Netoholics Net of the Month
The Litter Box Lounge
Good Old-Fashioned Ragchew, Critter Stories, and Uncontrolled Personality
Some nets are technical.
Some nets are formal.
Some nets have carefully planned topics, strict agendas, and enough procedure to make you wonder whether you accidentally checked into a congressional hearing.
And then there’s The Litter Box Lounge.
For October, Netoholics Network is tipping the antenna to the folks over at the 11CATS Radio Network and naming the Litter Box Lounge our Net of the Month.
Hosted every Saturday evening at 6:00 PM Central, the Litter Box Lounge is exactly what the name suggests: pull up a chair, scratch around for a topic, and settle in for some good old-fashioned ragchew.
No Scooping Required
The Litter Box Lounge isn’t built around one specific subject.
Ham radio? Absolutely.
Something happening locally or around the world? Sure.
A new radio, antenna experiment, strange noise coming from your shack, or the questionable life decisions that resulted in owning six HTs even though you only have two hands?
Bring it.
And because this is 11CATS, there’s one additional rule of the house:
Tell them about your critters.
Cats may receive preferential seating in the lounge, but the crew makes it clear that they have a soft spot for animals of every variety. Dogs, birds, goats, chickens, possums that have apparently claimed your porch as sovereign territory—if it has fur, feathers, scales, or an attitude, it’s probably welcome in the conversation.
Controlled Net. Uncontrolled Personality.
Technically, the Litter Box Lounge is a controlled net, and they sometimes use multiple net controllers. They also encourage operators to step up and try their hand as a guest net control.
But “controlled” definitely does not mean stiff.
The entire idea is to give everyone a chance to talk, share opinions, laugh a little, and enjoy the hobby. Their preamble specifically encourages open discussion while asking everyone to respect differing opinions—which is a pretty good formula for keeping the fur from flying.
The net normally runs in two rounds, with the final trip around the litter box serving as the 73 round. And with the system’s three-minute timeout timer, long-winded operators are politely reminded to reset before the radio decides their transmission has been buried for them.
Who Let All These Cats on the Radio?
The 11CATS Radio Network was created by Janette, KI5SSR, along with her husband Mike, KM5Y. Based in North Texas, the pair combines two passions that normally only intersect when a cat decides the warmest place in the house is directly on top of the radio equipment: amateur radio and cat rescue.
Janette describes 11CATS as an open forum where operators can talk about amateur radio, cats, rescue work, or pretty much anything else of interest.
That personality carries straight into the Litter Box Lounge.
It doesn’t feel like a net where you check in, say “no traffic,” and disappear.
It feels more like somebody left the shack door open, a bunch of radio operators wandered inside, somebody brought snacks, and now nobody remembers exactly what the original topic was.
In other words…
our kind of people.
How to Check In
Every Saturday evening
6:00 PM Central
The Litter Box Lounge airs Saturday at 6:00 PM Central on the 11CATS Radio Network.
Among the primary connection options are:
- AllStar
- 55763 and 56053
- EchoLink
- 11CATS and 11CATS2
- IRLP
- 0107 and 0112
- TGIF DMR
- Talkgroup 172
- Digital Access
- Additional access is available through the 11CATS/URFPAW system.
And if you miss a net, 11CATS says their nets are recorded and made available through their website afterward.
Why It’s Our October Pick
There are plenty of nets where you can learn something.
The great ones also make you want to come back.
The Litter Box Lounge manages to do both without pretending amateur radio has to be serious every minute we’re on the air.
It encourages conversation.
It welcomes different opinions.
It gives operators room to actually get to know one another.
And somehow it manages to combine ham radio, worldwide conversation, animal stories, terrible cat puns, and a bunch of people hanging out on linked repeaters into something that works surprisingly well.
So congratulations to the 11CATS Radio Network and the Litter Box Lounge, our Netoholics Network October Net of the Month.
If you haven’t checked in yet, give it a try.
Just remember:
Key up slowly. Give your call twice. Reset before the timeout timer.
And whatever you do…
don’t track litter into the shack.
73 from Netoholics Network — Can’t Stop Checking In!