GMRS radio #3, talking/etiquette

you've got radios, now it's time to use them, TALK to other GMRS users.

some very basic etiquette to help you enjoy conversations:

1) CALLING SOMEONE
Tell us WHO you're calling by announcing their name, call sign, or handle. It's good practice to follow that with your callsign, name or handle.
they can respond by just chatting back, but more appropriately they'll give their callsign to acknowledge they are who you called. They might also give your sign or handle to further clarify to anyone listening that this is an official conversation.

2) SHARE THE AIR WAVES!
enjoy the back and forth conversation, but leave a few seconds between transmissions to allow others to "break" in.
If there's an emergency it should take precedent over your verbal "rag-chew".
But another station/operator may just want to join in or comment. If they do, then taking advantage of those few seconds they'll PTT and give their name or sign as an indication of their desire to "break" into the discussion. Acknowledge them, or ignore, your decision.

3) ROUND TABLES
if you let a third person (or more) into the conversation you have created a "round table". to avoid verbally stepping on one another etiquette dictates that you speak in some established order. One station might organize that, or each could "hand" the conversation to a particular other station at the end of their statement. Keep it simple, but try to keep everyone in the rotation.

4) REPEATERS
the same basic etiquette applies on repeaters, BUT usually more folks can hear you, so keeping to established etiquette helps keep confusion to a minimum.

5) NETS
Any group of people can create a "net" for any legal purpose. It can be with simplex communication or on a repeater, but the latter is more common since they can generally be more widely heard on GMRS bands.
Nets should establish a particular operator to run, or "call" the net, just to keep it organized. Speak when spoken to direction by the Net Control Operator.
Typically a net will have a roll call, station will answer with their sign. A second round is common, where Net Control will invite each check-in to share something pertinent to the net.

6) CALL SIGN
Unlike amateur radio, GMRS operators only need to give their sign at the end of a transmission or every fifteen minutes. For courtesy, it's helpful to throw it in more frequently though, since listeners may want know who the operator is. They can look up your sign on the FCC website and get a rough idea where you are.