National Traffic System Training Manual

By R. Bruce Winchell, N8UT

© 1997

Permission is hereby granted for non-profit reproduction of this material provided this statement is included and the material is used in its entirety, or properly credited by same, if used in part.

Purpose of This Manual

Whenever the authors have attended a class on the NTS, the instructor managed to "lose" 90 percent of his students in the first ten minutes. They simply go into too much detail. The NTS is not a difficult service to understand. There are, unfortunately, a lot of little details concerning the Radiogram forms. Most instructors get side-tracked by these details. They drone on and on about details and their students feel overwhelmed. The students seldom become involved in the NTS. They have been led to feel that there is too much to absorb.

We have addressed the need to keep it simple. A definite attempt has been made to apply the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) principle to the main text of this manual.. Some of the manual contents were left in Outline format so that different concepts and statement relationships can be very clearly understood. A set of appendices furnish the details on various topics...not the main text.

The purpose of this manual is to provide a simple teaching tool for you to use in learning about the National Traffic System (NTS)

Preface

by John Freeman, KB8ZDX

The National Traffic System (NTS) seems, to a lot of operators, to be this big, huge, complex operation that is very difficult to understand. Some of you may feel that you have to be an Extra with 20 years experience as a Ham to get involved in NTS because its all done on the HF bands and they use a language...so different that you need 20 years of just listening to understand it. WRONG!!

After going over this material, you will understand that it is not complicated or difficult to be involved in the NTS. It's members are operators just like yourself. You do not have to hold an Extra, Advanced, or General License. There is a place for everyone in the NTS. These materials are designed to teach you not only how to get involved, but how to be effective once you do get involved.

This subject will be broken down simply.As you go through the manual, it will become more complex only because we put most of the details at the end. If you start at the beginning and work your way through, you will have absorbed enough simple background information to make sense out of the rest.

The most important part of the NTS and this manual, is the part that the authors cannot include.That part is you. This manual means nothing unless you use it to improve yourself and your operating skills. We welcome the opportunity to help you do that.

I. What is NTS?

• The NTS is a relay messaging system developed for content accuracy. Whatever message is sent by way of the NTS, is received exactly as it was originated. There is no margin for error.

• The National Traffic System consists of ARRL affiliated and independent amateur radio networks ('nets') which pass non-commercial messages on behalf of third parties as a public service. That's it in a nutshell.

• NTS has been in operation since 1949. It was established by the ARRL in response to membership demand. It carries on a tradition of message relaying, established by Hiram Percy Maxim when he founded the ARRL for the purpose of handling message traffic in 1914.

II. Traffic - What is it?

• NTS messages are formalized utilizing the "RADIOGRAM" format.

• Once a message has been formalized and entered into the NTS it is called "Traffic".

• Non-formalized messages relayed over Amateur Radio frequencies are not "traffic" as defined within the NTS.

NTS messages may be sent to, or by, anyone.You do not have to be a ham to initiate or recieve a message. A licensed ham must, of course, handle the transmission of the traffic.

III. The Mysterious Radiogram

Note: Explanations of this simple form have probably stopped more people from participating in the NTS than anything else. -- It is just a piece of paper! -- This is not a confusing IRS tax form! -- It's simple! -- If you can remember your name and callsign, know what you want to say, and who you want to send it to, you are already 3/4 done with this form. -- No mysticism or rocket science is involved.

The four parts of a radiogram and the basics of what to do with each one of them.

This is dealing with the very top of the Radiogram form. You should have a copy of the Radiogram in front of you. This won't make much sense without it.

Editor's note: Click on the Radiogram form show above and print out the from.

1. Preamble

   The top part of the form, with all the little boxes, is called the Preamble. The different parts of the preamble are highlighted below. Look for the heading on the Radiogram form and read the description for that area.

   • Message Number

     This is the number assigned by the first Amateur putting the traffic into NTS. It never changes, no matter how many other operators handle the message.

