A quick update for everyone who’s been wondering how things are going since we made the shift on our Arizona repeaters.
Short answer: really well.
On August 23rd we ran our first round of standalone regional nets since the change, and honestly, turnout blew past what a lot of us were expecting. The Tucson 600, Heliograph 700, and Pinal 675 nets all ran independently for the first time, each with its own NCO for the night, Mike (WSFN474) on Snipe 600, Thor on Heliograph 700, and Nick (WSFN768) on Pinal 675, alongside our regular New Mexico net:
- Snipe 600 led the way with 31 check-ins out of 54 on the roll (57%), a great roundtable on everyone’s favorite vacation spot.
- Pinal 675 brought in 15 check-ins out of 33 (45%), with a fun roundtable question: “what will you do when it cools down?”
- Heliograph 700 saw 4 check-ins out of 15 on the roll (27%), a smaller group but a real one, and a good starting point for a net still finding its footing on its own.
- New Mexico, still running as it always has, brought in 25 check-ins out of 59 (42%), with a lighthearted roundtable about everyone’s non-human family members.
Add it all up, and across all four nets that night, we had 75 check-ins out of 161 total on the rolls, a 47% network-wide turnout for the very first night running this way. For the Arizona nets specifically, that’s 50 check-ins out of 102 Arizona stations on the roll, 49%. Either way you slice it, that’s a strong night by any measure, first-night jitters and all.
One shoutout worth calling out by name: Mark, WSNV765, managed to check in on all three AZ nets that night, reaching us from Tucson across Snipe 600, Heliograph, and Pinal 675. That’s some seriously impressive radio work, and a great reminder that even without linking, this community can still show up for each other across the region.
We also had someone reach out mid-net offering a hand with NCO duties on Pinal 675, which is exactly the kind of thing that makes this network work: people stepping up, not waiting to be asked.
None of this happened by accident. Our net control operators put in real effort keeping things running smoothly on their own individual repeaters for the first time in this configuration, and it showed. Thank you to everyone who checked in, who helped run things, and who reminded all of us why we do this in the first place. As a few of you put it right after the net wrapped up: “thanks for all you do,” and “fun as always.”
We know the linking change was a real adjustment, and we don’t take for granted that a lot of you had questions about what it would mean for nights like this one. The answer, at least for night one, is: it still works, and it’s still us.
More regional nets are getting organized across our other repeaters too, if you want your local group formally listed on the site, reach out. And keep an eye out for our next newsletter, coming the first Wednesday of September, with more updates on where things stand.
Thanks for showing up. We’ll see you on the air.