Mike, KE5YOO, submitted this example of message handling. He copied special Field Day Message #4 that I sent on the June 25 Tulsa Amateur Radio Club Thursday Night Net.
This message was sent to "Your Station" as a traffic-handling practice exercise. My goal here was to involve everyone listening to the net.
Mike used an on-line form and sent it to me. This form has some great information right on the radiogram message form itself.
Click Here for ARRL Version of Radiogram Form .
You can find on-line information and training at the ARRL website or click on the following link: The National Traffic System .
Thanks Mike and very nicely done!...
AR
This example is from Gerry, KC5JKU. He copied the special Field Day message I sent on the June 11 Tulsa Amateur Radio Club Thursday Night Net.
This message was sent to "Your Station" as a traffic-handling practice exercise. My goal here was to involve everyone listening to the net.
Gerry used an ARRL Message Pad to record the message as sent. You don't have to have a radiogram form, but it is handy: Radiogram
You can find on-line information and training at the ARRL website or click on the following link: The National Traffic System
Anyway, Thanks to Gerry for sending this in. Click on the form to enlarge it.
...AR
Delivery of National Traffic System messages is difficult in today's world. The low participation of amateurs in traffic handling makes the sending of messages, and, especially the delivery of messages, very spotty. The problem is, in a word - COVERAGE.
Looking at Oklahoma, we have hams in every community. Few, if any, of these hams are interested in handling the NTS traffic. This means the few hams who do enjoy passing and delivering message have to cover much more of the state.
This makes email essential to provide the COVERAGE that is needed.
I can make every net that is available within the state and still not find anyone willing to take and deliver a message to an amateur in a given town. Given the choice between a long distance call and an email, I think the choice is obvious.
Unless we can develop more interest in NTS message-handling and attract amateurs to support the NTS network, we will have to rely more on email to deliver our messages.
So what should be the guidelines for email delivery? An op-ed piece in QST recommended message delivery by email once the message was received by an amateur in the same ARRL Section as the recipient.
This seems like a good recommendation since our coverage is lacking at this level.
And why bother? It is the NETWORK and the TRAINING that are important! The network of the NTS message nets has been long established for efficiency in communication. It is important to keep these nets functional in case the need arises on a local or even a national level. Maybe there is something better, but until we develop it to the point we can depend on it, let's keeep the traffic nets operational.
The TRAINING is important as well. Learning the net procedures facilitates good habits. Practice in sending and receiving of formatted text helps develop accuracy and operator confidence.
But until message handling becomes all the rage within our ranks and people are fighting over sending and receiving messages, we will need to supplement our coverage with email.
... AR
If I have received a National Traffic System message from any source (usually an NTS net) then I am obligated to deliver that message to the recipient by whatever means at my disposal. This seems to me to be the "Golden Rule" of handling NTS traffic.
Recently, I had a Field Day message to be delivered to my Section Manager. I tried to send the message on three different nets but, due to band conditions, I was not successful. As a last resort, I sent the message by email.
Wow, did I get slammed! One of the more experienced message-handlers listening on the net complained to the Section Manager that I was cheating! Evidently, he was listening to my attempt to send the message but made no effort to help with a relay. He did complain strenuously enough that I was asked to send the message via another net when possible.
Fortunately, conditions were better the day after Field Day and I was able to successfully send the message to the Section Manager. So, there was no harm done other than to my reputation and my ego.
Needless to say, I gave this some thought and went back and forth over some of the issues. Does it really matter HOW I deliver an NTS message? The "purist" might say that it does matter, but let's talk about this a little bit.
Delivery Methods:
The accepted practice is to PHONE the recipient via the phone number included in the message and read the message text (translating the ARRL Codes if needed).
If the received message has a bad phone number, then what do I do?
If the recipient is not a ham, then I research the phone number in the phone book (or online) to see if there is a new number listed. Then I call and deliver the message after making sure I'm talking to the intended recipient. If there is no phone number, I return the message as undeliverable (ARL FORTY SEVEN).
If the recipient is a ham and there is no new listing in the phone book, I look the recipient up on QRZ to verify the street address and see if there is an email listed. If there is, then I email the recipient the message; if not, then I return the message as not deliverable.
And, at times, I have even MAILed a message via postcard to the recipient's address on the message.
But I get the message delivered to the best of my ability!Just so you'll know (especially if you're a Monday Morning Quarterback}, I'll use email delivery when I have to.
PS - Get off the sidelines and into the game - its FUN!
...AR
