This coming Monday, WECT will be running some major frequency tests during the Worcester Emergency Net at 8:00 PM. We need as many people as possible to check into the net to test out a few frequencies of interest to us:

- 146.925 MHz Worcester repeater, negative offset, PL 100.0
- 147.540 MHz simplex, transmit only PL 123.0
- 449.875 MHz Worcester repeater, negative offset, PL 103.5
- 446.100 MHz simplex, transmit only PL 123.0

THE NET WILL START ON THE 146.925 WORCESTER REPEATER AT 8:00 PM THIS MONDAY NIGHT. We will proceed with traffic, announcements and other net business on the 925 machine, and then start to QSY to the above frequencies, taking and giving signal reports as we go. We need as many people as possible to check into the net and provide signal reports to and from the radio room in Worcester in order to test out the viability of these frequencies for our on-going use. Full instructions will be given during the net itself, but participants should be prepared to operate on each of the frequencies listed above and possibly others.

The background to this is that the board has decided that it is best to have 4 frequencies for our team's local use - one simplex and one repeater on each of the 2M and 440 bands. This covers all the bases and scenarios, and allows us to use the right tool for the right job given each situation. The previous 2M simplex frequency that we used (147.525) is now occupied by an EchoLink node in Springfield, which would provide a lot of interference to our operations if we tried to go back there. We receive this node at S7 at the radio room. So, this basically forces us to find a new simplex frequency along with the other 3 that we need to fill out the comm plan.

Additionally, since it will also be the first Monday of October, the state RACES nets will run. In our area, it is on the 146.970 Paxton repeater at 7:15 PM. Please consider checking into it as well.