     • The message has to have a number. If you are originating the message, you can put any number in this box. What number it is does not matter. What numbering sequence you use doesn't matter.

     • If you are receiving the message, you must use the number given to you by the sender.

     • Don't say the words "my number 001". Do say "Message number zero, zero, one".

       Note: There is no such number as "Oh".

   • Precedence

     This tells the importance, or how urgent the traffic is.

     99 percent of all traffic is listed as Routine. Put an R here. Don't worry about this right now. There is a more detailed discussion of this further on in the manual.

   • Handling Instructions

     This is just an optional set of specific instructions dealing with methods of delivery. Most of the time, this area is ignored. Don't worry about it! We will do some details later on. See Attachment "A" at the end of this document.

2. Station of Origin

   This is the Call-Sign of the Amateur who first put the traffic into the NTS system.

3. Check

   This is a count of the number of words in the text area of the form, (the area with all the little horizontal lines).

   • This does not include anything in the preamble, address and signature.

   Note: When you use the word "X-Ray" to indicate punctuation, it counts as a word. When you use the word "Break" it is a courtesy to the receiving operator and it does not count as a word.

   • Don't say "Check 25, Station of Origin KB8ZDX". It is bad form to say the headings. Do say "25, KB8ZDX".

     Note: Whatever your call is or the proper information received is what will go in these spots, please do not take "25, KB8ZDX" literally (thanks!).

4. Place of Origin

   This is the City and State of the party who initiated the traffic, not the Station of Origin location.

   Explained: If you are initiating a message for someone in Bozoville, Montana and you live in Ohio, then Bozoville, Montana would be the Place of origin. Your callsign would be the Station of origin.

5. Time Filed

   This is the UTC or ZULU time the traffic is placed into NTS system, not the time written. You could have written the message last week. What is important here is the time you actually put it into the NTS. Many NTS operators ignore this field on the form for Routine traffic.

6. Date

   This is the date the traffic is first placed into NTS system. Don't say "12/4" for date. Do say "December 4". You do not have to use the year. If the person taking your message doesn't know what year it is, perhaps you should find someone else?

7. Address

   This is the address of the individual to whom the traffic is supposed to be delivered. It goes under the word "TO" on the form.

   • Name Full name (including Jr., Sr., or callsign if there is one)

   • Street address or P.O. Box (complete as possible) Don't send numbers as 12345. Do say "figures 12345".

   • City, State, Zip

     Don't say "Zip Code 12345". Do say "Zip figures 12345".

   • Phone number

     This is important because most traffic is ultimately delivered via local phone calls

     • Don't say "phone number 290-456-7890". Do say "phone figures 290 456 7890".

     • Don't say "Text to follow" after address. Do say "Break" after address before giving the "text".

8. Text

• Keep it all brief and to-the-point

• Don't say "ARL figure 61". Do say "ARL sixty one". (More on this "ARL" stuff later.)

• 25 words or less (if possible)

• May contain ARRL Numbered Radiograms (i.e. "ARL One") Appendix B lists all of these

• Use "X-Ray" in place of periods, commas."X-Ray" counts as a word. Don't send "period" at the end of sentences. Do send "X-Ray" in place of punctuation.

9. Don't say "End of message" after text. Do say "Break" after giving the text of the traffic.

10. Signature

    This can be a single name, a name and callsign, or a name and title. Just enough information to enable the receiver to identify the sender. The Originating amateur should provide enough information that a reply can be sent.

    Don't say "Signature" or "Signed John". Do say "John".

Note: Amazingly, on the ARRL Form, FSD-244, RADIOGRAM there is no mention of this fourth part of the form! [It's there...just in invisible ink.] Put it anywhere you want.

11. OK, You are done...Now what?

    Say, "End . . . No More.

That's all there is to filling out a basic NTS Routine message on a Radiogram form. It really is simple when you don't get bogged down in all the fine little details right away. Go over this a few times and actually fill out a blank form while you are doing it.

