Spring is a wondrous time of year with plants blooming, trees leafing and grass growing. There is a renewal of spirit too after the long winter doldrums. On the traffic nets we are seeing a renewal of sorts in the interest of amateurs in learning the art and skill of message handling. Your local and section nets are the place to learn and practice these new skills and we are seeing an increase in interest on the part of net check-ins. I just want to remind folks there is information on our website ema.arrl.org as well as the arrl.org website under the National Traffic System. Use this link https://ema.arrl.org/national-traffic-system/nts-resources/ to find articles including a Fillable Radiogram form you can download and print. There is a list of the ITU Phonetic Alphabet which is the global standard for voice message handling. You will also find a list of Prowords and Introductory Words and Phrases we use when voicing a radiogram. These are important to the receiving station in copying a message accurately. You will also find a list of ARL Numbered Radiograms which are optionally used to shorten messages and increase accuracy. Message Handling Instructions are an optional part of the Header of a Radiogram but it is important to know what they mean when you receive one. To get more of an overview of NTS you can read the NTS Manual (2015), and of course there is what is often referred to as the NTS Bible known as the MPG (Methods and Practices Guidelines) which can be found at www.arrl.org/appendix-b-nts-methods-and-practices-guidelines. This is a resource guide compiled from years of experience in message handling, which is well indexed for looking up information and finding examples. Check with your net manager regarding training, check the online resources and/or email me at kw1u@arrl.net.
The April traffic report for Massachusetts is found below. See you on the nets.
| MASSACHUSETTS STM REPORTS 2020 | Apr-20 | |||||||
| NET | SESSIONS | QTC | QNI | QTR | NM | FREQ | Net Time | |
| WMTN C1 | 17 | 3 | 186 | 114 | N1YCW | 146.91 | 1300 Daily | |
| WMTN C2 | 24 | 0 | 375 | 67 | KD2JKV | 146.91 | 1700 Daily | |
| MARI | 30 | 108 | 165 | 477 | KW1U | 3565 KHz | 1900 Daily | |
| EM2MN | 30 | 114 | 410 | 946 | KC1HHO | 145.23 | 2000 Daily | |
| CM2MN | 15 | 1 | 116 | 127 | KK1X | 146.97 | 2100 Daily | |
| HHTN | 17 | 44 | 220 | 344 | W1HAI | MMRA Rptrs | 2200 Su,M,W,F | |
| CITN | 17 | 6 | 92 | 223 | AC7RB | 147.375 | 1930 Tu,Th F,Sa | |
| MARIPN | 13 | 14 | 77 | 161 | N1LAH | 3978 KHz | 1700 Tu,Th,Sa | |
| WARPSN | 4 | 8 | 90 | NA | N1IQI | 147.225 | 0830 Su | |
| WMEN/HF | 4 | 0 | 115 | 80 | W1JWN | 3944 KHz | 0830 Su | |
| WMEN/VHF | 4 | 0 | 81 | 52 | N1PUA | 146.91 | 0900 Su | |
| 171 | 298 | 1846 | 2539 | |||||
| SAR | ORG | REC | SENT | DEL | TOTAL | BPL | BPL = 500+ points | |
| N1IQI | 0 | 103 | 522 | 4 | 629 | X | ||
| KW1U | 0 | 285 | 301 | 0 | 586 | X | ||
| N1TF | 0 | 40 | 58 | 6 | 104 | |||
| KC1KVY | 0 | 27 | 40 | 11 | 78 | |||
| WA1LPM | 0 | 30 | 36 | 0 | 66 | |||
| W1RVY | 0 | 51 | 12 | 0 | 63 | |||
| KD2JKV | 0 | 23 | 23 | 0 | 46 | |||
| KE1ML | 0 | 11 | 31 | 3 | 45 | |||
| WA1VAB | 0 | 19 | 14 | 10 | 43 | |||
| KC1HHO | 0 | 28 | 3 | 0 | 31 | |||
| N1LAH | 0 | 14 | 16 | 0 | 30 | |||
| NV1N | 1 | 2 | 13 | 1 | 17 | |||
| W1PLK | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |||
| PSHR (Min 70 Points) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | TOTAL | |
| KW1U | 40 | 40 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 130 | |
| N1TF | 40 | 40 | 30 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 115 | |
| W1RVY | 40 | 40 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 110 | |
| N1IQI | 40 | 40 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 110 | |
| KD2JKV | 40 | 40 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 110 | |
| KE1ML | 40 | 40 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 100 | |
| N1LAH | 40 | 30 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 90 | |
| KC1KVY | 40 | 40 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 90 | |
| WA1LPM | 40 | 40 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 90 | |
| KC1HHO | 32 | 31 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 83 | |
| DRS | RCV | FWD | TOTAL | |||||
| KW1U | 816 | 731 | 1547 | |||||
| N1IQI | 103 | 522 | 625 | |||||
| W1RVY | 0 | 2 | 2 | |||||