Operators
This path is for the largest group of people who use ECTLogger and the one that matters most: the stations who check in.
Everything here is about taking part. Nothing in this path requires any role, any permission, or anybody’s approval. If you never read another page on this site, you can still participate fully in every net you are invited to. That is deliberate. A net where only the people who read the manual can take part is a broken net.
What you will be able to do
By the end of this path you will be able to find a net that is running, check in from wherever you are, keep your status accurate so Net Control knows whether you are still there, put your location on the map in whatever format you actually think in, take part in the chat without stepping on the net, file formal traffic, and see your own participation history.
The one thing worth knowing up front
You do not have to be online to be in a net. Most nets have stations who are on the radio and nowhere near a browser, and Net Control logs them by voice. Those stations get a row in the list, a place on the map, and a line in the report exactly like everyone else.
So the app is not the net. It is a log of the net, and it is also a second channel alongside the net for the people who happen to have it open. If you are in a spot with no signal, check in on the radio and let Net Control type it. Nothing is lost.
The pages
Signing in — The magic link, the password worth setting for the night email is down, and two-factor authentication: turning it on, what changes once it is on, and what to do when you lose the phone the codes live on.
Your account and profile — Your callsign, your name, the grid square or town you operate from, what the app emails you about, and what other people can see about you.
Finding a net — The dashboard, what the net statuses mean, what a lobby is, and how to find a net that has not started yet or one that finished last month.
Checking in — The check-in form, which fields are required and which are not, what the net has asked you for, and what happens when you submit.
Status, rechecks, and checking out — The eight station statuses, when to change yours, what a recheck actually does to the check-in list, and why checking out matters to the person running the net.
Chat, polls, and topics — Talking alongside the net without talking over it. Editing a message, replying to one, tagging a station, and muting one that is bothering you.
Your location and the map — Town and state, GPS coordinates, Maidenhead, UTM, MGRS: what each looks like, which to use, and what the map does with it.
Filing traffic — Radiograms, ICS-213s, and RRI weather strips filed from inside a net, and what happens to a message after you hand it off.
Your statistics — What ECTLogger counts for you, where to see it, and how the leaderboards work.
On a phone in the field — What is different on a small screen, what to set up before you leave the house, and what still works when the signal is bad.
Not here
Running a net is the net control path. Owning a net or a weekly schedule is net managers. Neither is something you need to read to take part.