To get used to how it feels to actually put your voice to it, go to Appendix C where you will find a message all written out. Just read it out loud several times.

Sending Procedures

The biggest mistake that all newcomers make is sending too fast. Those who seem to be aware of this fact go too far in the opposite direction and sendtoo slow. Listen to the sending pace of the experienced operators and try to emulate what they do.

Don't just keep going from one end of the message to the other. Do pause between each section to allow the receiver to "Break" if necessary for fills. (A "fill" means a repeat of a certain section.) Do send it clearly and slowly, but not dragging it out. Practice writing your own message down as you send it. This will give you an idea how fast you can reasonably expect someone else to copy it down.

How a "Fill" works. If a receiving operator misses copying part of a message, he/she can request that you repeat part of it by breaking back to you during one of your pauses and saying, "Break....fill from [last word of a string that he got] to [the next word that he got]". Just back up and give him the part he missed by saying "Fill...[give him what he missed] pauseand go on with your message.

When and Where to send a Radiogram

Local Traffic (In-town/county), send it:

• During a Net on your local repeater

• Anytime on the repeater or via local telephone

Out of town or county traffic

• During any Net on your local repeater ask for a station who may take "traffic" for the area it needs to go into.

• Check with your Local Net Manager or Emergency Coordinator for stations who take relays oftraffic for other areas and countys.

Long distances within same state

• During a Net on your local repeater, see if there are any relay stations to the HF Nets operating within the state that can pass to a "Higher Net"

• If you have the privileges, check in to one of the state wide nets and pass traffic to a station who is local to the intended receiver

• Check with your Local Net Manager or Emergency Coordinator to find who is the Local Liaison for HF Nets if you do not have the privileges or the equipment. (A Liason is an operator who has agreed to help pass NTS traffic for others.)

Out of State or Country

• Pass it to an NTS Net that you have the privileges for

• Pass your traffic to the Local Liaison via repeater or telephone

• If the message is going out of the Country, check to ensure that the US has a third party agreement with the country it is going to. If not sure, check with your Emergency Coordinator or your local Net liaison.

IV. Methods of Passing "Traffic"

Radiograms may be passed via any means available to an Amateur Radio Operator...voice, phone. Repeaters, simplex, VHF, UHF, HF, as long as you have the privileges to operate on a frequency, you can pass messages there.You may use:

• Phone (Voice) anywhere it is legal for you to operate.

• CW NTS messages can be passed using CW on VHF, UHF, HF, any frequency that the operator is authorized to use

• Packet VHF and HF are the most common. Packet can be the ideal means of passing formalized message traffic in certain circumstances. It is especially useful when a "secure" method is necessary to safeguard the privacy of disaster victims. It is also very handy whenever a "hard copy" is needed for record keeping.

  Packet BBSs provide a looser structure for getting messages from the sender to the area of destination. This looseness has its advantages and disadvantages. An advantage is that participants can have more flexible schedules - one does not have to set aside a specific time for a regularly scheduled net. A disadvantage is that the sender, does not know if there is a human-receiver on the other end that will deliver the message. For the system to work efficiently, each BBS should have someone (or some group) responsible for delivering NTS messages.

• RTTY/AMTOR HF is the most common.

Traffic Nets

There are specific times, days of the week and a variety of frequencies available for formal "Traffic Nets". Check with your local Net Manager, Emergency Coordinator or Net Liaison to find out when and where they meet. The ARRL Net Directory is a good source of information. We have also included several Appendices at the end of this manual which are lists of various nets at different levels.

During a Club Net, ARES Net, District Net, etc. is the perfect time to pass some traffic, even if just for practice. You can usually locate someone who will receive the traffic and will also work with you on your technique.

