From the ARRL March 4, 2009, Contest Newsletter... 

North American RTTY Sprint--Digital, from Mar 15 0000Z to Mar 15 0400Z. Bands (MHz): 3.5-14. Exchange: Both call signs, serial, name, and S/P/C. Logs due: Apr 30. Rules

NATA will sponsor a team entry into this contest and we would appreciate the participation of interested net participants! There will be no RTTY net operating the evening of March 14 (15z) due to the contest operations. In order to register for the team, please contact KU0G through the private email system on the website NO LATER THAN Friday evening.

75M SSB

Our flagship net averages around 20 check-ins at this stage. Not too bad for a net which started two months ago tonight! Last night we had our first VE check in with VE6AWI coming on board late in the net. Lorne has assured us that he will be back! We would like to get the word out to our friends south of the border and in the Caribbean. If you have the opportunity to talk up the nets to people in Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean please do so!

160M SSB

The 160 Meter net (1905 kHz) started out very good! The first net had 18 check ins and while subsequent nets haven't risen to this same level band conditions have played against us with extremely high noise levels. The 160 meter net meets Sunday and Thursday evenings, local time, at the same time the 75m SSB net normally meets. We will operate the 160 Meter net as long as conditions hold up for us however it will likely be necessary to shut down the net for the summer months. We will keep you advised of any plans to this effect!

40M SSB

We have been holding off starting up on 40 Meters pending the shut-down of broadcasting stations. I have been periodically monitoring both 7205 and 7195 to check on both band conditions and the presence of broadcast stations on these frequencies. Both seem to be acceptable and we will soon call 7205 our 40 Meter home! Rather than start out with too many nets to handle, we will start the 40 Meter net running on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. The net will begin at 00z with a two-hour target window. We will use 7195 as a back-up frequency if necessary. Start date for the 40 Meter will be April 1, 2009.

CW, PSK, and RTTY 

Due to antenna issues I am unable to NCS the PSK, RTTY, and CW nets for the time being. Until I can get back into the backyard and do some antenna construction to get a reliable antenna for the bottom end of 80 meters. We need a couple of stations to step up and volunteer to take over these nets for a while. I would appreciate the assistance of two or three people to take over as NCS for these nets immediately. Until we have volunteers these nets will be "up for grabs" for whoever would like to earn the NCS credit for each net. Simply pick up the net and send a net report to KU0G (pick up NTS message points by sending this as a radiogram!) and you're credit will be recorded! It will be a couple of weeks before I can pick up new coax to get a low-80 antenna up and running so please be patient!

Please remember that these are YOUR nets and we ask that you consider volunteering to serve as a Net Control. Whether you'd like to be on a regularly scheduled net/day/time or whether you're willing to fill in as an alternate NCS YOUR help and participation will be appreciated by all!