Greetings All. Summer is well upon us and it is about time for our annual traffic handlers picnic. Sunday August 6 beginning at noon any traffic handler or anyone interested in learning more about getting involved is welcome to our gathering at 44 Raymond Road in Concord MA. Hamburgers, hot dogs and Italian sausages will be provided. Bring your beverage of choice and a lawn chair if you have one. I do have some of both but not enough to go around. Any food contributions you would like to share will be most welcome. We do have a nice big shade tree to help keep folks out of the hot sun. Please let me know if you plan to come so I can plan food accordingly.
This month we celebrate a new net manager and a new Official Relay Station. Effective August 1 Bob KC1KVY will assume the managership of the Heavy Hitters Traffic Net (HHTN). We thank Joe W1HAI for his years of dedicated service to the net. Under his direction the net has increased to seven nights a week, and through repeater linking now covers almost the entire state. Bob has big shoes to fill but he is well qualified, being an excellent example in message handling, a big supporter of various traffic nets and a trainer of new net participants.
We also welcome a new Official Relay Station, an appointment for which he is well qualified. Shawn N1CVO has joined the ranks of active and proficient traffic handlers and is now also assuming the role of net control. Great work Shawn.
Effective July 1, Rhode Island has a new Section Manager in Nancy Austin KA1NEK. Nancy has asked yours truly to serve as interim STM. One goal is to stir up more interest in message handling in Rhode Island. Thanks to Nancy for her interest in NTS.
Don’t forget the upcoming HamXposition Friday August 25 through Sunday August 27 in Marlborough MA. Check out https://hamxposition.org/ for more information. We had a great convention last year and this one should prove to be even better. There will be two traffic handling events, both on Saturday. One will be a meet and greet for traffic handlers from all around the region to gather, meet one another and talk about all matters concerning traffic handling. The other will be a presentation on NTS 2.0, a major ARRL initiative to improve and modernize the National Traffic System.
I have included the June STM report for the three sections of EMA, WMA and RI. Thanks to all net managers and other traffic handlers for submitting their activity reports. One might ask why bother with such reports. There could be a variety of reasons including pride in what we have accomplished, but another important one is is to show to any who might want to involve NTS in long haul messaging that we’re still active. Of course our continuous training and practice can give demonstrative proof of what we can do.
I would like to review what we report in the SAR as there is often confusion as to the different categories. From the Methods and Practices Guidelines (MPG) on the ARRL website Chapter 7.2.1 and 7.2.2
* ORIGINATED:
(An off-the-air function) Any ARRL standard format message traffic prepared by you (the first party) for someone other than yourself (a third party), and filed at your amateur radio station for initial transmission over the air. Count one point. In other words, this is a radiogram which you created for another person using your station’s message number and call sign.
Note: A message that you create for yourself does not qualify as an Origination, but will be covered later under the SENT category.
(An off-the-air function) Any ARRL standard format message traffic prepared by you (the first party) for someone other than yourself (a third party), and filed at your amateur radio station for initial transmission over the air. Count one point. In other words, this is a radiogram which you created for another person using your station’s message number and call sign.
Note: A message that you create for yourself does not qualify as an Origination, but will be covered later under the SENT category.
* RECEIVED:
(An on-the-air function) Any ARRL standard format radiogram received over amateur radio by your station. This will include message traffic received, whether for yourself, for relay to another amateur station (the second party), or received for delivery to the message addressee (a third party). Count one point.
Note: Messages received by other means, such as telephone, postal, E-mail, MARS, in-person, etc., are not counted as Received, however they may cause you to Originate a message for later transmission.
(An on-the-air function) Any ARRL standard format radiogram received over amateur radio by your station. This will include message traffic received, whether for yourself, for relay to another amateur station (the second party), or received for delivery to the message addressee (a third party). Count one point.
Note: Messages received by other means, such as telephone, postal, E-mail, MARS, in-person, etc., are not counted as Received, however they may cause you to Originate a message for later transmission.
* SENT:
(An on-the-air function) Any message traffic to be sent by your station to another amateur station (a second party), whether such a message is initially transmitted from your station as your Originated message for a third party, a message for yourself, or one that was received from another amateur station. Count one point.
Note: Messages sent by means of telephone, postal, E-mail, etc. do not count as Sent, however they may qualify for counting as Delivered.
(An on-the-air function) Any message traffic to be sent by your station to another amateur station (a second party), whether such a message is initially transmitted from your station as your Originated message for a third party, a message for yourself, or one that was received from another amateur station. Count one point.
Note: Messages sent by means of telephone, postal, E-mail, etc. do not count as Sent, however they may qualify for counting as Delivered.
* DELIVERED:
(An off-the-air function) Any message traffic that is delivered by you to the message addressee (a third party), provided that the message was received at your station by amateur radio and that the addressee is someone other than yourself. This delivery is done by telephone, postal, E-mail, in person, etc. Count one point.
(An off-the-air function) Any message traffic that is delivered by you to the message addressee (a third party), provided that the message was received at your station by amateur radio and that the addressee is someone other than yourself. This delivery is done by telephone, postal, E-mail, in person, etc. Count one point.
PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:
The same message received by amateur radio and relayed to another station by amateur radio is counted both in the Received and the Sent categories, while a message received by amateur radio and then delivered is counted both in the Received and the Delivered categories.
A message Originated by you for a third party and then Sent by amateur radio is counted as Originated and Sent.
A message Originated by you, such as a net report for you as the NCS, or a message from you to a friend, is only counted as Sent when transmitted by your amateur station.
A message Received by amateur radio for you at your station is counted only as Received.
A message received for a fellow amateur provides two choices… deliver it by phone (or email snail mail, etc.) and get a Delivered point, or deliver it on the radio and get a Sent point.
When transmitting or receiving messages in BOOK form, count one point for each individual message Sent and Received in the book of messages.
The link to the report is below. Thanks to all for your participation and support.
73, Marcia KW1U