Global and/or General Event and/or Emergency Monitoring and/or Messaging System and/or Schedule
In addition to existing Nets and Emergency Centre of Activity frequencies, such as those defined by the IARU, we propose for CWB the following matrix which we have called "GEMS". This matrix was designed to be easy to memorise (at least for former Sparks) and to cater for low power consumption, local/national and international propagation, Phone and CW.
The steps to reconstruct the GEMS model for Sparks are:
1. remember 500/2182: H+00 and H+30 telephony SP (Silence Period), H+15 and H+45 telegraphy SP.
2. think of first SP (H+00 and H+15) as Global, and second SP (H+30 and H+45) as Local
3. think 20m global phone and 30m global cw 24 hours, and think local 40m daylight, 80m night time
4. divide the 24 hour clock into UTC time slots: primary once every 8 hours, secondary once every 4 hours
PRIMARY NETS
| UTC* | kHz | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0000, 0800, 1600 | 14347 USB (14349 CW) | Global |
| 0015, 0815, 1615 | 10119 CW (alt: 10100) | Global |
| 0030, 0830, 1630 | 7053 LSB (Daylight), 3553 or 3800 LSB (Darkness) | Local |
| 0045, 0845, 1645 | 7050 CW (Daylight), 3550 or 3799 CW (Darkness) | Local |
* NB: Each Net starts with 3 minutes Silence Period (SP) during which stations should listen only for SOS, QRPP, nets start at the END of each SP, e.g. at H+03, H+18, H+33, H+48.
SECONDARY NETS
| UTC* | kHz | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0400, 1200, 2000 | 14347 USB (14349 CW) | Global |
| 0415, 1215, 2015 | 10119 CW (alt: 10100) | Global |
| 0430, 1230, 2030 | 7053 LSB (Daylight), 3553 or 3800 LSB (Darkness) | Local |
| 0445, 1245, 2045 | 7050 CW (Daylight), 3550 or 3799 CW (Darkness) | Local |
* NB: Each Net starts with 3 minutes Silence Period (SP) during which stations should listen only for SOS, QRPP, nets start at the END of each SP, e.g. at H+03, H+18, H+33, H+48.
What is Primary and Secondary Net?
Purely for reasons of conserving power, and operator availability. As many stations as possible should check in at PRIMARY net times (at least the 2 that don't fall during sleeping hours), and stations running on limited power may wish to conserve power by making use of the Primary nets only.
Secondary nets, for those with the power or availability, or with more urgent messages, may (also) check in at Secondary Net times.
Tertiary or Continuous Nets
In addition to the above, Tertiary Nets (very two hours at even hours UTC in addition to the above Primary and Secondary Schedules) or even Hourly or Continuous watch/nets may be kept on the above frequencies, modes and/or hourly times.
Frequencies
These may be adjusted by region for the local GEMS.
Global 20m GEMS is fixed at 14347 USB and 14349 CW as Primary Global frequencies
30m depends on QRM and may be varied
In the event of QRM the nets may QSY.
Emergency
In a major emergency frequencies at or beyond the lower and upper band edges of each band may be used. Operating very close to band edge guarantees clear frequencies, and those in life threatening situations are legally allowed to operate just outside the band edge, making band edge frequencies ideal for CW emergency use. E.g.: net control may be on 10100.1, relay stations on 10100.2, and those in SOS situations on 10099.9 and all be within narrow CW filter bandwidth.
