103 lines
6.5 KiB
Plaintext
103 lines
6.5 KiB
Plaintext
WHATIS.NTS (6/89)
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HISTORY of NTS
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Since the dawn of radio the handling of messages accurately and speedily has
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been held in highest esteem. In the early days, The range of the average spark
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gap station varied from 5 miles to 10 miles. As better antenna systems,
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receivers, and higher power rotary spark gap transmitters evolved, distances
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of 400 miles and more could be achieved as early as 1914 by the better
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stations operating on 200 meters and down. Obviously, longer distance
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communications could not be achieved reliably without relays. The American
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Radio Relay League was founded by Hiram P. Maxim primarily as a long distance
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radio relay system. By the end of 1915, over 600 stations in almost every
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state and province had been appointed as Official Relay Stations whose
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operating standards were kept very high. The technical capability had been
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present for a long time before; but it is most definitely the organizational
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structure created by the ARRL that quickly increased the distance a message
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could travel from 50 Miles in early 1914 to reliable transcontinental
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messaages by February 1917. The commercial communications systems at that
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time were fragile and often made unusable during disasters. Amateurs even in
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their dawn proved their worth to those communities which found themselves
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helpless without emergency communications.
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Operation then was strictly by Morse code and suffered under the worst
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combinations of noise, poor receiver selectivity, frequency unstable
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transmitters and receivers, poor receiver sensitivity, etc. A message was
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handled with almost a feeling of sacred trust by dedicated and skilled
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operators. A message from coast to coast often had to be painstakenly relayed
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8 times or more. To "botch" or delay such a message was not looked at very
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kindly by "the brethren". An operator was judged not so much for the amount of
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messages that he could handle nor the "sweetness" of his fist as much as how
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accurate and reliable of a relay he proved to be. It was a high priority to
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have an efficient continental system established not only for amateur radio
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communications but for public service and disaster communications. For
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accuracy and efficiency, a specific format was eventually determined to be the
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most effective. The standard NTS format in its present form is almost
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identical with that which also evolved in a parallel manner in the military
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and the commercial message services; which, by the way, were for the most part
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staffed by hams as well.
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The present day National Traffic System (NTS) evolved out of this eighty old
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public service and disaster communication tradition. The NTS is still
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sponsored by the American Radio Relay League and features an orderly method of
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reliably and responsibly moving messages across the continent on a daily basis
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as a public service through a system of voice and cw nets and now also packet
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radio forwarding systems. Packet radio forwarding, although made possible
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only as recently as late 1984 appears as a natural choice to continue this
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fine tradition, as it is proving both accurate, fast, and more and more
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reliable.
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NTS STRUCTURE
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The NTS structure, in order to ensure reliability, is based on an hierarchy of
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local, section, regional, and area nets. The section and/or local net managers
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are appointed by the Section traffic Manager or the Section Manager. The
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Region and Area net managers are appointed by the Area Staffs. A message
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originated at the local or section level is taken to region net by an assigned
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liaison station appointed by the section net manager. Likewise, traffic is
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taken to the area net by a liaison station appointed by the region net
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manager. There are three Area nets in North America; Pacific, Central, and
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Eastern. Traffic is transferred from Area to Area by members of the
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Transcontinental Corps (TCC) appointed by the TCC Director. Traffic then flows
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down from Area net, to region nets and then to section and sometimes local
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nets where it is delivered. Thus traffic is both originated and delivered at
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the section and/or local net level. The rest of the NTS is simply a relay
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system. Thus packet radio networks form a natural media to help facilitate the
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accurate and speedy handling of such messages. Because messages for the most
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part are still delivered in NTS section and local nets, the existing NTS
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format is important to maintain for reasons of interface. There are literally
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hundreds of section and local nets meeting daily across the continent on both
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voice and cw that deliver third party traffic as a public service and as a
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training for disaster communications.
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PACKET BBS MESSAGE FORWARDING
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In 1984 Hank Oredson, W0RLI, made avaialble to the amateur community a free
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software program that ran on the inexpensive Xerox 820 computer. Soon
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afterwards Hank added an automatic forwarding system whereby one mailbox could
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automatically forward to any other mailbox at any time that would be
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convenient thus allowing for automatic relays of bulletins, personal messages,
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and NTS messages. This system became implemented on a widespread basis
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nationwide by mid 1985 through a system of VHF/HG GateWay mailbox systems.
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Messages were entered on the VHF (usually 2 meter) ports and then forwarded
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automatically to a HF GateWay BBS for long distance relay. Traffic for closer
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destinations were relayed on 2 meters and later through vhf and uhf "backbone"
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systems. These relay systems are constantly being improved and longer
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distances are now being covered through coast to coast satellite links, more
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efficient network nodes, higher speed backbones, and a better organized
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national HF packet system. This system is expected to continue to increase in
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efficiency and reliability over the next few years.
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On a section level, STMs and Net Managers are appointing Packet Net managers
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to facillitate the interface between the section net and the linked packet BBSs
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system. Liaison stations are assigned to pick up the traffic at section BBSs
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nodes to be taken to the section net. Likewise traffic outgoing from the
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section net is often brought to a linked packet BBS for relay via packet. The
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packet system is especially valuable for missed schedules, overload traffic,
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high volume disaster welfare traffic, fair traffic, and relay to regions where
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favorable propagation factors do not coincide with available operation times.
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The eastern area staff has already appointed Region Net Packet Managers to
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help facillitate the traffic flow within and between their regions via packet
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BBSs.
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