Every Sunday morning From September to June at 10:00 Ottawa local time on 3760 kHz., LSB

An Invitation to All OVMRC Members with HF Capability:

Your participation in the Pot Hole Net is important for the Club to assess its ability to network and communicate in HF and to document its presence in the HF amateur spectrum.  It also provides a fun way for you to assess your own ability to communicate via HF while making your callsign heard in the HF bands.  If you are new to HF, the Pot Hole Net provides a friendly way to learn to operate in the HF bands in the SSB mode and to tap the wealth of knowledge and wisdom from some of the most experienced Club members. In HF, there is always the possibility of a favourable skip and propagation resulting in unexpected pleasant calls from stations in remote locations.

80m Net Preamble & Format

Good Morning radio amateurs, and welcome to the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club Pot Hole Net. My name is [name], call sign [call sign] your Net Control Station for today. Before starting the net, is there any urgent or high priority traffic? (break) This net was established in May of 1959 and meets on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. local time on 3760 kHz. All stations are welcome to call in to the net; membership in the OVMRC is not a requirement to participate.

The purpose of this net is to announce amateur radio activities, distribute news and bulletins and to provide an opportunity for participants to discuss technical or other related matters of interest.

The net procedure is as follows:

• First there will be a call for mobile or portable stations or stations wishing an early check-out.
• A call for check-ins from outside of the National Capital Region
• A call to all stations wishing to check in.
• A break for news or announcements.

The announcements will be followed by a second round rag-chew discussion which will also include an informal swap session. Anyone with items for sale or wanted may announce their swap items during the second round.

Once again, your Net Control Station this morning is [announce your name and callsign] and I’m located at [announce your location].

History

The Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club Pot Hole Net was proposed and initiated in May, 1959 by club President, Mike Larson K5IJV/VE3, operating on 3760 kHz. single sideband as the official OVMRC Club Net and conducted every Saturday and Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. local time. Eventually, the Saturday meeting was dropped and has been a Sunday morning net to the present time. The net was named in honour of the numerous Ottawa roadway pot holes dodged by Club members on net who were mobile at the time; those potholes frequently being the topic of mobile conversation. The Pot Hole Net was registered with the ARRL which had strong objections to the choice of the name, however after being informed of the circumstances by President Mike, they relented and the Pot Hole Net is still operating today.

The Pot Hole Net has evolved somewhat with changing times although, arguably, the situation of Ottawa pot holes is probably the same. Most of the check-ins these days are done from the comfort of home shacks, yet there are some who do mobile out to various locations and check in as mobile-portable. At any rate, attendance is always robust enough to occupy at least an hour's worth of rag chewing, updating of news from OVMRC Executive and having an informal swap session.

Everyone is welcome to join in, membership in the OVMRC is not a requirement and we are happy to have new hams call in.

The Pot Hole Net is controlled, meaning that there is a Net Control Station (NCS) for each session and that a formal script and routine is followed in order to ensure all check-ins are acknowledged either directly or by relay and that each check-in has equal opportunity to speak. A copy of the net routine can be found here.