Net Control Membership Information

Thank you for your interest in the Maritime Mobile Service Net.

The Maritime Mobile Service Net was founded in 1968 by Chaplain A.W. Robertson, KB5YX, USN Retired. Its original purpose was to "serve those who serve" in the United States military during the Vietnam crisis. Since that time, the network has grown considerably in hours of operation and services provided. The network consists of a dedicated group of Radio Amateurs who unselfishly volunteer their time, equipment, and efforts, to serve and assist those in need of communications from foreign countries and the high seas.

Over the past few years, the Maritime Mobile Service Net has gained a high reputation with the US Coast Guard as well as Coast Guards and Rescue Coordination Centers throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America.

The purpose of the Net is to:

Handle legal third party traffic from maritime mobiles, both pleasure and commercial, and over seas deployed military personnel. We also help missionaries in foreign countries and person abroad.
Provide weather information for vessels at sea.
Assist the United States Coast Guard upon request in finding lost or over due vessels.
To be of assistance in any type of emergency.

Please Note: The following information is for those who are interested in becoming a Net Control Station of the Maritime Mobile Service Network. If your primary interest is acting as a relay station or to help with phone patch traffic, it is not required that you be a net member. We welcome all radio amateurs to participate as relay stations and to help with phone patch traffic.

Our Net Control Membership is open to only those radio amateurs who fully understand the duties and responsibilities of a net control station, have experience at emergency communications, are prepared to make a serious commitment to the net and fulfil the below listed requirements.

We do not process applications from "walk - ins", those being stations who have never participated with the net and have no idea of what we do. These applicants are asked to start participating with the net more often and get to be known. If this is your situation, you know what to do.

Applicants for Net Control Membership are required to complete an application which will then be reviewed to ensure that they meet the basic criteria of licensing, experience and that they have the necessary equipment for operation on the Net, see below. Applicants who meet the qualifications may be accepted as probationary net members until they have demonstrated the ability to act as net control stations, including the ability to obtain the latest weather information when needed and handling Net traffic.

If the Maritime Mobile Service Net sounds like something you would be interested in doing, and you are ready and willing to make a serious commitment to the net, please read the requirements for membership below and follow the link to make an application.

Again, thank you for your interest. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely;

Rene Stiegler, K4EDX
Net Manager
The Maritime Mobile Service Net

REQUIREMENTS FOR NET CONTROL MEMBERSHIP INTO
THE MARITIME MOBILE SERVICE NET

(Canadian and Other Non-US Amateurs Are Welcome to Apply)

1) INTERNET ACCESS & AN EMAIL ADDRESS: This is a "must have" requirement. There are no exceptions to this requirement. This requirement enables the net management to stay in direct contact with all of the controllers and visa versa. It also allows for the rapid dissemination of updates, net bulletins and other important information. The internet is also used during the regular net control duties.

2) GENERAL KNOWLEDGE OF THIRD PARTY AGREEMENTS: The mission of the Net, in part, involves the handling of third party communications. Therefore, applicants must have a working knowledge of third party agreements with other countries.

3) APPROPRIATE LEVEL OF AMATEUR RADIO LICENSE: Net members must hold an appropriate amateur radio license to operate legally on 14.300 MHz.

4) KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR LICENSING AUTHORITIES RULES AND REGULATIONS: Applicants must be knowledgeable in the rules and regulations of their countries licensing authority, especially those pertaining to emergency communications.

5) GENERAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE AREA COVERED BY THE NET: This includes the Atlantic, Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Eastern Pacific.

6) EXPERIENCE IN HANDLING RADIO TRAFFIC: Since the mission of our Net involves traffic handling, applicants should have experience in handling radio traffic.

7) AGREE TO ABIDE BY THE MMSN STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES (SOP)
8) ABILITY TO PLOT COORDINATES ON A MAP AND HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF LATITUDE & LONGITUDE.
9) ABILITY TO ACCURATELY TRANSMIT INFORMATION
10) THE DESIRE TO COMMUNICATE IN AN ACCURATE PROFESSIONAL MANNER
11) CAPABLE OF TRANSMITTING A READABLE SIGNAL TO THE ATLANTIC, EASTERN PACIFIC, CARIBBEAN AND GULF OF MEXICO.: We do not expect a net control station to have a commercial - grade radio station, with stacked yagis and the legal power limit... although it's certainly nice to have. We do require, however, that net control stations transmit a signal that can be heard in most of the areas that we work, depending on propagation. Directional antennas are desirable but switched arrays are certainly fine. Some controllers have wire antennas that can be switched in several directions and have gain. A dipole at 30 feet just doesn't usually cut it.

12) SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF A PROBATIONARY PERIOD: This probationary period will allow the applicant to determine if they like participating in the Maritime Mobile Service Net. This will also afford the Net Management an opportunity to observe the applicants operating skill, willingness to participate in Net operations and enable a fair assessment of the required qualifications. At the end of the probation period, usually three months but it could be longer, a decision will be made whether the applicant is acceptable as a net controller. Not everyone is accepted.
These requirements are strict and all applications are reviewed by a four member committee. However, the standards are high due to the serious, sometimes life and death work that we do. We have learned over the years that not all operators can be a net controller. The number one reason for an application being rejected is that the applicant is not known to the net. BE ADVISED THAT WE WILL NOT TAKE JUST ANYONE WHO APPLIES.
Once you have read these requirements and feel you want to make the commitment for membership, please click on the button below and complete an application.