Don't worry about getting everything perfect. Practice makes us all better. If you listen to an NTS net for ten minutes, you will hear some of the old-timers make some blunders. It's no big deal! The most important part is to listen to how the traffic is handled and passed, then practice what you know is correct out of what you hear. People who are involved in the NTS nets welcome newcomers. Just tell them you are new to the system and they will coach you. Of course, there is always the net "Grump". Don't worry about him.

If you never learn any more than this about the Radiogram, you will do just fine passing traffic in the NTS with what you have learned so far. By the time you compose and send 10 or 12 messages, the Radiogram form, these simple procedures, and what to say, will be permanently imprinted on your brain.

IV. Some More Advanced Stuff

The NTS Structure - How it works

Reminder: The NTS is made up of several associated, yet totally separate nets held on various levels.

• Local Nets

  This is the lowest level NTS Net. These Nets usually meet on local repeaters and are the first level of the NTS system. This is where traffic will be passed between cities, counties and sometimes within Districts or multi county areas. If the traffic needs to go any further or to the next step, it may be passed on to an operator who will take it to the next level Net, the Section Net.

  Handling of Local Messages: These are usually within your own county, city or within reach of your local repeater. If you receive the message, follow the delivery instructions to the party intended. If it is out of your area for phone delivery or you are the originating Amateur, try to find a station on the repeater who can deliver the message and send the traffic to that station. You will find repeaters to be excellent resources for passing NTS traffic locally. Try during a Club Net or an ARES/RACES Net on the repeater if there is not an official NTS Traffic Net held on your local repeater, this is usually an excellent time to catch someone in the area where the traffic needs to go.

• Section Nets

  A Section is an area designated by the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL). Each Section will have a, or several, NTS Nets established for the purpose of transferring this traffic or messages. This traffic is normally stays within that Section and is received by stations in the area where it is intended to go. If the message is to go to the next level Net, it is usually received by a designated operator to relay to the Region Nets.

  Handling of Section Messages: These are to be delivered within the ARRL designated Section. This usually means that the best way of delivering it would be to go to one of the Section/State NTS Traffic Nets that are in place. These are found on HF usually, but a few are found on wide coverage repeaters. If you do not have the ability or privileges to transmit the traffic yourself to the HF Net, ask your Emergency Coordinator who the NTS liaison is within your county and deliver the traffic to that operator for relay to the Section Net.

• Region Nets

  These Nets cover a much larger area. A representative from each section takes the messages to this Net that are intended for parties outside of the Section but within the Region. Traffic intended for parties outside of the Region will be passed on to operators designated to take them to the next level Net which is the Area Net.

  Handling of Region Messages: These are intended for a party within an ARRL designated Region The traffic will usually start off in a Section Net and be transmitted to the Region Net by the operator with that responsibility. Follow the same procedures as the Section Messages.

• Area Nets

  This is the top level Net of the NTS.It covers the available world. Representatives from each Region will bring traffic to these Nets to be passed around the designated Area or into other Areas. Each of these Nets has one basic item in common; each will have an appointed Manager to oversee the operation of each level. These will all be covered in greater detail later in this material.

  Handling of Area Messages:

  These are intended for a party within one of the designated ARRL Areas. Normally it will be passed from Local to Section to Region to Area Net until it gets delivered to the intended party, regardless of where they are. The procedure on your end is the same, you introduce the traffic by the best means you have available. If you can take it to the Section Net, do so yourself. If you do not have the privileges, utilize the procedures drawn out above for the other Nets.

Handling of Out-of-U.S. (Country) Traffic:

Remember to verify that the U.S. and the receiving country have a Third Party Agreement. A Third Party Agreement means that the U.S. and the other country have a legal agreement allowing U.S. Amateurs to pass traffic into that country.

Another Simplified Summary of the NTS Structure

To make sure that you understand this structure, we are going to explain it another way. The United States and Canada are divided into three Areas: Eastern Area, Central Area, and Western Area. Inside each of those three Areas there are a total of twelve smaller Regions. Inside each of those Regions is an unknown number of Locales.

