confirmed contacts from locations that they may still need to qualify for an award.

I don't believe I have seen anyone mention this before, but what if we were to do the same thing for eQSL? We can setup a time and a frequency for the net and those that are interested can check in and, with permission of net control, make contact with the other people checked in that they may not have an eQSL for that area.

I am thinking that this may be a great way to expose others to eQSL. It will also encourage people to get AG and at least bronze member status, and also have a great time getting to know other people in the eQSL community. The only requirement would be that the people checking into the net would need to confirm their contacts via eQSL. No LoTW or paper cards exchanged unless they also confirm via the eQSL system.

So, what are your thoughts? Anyone interested in talking about making this happen? While I don't have a big gun station, I do have a pretty good signal on 15, 17 and 20 meters and I have experience running nets. So I would have no problem stepping up and offering my services as a net control station if someone with a better station doesn't want to be the NCS. I would hope to get another station on the east coast that would be willing to help out as well due to the way propagation often works on HF.

If there is enough interest, let's see what we can do to make an eQSL HF net a reality.

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73 de Jeff VE6EFR

www.edmontonfireradio.com - Streaming live audio from the Edmonton Fire Rescue Services, Edmonton EMS and STARS Air Medical

I think that's a great idea, and would do whatever I need to do to help! :)

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N9GSU Rick Garrett

Thanks for the reply, Rick.

It doesn't look like there is much interest from the eQSL community at the moment. But if more people decide that they would like to do something of this nature I think it may be an interesting way to try and work toward the various awards.

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73 de Jeff VE6EFR

www.edmontonfireradio.com - Streaming live audio from the Edmonton Fire Rescue Services, Edmonton EMS and STARS Air Medical

I'd be interested.

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KD8DVR John L. Wilkerson Jr.

All it takes is somone to say where and when.
20 or 40 meters perhaps?

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N1GMV John Aceti

Count me in but could we add 10m to the list. I know it's sometimes it's noise but I think that's where we'd get the new HAM'ers interested to eQSL. Which I know it would help me?

Cornell
KF5YPC

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KF5YPC Cornell Miles Jr

Good idea on the 10 meters Cornell. There's a lot of new techs out there and this would give them a taste of HF nets and operations.

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N1ORK Orest 'Andy' Zajac

Guys I am sorry but I just now read the comments on the net and think that it is a great idea. I am semi retired and would help any way that I can. I don't have a clue how you would start something like this but I am willing to help if anyone is still interested.

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KE5SUE Bill Sowell

I was thinking about this today and it is an excellent idea but look how long we have been talking about this, a great idea isn't so great if there is not ACTION to go along with it ! Why doesn't someone put an announcement in CQ and heaven forbid even QST and get the ball rolling are else it will be left in the playground all alone ! The ONLY thing I do not like about eQSL is it takes forever to make things happen and that is a shame because it is a great system and organization.

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K5ZRK LARRY JONES

Not many, myself included, read this forum. Pick a regular time and get the eQSL web administrator to plaster all over the pages. It's good for us an good for eQSL.

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KV4WE Stephen Meier

I agree with KV4WE. This is the first time I have read the forums. If we pick a day and time and let it be known on the web site, I think we will get a lot of interest. We could run it a lot like the 3905 Century Club or the OMISS nets.

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K5UAK Arthur J. Smith

With relatively few people reading the forums, my original idea of a weekly net may not be the best way to make contacts on HF. However, there may be another option available to us.

I was listening on D-STAR reflector REF030C. They were coordinating HF DSTAR contacts via the reflector, then moving over to a specific frequency that was agreed upon. What if we did something similar? We could use an IRC chat room where we can coordinate HF contacts on the spot and exchange eQSL without having to wait for a net.

I would suggest we use Freenode as a server and the channel name of #eqsl . If you have an IRC program such as mIRC or XChat (available for most platforms), just setup your software to connect to Freenode and the channel name is #eqsl. If you don't have an IRC program installed you can also login via the web at http://webchat.freenode.net/

Just login with your call sign and you should be able to join the room.

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73 de Jeff VE6EFR

FWIW....I work evenings, mostly, and would be glad to help organize a daytime, perhaps 20 meter net.

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N9GSU Rick Garrett