Re: [digitalradio] NTS and traffic handling and digital

[David Struebel]

There is an active digital system in NTS called NTSD employing Winlink software and coverage from area to area. Many NTS operators keyboard into these NTSD stations but the main problem as always is getting the trafic delivered locally. It makes no sense to be able to relay trafic via HF digital but end up having to take it to the manual nets. We are always looking for additional stations to join us either locally or as NTSD stations. All it takes is an HF rig, a computer and a TNC capable of at least Pactor I  ( the later versions of the AEA PK-232 will work. If interested please respond via e mail. Dave Struebel WB2FTX Eastern Area Digital Cooridinator NTSD Tim Gorman wrote: The ARRL folks should not be shocked at what has happened. When they negotiate agreements with other agencies (e.g. the American Red Cross) that prevent amateurs from collecting outgoing message traffic at emergency shelters, what do they expect? The ARRL admitted in one of the latest QST's (Nov I think) that they AGREED with the Red Cross decision during Katrina to not let hams collect traffic in Red Cross shelters destined for loved ones from evacuees. As for routine traffic, there are lots of messages that have a reasonable delivery time that can be handled by the NTS. The ARRL needs to get off their duff and start being cheerleaders for this type of operation instead of being only cheerleaders for handling emergency agency operational and logistical traffic. I disagree that the only way this will work for digital is if it can be done on a store-and-forward basis. Your prediction is probably true as long as the ARRL and others continue to cast routine traffic as being unnecessary and a waste of time to handle. Especially in emergency situations, it is being able to get the message delivered that is important, not that it be done within 10 minutes. People waited days to find out about relatives in Katrina. Outgoing welfare traffic from that area could have been sent and delivered by hams much quicker than that. Even routine birthday notices, christmas greetings, and just plain hello's don't require delivery within 10 minutes. And for someone that doesn't remember an email address or even a telephone number, amateur radio still provides a reasonable alternative. psk nets can operate at least as efficiently as the old RTTY nets used to. I suspect they can operate better since it is easier to manage frequencies and to dispatch sender/receiver pairs off-frequency than during the old RTTY nets. The real kicker will be the number of people that are willing to dedicate the time and effort to make such a system work. Even when traffic nets were valid alternatives to the telephone system (e.g. late 50's to early 70's), the percentage of hams that were dedicated to traffic handling, even on a part-time basis, was small. Since digital operation is only about 10% of the total operations today, my guess is that the number of hams willing to make a digital system work will be insignificant. I suspect that if you did a survey on this list you would get no more than 1 or 2 people interested in doing routine traffic handling no matter how important the traffic is. Tim ab0wr On Monday 09 January 2006 15:17, williams wrote: (excerpts follow:) Because the need for NTS traffic became less and less about 20 years ago, I finally decided that it was not worth the effort required and only occasionally participated. Today the NTS traffic handles even less traffic and we have seen that even during severe emergencies in recent time, has almost no traffic flowing anymore. I know that even the ARRL folks are shocked at what has happened. The public now expects messages to be delivered in a reasonable time. I think 24 hours is about the maximum and really that is longer than most expectations. Digital could have had a really huge impact on traffic handling, but the interest is just not there. The only possible way that digital traffic can succeed is if it can work for most hams with easy to use access and be accessible at all times so you don't have to show up for a net. I realize that the downside of all this is the loss of camaraderie which I believe is one of the main glues holding the current CW and voice systems together for now. And traffic that comes in with an e-mail address needs to be dispatched immediately. Ideally, we would also have better ways to insure delivery. Will this ever happen? I used to think so, but have increasing doubts. We may see a different type of activity though with the newer digital technologies such as JNOS2, Winlink 2000, and now PSKmail where messages can be delivered via the net ... if you have an e-mail address for the recipient. 73, Rick, KV9U Need a Digital mode QSO? 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