Picture in your mind, two funnels...with the big ends put together. These two funnels now represent the NTS System. The flow of traffic is always from one of the small ends to the other small end. The small ends are the Local Nets. Your message may rattle around in the funnel assembly for a while, but with enought movement it will eventually reach the other small end.

HOT TIP: If you are sending a message out-of-state or country, when you list your traffic with a net, list it as:"One...through ...for [ State of destination]. If someone is on the net who can skip one or more of the normal steps of progression, they will pick up your message and get it through quicker. This just cuts out a number of "middle men".

Special Handling Instructions

This information applies regardless of any mode of message transmission or mix thereof.

This section is to explain what can go in the little box marked "HTX" in the Radiogram Preamble. Again, there is no mystery to this if it is presented simply.

Sometimes there are some special things that need to happen to a message. Have you ever gotten a letter from the Post Office that you had to sign for? Someone wanted to make sure that their message was delivered. Have you ever sent a letter or package "Second-Day Air" so that the Post Office would rush it through? You can do exactly the same type things with an NTS message by plugging in some standard coding in the HTX box of the Radiogram. The codes are pretty self-explanitory and can be found in Appendix B at the end of this manual.

Pre-formatted messages (The "ARL" Stuff we promised to explain.)

If you listen very long to NTS nets, you will soon discover that many messages that you hear are very common and identical. To cover this fact, the NTS uses sixty-nine different pre-fomatted messages. The first 26 are emergency related messages. Numbers 46 through 69 are common greetings.

Using the ARL messages saves everyone time. The next time you want to send Grandma a "Merry Christmas" greeting, instead of putting "Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" in the text area of a Radiogram, you would simply put "ARL Sixty One". The person who eventually takes the message for delivery to Grandma has to dig out his little chart of ARL numbered messages, call Grandma, and read the words of the message to her over the telephone. Simple. (Except that most Grandmothers will send a return message ARL 12).

Multiples of the ARL messages can be strung together in sequence on a single Radiogram to form a pretty impressive message that would be much longer than the recognized maximum of 25 words.

OK, that's neat. But how do I put it on the Radiogram...What do I say?

• First, when you are using ARL messages you always put "ARL" in the "Check" Box of the Preamble. No numbers. Just "ARL".

• In the "Text" area of the Radiogram you would put (and say)"ARL sixty four Detroit ARL fifty seven ARL sixty eight love Dad." to say at the other end, "Arrived safely at Detroit/ wish we could be together/ sorry to hear you are ill. Best wishes for a speedy recovery/ Love Dad. You send 12 words...they get 23.

• Everything else in the Radiogram is the same as before.

A list of the standard ARL messages can be found in Appendix C at the end of this manual.

Precedences

Let's again go back to the Radiogram form. This time we will look at the "Precedence" box in the Preamble.We stated that over 90 percent of NTS messages passed carry a "Routine" precedence. This is true. There are some other designations that can go in this box.

Welfare Messages:

These messages are either an inquiry as to the health and welfare of an individual in a disaster area or an advisory from the disaster area that indicates the condition of an individual, family, or group. From a Disaster scene,Outgoing welfare messages usually are handled first, with Incoming welfare inquiries being handled second. Welfare traffic is handled only after all emergency and priority traffic is cleared.

• If there has been a disaster somewhere in this country, you will hear Welfare messages being passed. You will also hear them during emergency drills and tests. If the message is for real, you will hear it something like this: "zero one two, welfare, [call sign], ARL, etc". If it is a test, the first thing you will hear is "Test Message".

• If you are dealing with Welfare messages, you will probably be using another form of the Radiogram, titled Amateur Radio Disaster Welfare Message. This form is even simpler than the Radiogram. For the parts that are the same as on the Radiogram, it is filled out following exactly the same procedures as the Radiogram. There is one very important exception. The originating station must be working from a form that has actually been signed by the person who is requesting that the message be sent!! The originating station is usually asked to turn these signed message forms in to someone of authority on a disaster scene.

