The NTS Today

Holmesburg Amateur Radio Club Philadelphia, Pa January 16, 2014

ARRL and Public Service

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ARRL founded for radiogram relays: 1914

ARRL Emergency Corps established 1935

Renamed Amateur Radio Emergency Corps in 1951 Made part of ARPSC in 1963 Renamed Amateur Radio Emergency Service in 1978 Regularized ad hoc traffic relay with state-of-the-art network design Designed with substantial input from ARRL

NTS organized in 1949

RACES recognized in 1952

The Amateur Radio operations under martial law (WERS)

Never implemented as intended!

Amateur Radio Public Service Corps ca.1963 ARESCOM effectively split NTS from ARES 2003

Current Status of NTS

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NTS is fully operational

System covers 83 Sections in U.S.A. and Canada

Eastern Area NTS, Feb 2013

2,450 messages relayed manually 9,477 messages relayed digitally

Transcontinental Corps, Feb 2013

1,219 messages relayed manually

NTS is a system not a technology

Operators and station in all States and ARRL sections Hierarchical and Cyclic up to 4 cycles/day

Traditional manual nets continue to operate on CW and SSB

NTS Digital is an automated HF Pactor network

NTS Value Proposition

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Manpower

~800 traffic handlers at any given time Trained Practiced Reliable

Organization

Orderly and disciplined structure Scalable Underutilized

Fixed station HF operation covers all U.S.A. and Canada CW, SSB require minimal assets Pactor is robust and reliable Ideal for regional, area, and continental relays

Equipment

Reintegration of NTS and ARES

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Improved disaster communication for public H&W

Radiograms would be welcome absent commercial telco

A tangible, specific service offering to relief organizations Radio email or traditional radiograms as required

Benefit to ARES

TRAINING: Weekly ARES nets pass real traffic

OUTREACH: Delivery to local amateurs as basis for recruitment PUBLICITY: Public service events become PR opportunities MISSION: Gives a useful, valuable responsibility to members ADVANCEMENT: Gateway to General Class license and HF operations ACCESSIBILITY: Exposes Technical Class operators to traffic handling DELIVERY: Solves last-mile problem GROWTH: Increases authentic Radiogram business

Benefit to NTS

NTS Operations
Slide 6

Hierarchical based on geographic regions

Local:

city or county, usually ARES FM net Section: ARRL sections, usually 80m SSB/CW Region: FCC call area, 80 or 40m, usually CW AREA: Eastern, Central, Western, 20m CW Trans-Continental Corps: 20m CW

NTS-D follows a similar but parallel structure

3/30/2012

NTS Operations
Slide 7

Regularly scheduled cycles: ability to add sessions to increase capacity Trunk lines or point-to-point for high priority needs NTS-D supplements traditional cycles with HF Pactor for full HF transport
Winlink

MBO Airmail client

ARES integration at local level is dysfunctional

3/30/2012

EPA Traffic Nets

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NATIONAL TRAFFIC SYSTEM

Pennsylvania

Traffic Net (PTN) EPA+WPA 3.585 CW 1900 + 2200ET NTS scheduled net, formerly EPA and WPA, now merged EPA Echolink Traffic Net (EAETN) EPA 146.640 - 82.5 FM 2000ET Thurs via AA3RG (Pine Grove) and Echolink node AA3RG-R EPA Emergency Phone & Traffic Net (EPAEPTN) EPA 3.917 LSB 1800ET NTS scheduled net WPA Phone & Traffic Net WPA 3.983 LSB 1800ET NTS scheduled net; wintertime 3.983MHz, 1645 ET
1/25/2014

NTSD Network

Digital Relay Station Regional MBO Station Area Hub Station

NTSD Technology Overview

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100% RF in lieu of CMS (Internet Down scenario)

Pactor 3 backbone; Pactor 1 or Packet at section level

Automated smart scanning, forwarding and polling Many NTSD stations operate full Winlink2000 RMS HF nodes

NTSD operates on Winlink 3.1 a.k.a. Winlink Classic

Useful interoperation with Airmail and Paclink (B2F not supported)

Contains sort and forward code crucial to automated routing of messages BBS, keyboard-to-keyboard, and Bulletin functionality retained Parser tool converts radio email content to NTSD messages & vice versa Leverages Winlink 3.x high capacity import/export batch utility

Target Station interface via Airmail

Operational Linkages
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Area Hubs Regional MBO

Section DRS Topology

District or County DRS

ARES Nets

Hub-Mesh Hybrid
Pactor III Full-time Pactor I

Tree or P2P
Technology Packet or HSMM Weekly Scheduled Availability Daily Ad-hoc

1/25/2014

The Radiogram
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Why Radiograms?
Slide 13

Communication during infrastructure failure

Health and welfare messaging for general public

Outbound at first Inbound after initial disaster Trunk lines for high-priority circuits

Command and control for response agencies

Relief organizations such as Salvation Army, Red Cross Local and state governments Emergency last ditch circuits for military and federal use

Amateur Radio public relations

Special event stations: state fairs, conventions, sports Develops neighborhood and community fraternity

3/30/2012

Advantages of the Radiogram Format

Slide 14

Accurate

Built-in check statistic Clearly defined, universal radio procedures Limited to twenty-five words Each message has a specific purpose Standard format ensures consistency Authorship is documented and verifiable Precedence informs delivery effort Manual relay: CW, SSB, FM Automated relay: HF Pactor and VHF Packet (Winlink and Airmail) Origination and subsequent relays are recorded and confirmed Handling instructions in case of difficulty

Concise

Formal

Independent of mode

Traceable

3/30/2012

Limitations of the Radiogram Format

Slide 15

System capacity is limited by available manpower

Delivery speed is comparable to surface mail Many cities lack NTS representation Routine traffic may take several days

Per FCC rules, all traffic is in the clear

No expectation of privacy CW and data modes do obscure somewhat

Strict word count limitation

Designed for plain English, telegram style Complex content and verbosity unsuited to NTS

3/30/2012

ICS-213
Slide 16

Advantages
Designed in the 1970s as an interoffice memo Letter-size format is roomy and unrestrictuve Included with NIMS as a sample memo format

Disadvantages
Not designed for transmission Lacks network management audit trail and check data Impossible to track through system dependent on communication channel itself for this function (i.e., Successful Transmittal on fax machine)

3/30/2012

ICS-213 Workarounds
Slide 17

WRRL stamps for Radiogram, Header, and Message Service Cross

3/30/2012

NTS style wrapper apps

Slide 18

RadioGram 0.0.8, KB2SCS, www.qsl.net/kb2scs

3/30/2012

NTS modification
Slide 19

http://www.summitares.org/reference.php

3/30/2012

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NTS Organizational Chart

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3/30/2012

Evening NTS Cycle for Central Area

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3/30/2012

Steps Forward
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Identify potential HF liaison and Digital Relay ops

Introduce them to your STM Arrange for NTS training for your weekly nets Promote NTS nets Refer NTSD candidates to your Regional MBO operator Promote weekly ARES nets

Invite HF operators to the Section nets

Contact Information:

Joe Ames W3JY, EPA ASM, NTS Eastern Area Staff w3jy@arrl.net