The
Nuts and Bolts of the National Traffic System
The National Traffic System as we know it today
started in 1949. Prior to that time, there were various options that were tried
but none that were really successful. Primarily, the National Traffic System (NTS)
was set up for emergency communications during a disaster sending messages to
"served agencies" requesting either assistance or providing updates
with regard to a situation.
Since Public Service has been the "cornerstone" of our organization,
NTS was expanded to send messages to third parties who were "non-hams
and messages were received and put back into the system. Most people today do
not totally understand how the cycles in NTS need to operate for it to become
as efficient as it can be. Remember, the NTS is only as strong as its weakest
link.
Let’s look at how it should work. Generally,
when a station wishes to send a message, it always starts at the local level. This
station brings a piece of traffic to the net. The net control station (NCS) directs
the station to send this message to another station who will in turn take it to
the "section" traffic net" (the section net is a state net). If
the message is for someone in the same state, it is hoped that either a station
from that area will pick up the traffic or, a liaison will take the message to
another net and move it to its final destination if the message is with in the
same state. Now, if the message goes out of state, there should be a
station in the net who can take the message to the regional net. A
regional net is made up of several states within a given geographical
area. For example, in
For the system to work efficiently there needs to be at least two traffic
cycles. Usually there is a daytime cycle and nighttime cycle. In most
areas and regions, the daytime cycles are phone cycles and the night time
cycles are the CW cycles. Each mode, regardless of what it is must complement
one another for NTS to work efficiently.
Unfortunately, due to modern communication means available to the general
public, NTS has fallen on hard times. Since the late 80's, more and more
traffic is going from amateur to amateur. While this may be "OK"
to some, that was not really what NTS was intended to do. There are always
opportunities for hams to demonstrate how the system should work through
locally based community events such as fairs, festivals etc. One can set
up a booth and advertise that as hams, we can send a message to your friends or
relatives across the country or, in some cases, to certain countries where we
have third party agreements.
While emergency preparedness is what we should be about, NTS should be used in
all exercises and in the real thing as much as possible. If you check into a
net as a liaison from another net, you should know who can handle traffic that
has been listed on your net. Think of NTS as an electronic postal
service. A good NTS operator is one who knows where the strengths and
weaknesses lie within the given geographical confines of the net in which
he/she participates.
Most people want to help, and their heart is in the right place, but they do
not understand what is supposed to happen. For example, more often than
not, a station will pick up a piece of traffic from a station and if they
cannot deliver it, especially if it is out of state traffic, rather than
writing out a radiogram and stating that they have traffic for the 9th region
they will just call the person who sent the message to them just stating that
they could not deliver the traffic. This is incorrect procedure. If I take a
message and it is from out of state for someone in my local area and I can't
pass it, then it is incumbent upon me to originate a message for the 9th region
and send it properly through the chain of command.
Why have a check or group count? The purpose of the check or group count
is to check to see if your word count agrees with the receiving station. Should
there be a discrepancy, then you should work it out and try to correct
it. Never "roger" a message you really don't
understand. The term "roger" by itself is not an action
word. It does not mean that you agree or disagree with what you received
but that you acknowledge what you have received. The same holds true when there
are handling instructions on a message. The receiving station should pay
special attention to handling instructions and if you don't understand
them----ask what they mean. It makes a big difference on message delivery.
In closing, in this day and time, too many people are just interested in
accumulating points and have drifted away from what NTS is truly supposed to
be. Rather then sending "spam traffic," make messages meaningful
and send them to family, friends and acquaintances that you have. By doing
this, we will be able to give NTS a new life.
Tom Lykins, K4LID Kentucky Section
Traffic Manager