Emergency Messages

An Emergency Message is any message having life and death urgency to any person or group of persons, which is transmitted by Amateur Radio in the absence of regular commercial facilities. Emergency messages have top priority and must be handled before any other message is processed. These messages can include official messages of welfare agencies during emergencies requesting supplies, materials, or instructions vital to relief to stricken populace in emergency areas. During normal times, it will be very rare to hear one of these messages, as they are usually used in areas very close to the disaster scene, and on local nets.

Priority Messages

This is a second level priority used for important messages having a specific time limit, official messages not covered in the emergency category, press dispatches and emergency-related traffic not of the utmost urgency. This is where the "Time Filed" box on the Radiogram form becomes important to use.

Routine

Most traffic during normal times. In disaster situations, traffic should be handled last, or not at all when circuits re busy with higher-precedence traffic.

V. Appendices

Appendix A - Handling Instructions

Appendix B - ARRL Numbered Radiograms

Numbered messages have been established for some of the more common texts sent during emergencies and holiday seasons. When this common text can be used, an ARL NUMBER is substituted for the text and sent. The delivering station reads the actual text to the address, not the ARL NUMBER

The letters ARL are inserted in the preamble in the check and in the text before spelled out numbers, which represent texts from this list. Note that some ARL texts include and in the text before spelled out numbers, which represent texts from this list. Note that some ARL texts include insertion of numerals or words.

Appendix C - Sample Sending Format

Preamble

"THIS IS _______(YOUR CALL). FOLLOWS MESSAGE NUMBER ZERO ZERO ONE ROUTINE, HOTEL X-RAY ECHO, KILO CHARLIE EIGHT ZULU VICTOR YANKEE, FIFTEEN, PETTAWAY, MICHIGAN, ONE THREE FOUR FIVE ZULU, MARCH 7 BREAK." (PAUSE)

It is bad form to say the Headings (Check 15, Station Of Origin KC8ZVY, etc.) Use the word for the month, not a numerical date.

Remember, the message must have a number, precedence, Station of Origin, Check, Place of Origin and date or it is not a formal message.

Remember to pause and let up off of the mike for 2 - 3 seconds after giving the preamble to give the receiving station a chance to ask for "Fills" if necessary.

ADDRESS: "GERALD BOTTOMS, I SPELL B,O,T,T,O,M,S (PAUSE) FIGURES THREE THREE FOUR THREE DOWNS STREET (PAUSE) TALAHASSEE, FLORIDA, ZIP FIGURES ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE (PAUSE) PHONE FIGURES EIGHT ZERO EIGHT SEVEN SEVEN FOUR SIX FIVE EIGHT FOUR BREAK". (PAUSE)

Remember to unkey the mike at the pause , giving the receiving station a chance to request for "Fills"

TEXT: "THANKS FOR LETTING ME STAY LAST WEEK XRAY HOPE TO RETURN THE FAVOR SOON XRAY BREAK"(PAUSE)

Remember to unkey the mike at the pause, giving the receiving station a chance to request for "Fills"

Try to keep the radiogram at 25 words or less. Keep them noncommercial in nature. No elements of the preamble, address or signature, no punctuation, and no big words. Letter-like greetings or closings are bad form. Remember to send a "Break" immediately before and after the text, before sending the signature.

SIGNATURE: "PAT"

"END OF MESSAGE, NO MORE" (If you have no more messages to the same receiving station)

'END OF MESSAGE, ( ) MORE" (If you have more messages for the same receiving station, insert the number of messages remaining at the ( )).

Remember to send slowly and pronounce the words carefully, but do not drag it out. Listen to the experienced operators send traffic to find the pace.

Appendix D - Region and Area Nets

Area/region net schedules, MPG-N, July 2002

Eastern area

Central area

Pacific area