NTS

                               “OUR TRAFFIC SYSTEM”

1.  Emergency communications is the ability to transfer a message or other information from one place to another under emergency conditions when normal means of communication fail, are overloaded, or are not available.

2.  In Amateur radio messages are accepted, relayed, and delivered as quickly as possible by skilled operators using their own radio equipment and power source, independent of any commercial or landline infrastructure.

3.  Messages may be TACTICAL or FORMAL and have a precedence of either: EMERGENCY, PRIORITY, WELFARE or ROUTINE.
4.  In a large incident, there must be a system in place in order for messages to reach the addressee.

5.  This process is relatively simple. Nearly every licensed ham can learn to participate in this in just a few hours time. All it takes to learn this skill is some basic instruction, practice, and participation in net operations.
6.  All a message needs is an address, the message itself, and who it is from. It also needs some simple record and routing information to facilitate an accurate and timely delivery.

7.  An established route and standardized methods of relaying a message is absolutely essential.

The problem that most Ham operators have is that they never learned traffic handling and most have never participated in Emergency communications or traffic nets. Another problem is that some who do, attempt to make the whole process overly complicated.  

Every Emergency Communications Operator Should:

1. Pledge to learn and maintain the skill of message traffic handling. No matter what your license class, favorite mode or band may be.

2. Maintain an emergency station to the best of your ability and budget.

3. Learn and practice all you can about proper operating procedure and on the air protocols.

4. Contact your EC, ask if there is anything that you can do to help the overall effort.

5. Be a team player. Every job is important.

6. Do not allow yourself to get bored, go stale, or fade out. We are all in this together for the long haul.

7. If your EC, DEC, SEC or other Emergency Communications leadership is asleep, senile, comatose or just inept, ask some hard questions.  Shake things up a bit.

Ares/Races EC’s, DEC’s, SEC’s and other Leadership:

1. Cooperate and maintain an active liaison and coordinate with local or section NTS Manager. If there is no local or section NTS net contact your ARRL Section Manager and make plans to start one. A local Ares/Races net should become an NTS affiliated net.   

2. Move towards having every operator in your local unit, learn and maintain the skills of message traffic handling.

3. Encourage all Ares/Races members to participate in at least one NTS net on a REGULAR basis.  At least once a week.

4. Plan realistic Simulated Emergency Test and other regular training sessions and drills to practice traffic handling without using repeaters or other automatic devices.

5. Set an example for others by checking into and participating in local and regional nets

6. Stop worrying about impressing the served agencies. Plan, work, and coordinate with them if possible, but in any case GET YOUR TEAM PREPARED to deliver messages for the general public and any and all agencies for any emergency or disaster by doing all of the above!
 

                              “NOW”

                                   “Getting down and actually doing it.”

Special care is required when preparing written third party message traffic for transmission over the Amateur National Traffic System networks. What is third party traffic?
The generally accepted definition is written or voice traffic between the control operator of one amateur station, the first party and the control operator of another amateur station who is the second party, on behalf of another person who is the third party. It all amounts to short written messages between people who are not necessarily Amateur radio operators.
 
The objective of the National Traffic System is to cause these written messages to transit the system, word for word, character for character, and be able to be handled without alteration via any of the common modes of transmission currently in use such as CW, SSB, VHF/UHF or any of the digital systems. It is important that the message gets to the far end of the system exactly as it was initially sent.
 
The main source for large volumes of traffic is usually one of two occurrences:
   1. An unplanned event, which forces people to use the Amateur NTS traffic networks due to failure or overload of normal regular commercial facilities or,
   2. A planned event, such as a convention, fair or other public gathering that encourages use of the amateur traffic networks. 
In either case, the average person will need help in composing their messages so they can be properly and expeditiously handled by the NTS operators. This will be especially true with Health & Welfare traffic coming from disaster shelters in times of emergency.
 
If a large volume of third party traffic is expected, the radio operator must be assisted by another person or persons who can take care of preparing the messages for transmission. The operator will have their hands full just working the radio. The people detailed as counter assistants must be trained and familiar with this kind of message work, but they need not be licensed radio operators.
 
There are several things that must be considered when taking in message traffic from the general public:

1. The average sender has no idea about putting his message into the standard format which we require to be used, in order for the traffic to be capable of being properly relayed through the system.  They will need assistance.

2. The word count of the message text must be kept under control to avoid network overloading. Improper or illegal content or symbols that cannot be transmitted must be kept out of the text. The message must be composed so as to convey the desired meaning without unnecessary words, and to minimize the possibility of being misunderstood.
 
3.  Addressing must be properly done in order for the message to be delivered at its ultimate destination. 
     (a)  All messages must be sent to a person or organization by NAME.  
     (b)  The address must also contain a PHYSICAL LOCATION where the addressee can be found in order to deliver the message.  Street number and name, rural delivery route, post office box, are some common ways of providing this information.
     (c)  The address must also contain the DESTINATION City, State or, Country if not in USA or Canada, and postal code, if known.
     (d)  If at all possible, the address should include a full ten-digit TELEPHONE number.  
4.  The sender only needs to furnish the address, text and signature of the message. Normally, messages should be written either by the sender or the operator's public counter assistant for or in behalf of the sender.
 
5. Messages must be SIGNED properly with a name so the recipient will know who sent it.  The sender should also furnish LOCAL CONTACT INFORMATION so they can be reached if there is an answer to their message or if some problem occurs with delivering it. This information should be written on the back of the message blank for future reference if needed.
 
Appropriate message numbering, precedence, handling codes, Station of Origin's call-sign, check, originating point, filing time and date must then be properly appended as a PREAMBLE along the top edge of the message half-sheet. This is required in order to route the message correctly through the NTS system from origin to destination. The entire message should be carefully checked over in regard to legibility and completeness at this time. These tasks are best left to the counter assistant who is trained and knows how to do them.
 
At this point the message is ready to be handed to the radio operator for transmission. The written message copy is now the document of record for the message, and after the radio operator notes on it the time sent, frequency or net, and the call-sign of the station it was sent to, it should be filed in the Originating Station's Sent file. The FCC no longer requires copies of amateur messages to be retained, but it is a good idea to keep them on file for at least a year anyway, just in case.
 
Only by careful attention to all these details will good service be provided for the public. Messages that are properly originated have a far better chance of making it through the NTS to destination than those which are not.

Tom Harris, k5wth