My First Delivery of NTS Traffic

It was 10:40PM on the Heavy Hitters Traffic Net. John W1ZNY (now a silent key) listed a
piece of traffic for Quincy. I had been checking into the Traffic Nets for about 2 weeks
and I finally built up the courage to take a piece of traffic.

I jumped in at the next listing of traffic and said, “N1LKJ for Quincy”. The Net Control
quickly replied, “N1LKJ for Quincy”. “W1ZNY please call N1LKJ and pass 1 Quincy
on frequency”. “Roger” came the reply from W1ZNY. “N1LKJ from W!ZNY are you
ready to copy”? “Yes” I replied “But go slow, its my first time”. “No problem” said
John. “Please copy message ” and he passed me the message at a copyable pace.

Shortly after that I was cleared from the Net. It was now about 10:45PM and I was very
proud of myself and quickly reached for the phone to deliver the traffic. After several
rings the phone was answered by a female voice, who the message was indented for.

I introduced my self and told her I had a message for her from Courage Handy Hams in
Golden Valley Minnisota. I then proceeded to give her the message. She thanked me for
the message and then said. “Please don’t deliver me any more messages after 10 o’clock
because I am a handicapped person, confined to a wheelchair and dependent on others
to put me into bed”. My stomach fell to my feet and I profusely apologized to her.

She quickly accepeted my apology. I told her it was my first piece of traffic I ever delivered
and after that she asked me questions about Ham Radio and we talked for a few minutes.
Needless to say I learned a very important lesson. I never delivered another piece of traffic
after 9:00PM, except of course if it was emergency traffic or Mars Traffic.

The women became a regular user of the NTS, for sending out greetings to friends and
relatives all over the country. Sadly she passed away a few years ago, but I will never
forget that first piece of traffic.

Jim Ward N1LKJ STM-EMA

Traffic Handling Class “A Great Success”

EMA NTS logoJim Ward, N1LKJ wrote:

The NTS Training Session conducted by Mark, W2EAG was completed the end of May. The 13 week course met once each week. Those who completed the course were: Bill Mcinerney, N1KBV of Bourne; Ed Maccaferri, KB1ERV of Plymouth; John Mahon, N1PYN of Brockton; Kenton Bradshaw, KB1ESG of Falmouth; Andrew Bullington, W1AWB of Siaconset; George Allen, N1NBQ of Nantucket; John Dehahy, Jr., W1ABS of Centerville; Kenneth Pereault, N1KP of Swansea.

We congratulate all who completed the course. We also wish to commend their instructor, Mark Rappaport, W2EAG for the great job he did in presenting the course. All stations who completed the course received a Certificate of Achievement from Section Traffic Manager Jim Ward, N1LKJ.

Everyone can anticipate another class in the Boston area sometime in the fall.

-Jim Ward N1LKJ, STM-EMA

Traffic Handling Training on the Air!

A new traffic handling training net will begin on Thursday evenings at 8 p.m., beginning February 13th, on the Falmouth repeater (146.655, no tone). This is an excellent method to learn about traffic handling. It’s also excellent training for RACES/ARES groups. Many thanks to Mark, W2EAG for leading this effort, and to the Falmouth Amateur Radio Association for hosting the net.

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ARRL Eastern Massachusetts Section
Section Manager: Phillip Temples, K9HI
k9hi@arrl.org

New EMA Section Traffic Manager Appointed

It gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of Jim Ward, N1LKJ as the new Eastern Massachusetts Section Traffic Manager effective June 1,2002. Jim replaces outgoing STM Bill Wornham, NZ1D of Townsend, MA…
Jim Ward has been licensed for over ten years. He currently holds a General Class license. Jim has been an active traffic handler for over 10 years, and has served as Net Manager of the Eastern MA Two Meter Traffic Net (EM2MN) for eight years. *N1LKJ* enjoys DXing, PSK, Packet and RTTY modes.

A retired commercial property manager, Jim has been married 40 years this September to his wife, Diane. They have three daughters and six grandchildren.

Jim inherits a well-managed operation from NZ1D. I want to thank Bill for his efforts! I’m sure that Jim can count on Bill’s sage advice, as well as the assistance of all the wonderful traffic handlers in the EMA section.