Net control
This path is for the people running the net while it is happening. In ECTLogger that is three per-net roles, held for one net at a time and given up when it closes:
- NCS, Net Control Station: runs the net. Starts it, works the list, decides what happens, closes it.
- Logger: types. Everything Net Control can do to a check-in, the Logger can do too. On a busy net this is the difference between running the net and transcribing it.
- Relay: checks in stations on behalf of others, for the stations Net Control cannot hear directly.
These are not the same as your account’s global role. A per-net role applies to one net and nothing else, which is why a brand new account can be handed Net Control on somebody else’s net without being given the run of the site. The full breakdown is in roles and permissions.
What you will be able to do
Take a net from lobby to closed without touching anything else: log stations as fast as they call, correct a row without losing your place, work several frequencies at once alongside other net controls, keep the chat civil, confirm a station is who it says it is, handle formal traffic, spread the desk across as many screens as you have, and close out with the log already written.
Before your first net
Two things are worth doing once, in advance, rather than discovering mid-net:
- Find out whether you can actually take control. If you are on the net staff of the schedule the net comes from, you can take Net Control yourself by checking yourself in as NCS, even on a week you are not scheduled. If you aren’t, someone already running the net has to give you the role. Roles and stepping away covers which case you are in.
- Look at the desk once when nothing is happening. The net view has a lot on it, and the first time you see it should not be with eleven stations calling. The net control desk is a tour with the controls labeled.
The pages
The net control desk — Every control on the net view, what it does, and which ones you will actually use. Start here.
Logging check-ins — Adding a station, editing a row in place, fixing a callsign you misheard, and logging a station with no account.
Speed entry — Taking a string of callsigns as fast as they are called, and cleaning up afterward. What the syntax accepts.
Frequencies and multiple net controls — Several frequencies on one net, showing which one you are working, and more than one net control desk at once. This is the part built for multi-band ARES and SKYWARN operations.
Roles and stepping away — Taking Net Control, handing it to somebody else, stepping down, and what the paused-net banner means.
Chat moderation and mutes — Muting a station for yourself, muting one for everyone, and what the muted station sees.
Authenticated nets — Confirming a checked-in station is the account it claims to be, using the code from their authenticator app. What it proves and what it does not.
Handling traffic — The traffic panel, receiving and relaying formal messages, and what the chain of custody records.
Multiple monitors and wide screens — Detaching and popping out the check-in list, chat, and activity log, and docking the script and map on a wide screen.
Closing the net — Closing out, what gets generated, who receives it, and what to do if you closed one by mistake.
Not here
Creating the net in the first place, and everything about recurring schedules and staffing, is net managers. Checking in as a participant is operators.