Sending an NTS Radiogram (Field Day) - Ham Radio Q&A 

There is a fair amount of nuance that's missing in this video‚ but it has the basics so you can craft a message and get it on the air.

​@@KB9VBRAntennas Agreed, there are a lot of finer points in effective message handling that are learned with experience. If you are ever interested in making another video about traffic handling, I encourage you to take a look at what's being discussed over at groups.io/g/arrlnts. I (and I'm sure many other NTS officials on that forum) would love to collaborate with you and talk more about the traffic system. 73 Chris W3CJD, ARRL Official Relay Station NNJ

That’s great! The best practice I get in handling traffic is to check into the Sunday morning WI ares/races Hf net.

I know what you mean. 10 or so years ago the league had funny feelings about using Winlink at Field Day.

@@KB9VBRAntennas Hopefully things have changed, and I did send my message to an RRI this year. 73 KD5YOU

Hi, Robert - You can send NTS messages through a repeater and have them count towards the bonus, but you just can't count the exchange of traffic as a QSO towards field day. (Ex. if W3CJD sends 5 pieces of traffic to W1AW through a repeater, W3CJD gets 50 bonus points but can't use that to log a contact with W1AW.) I don't use Winlink to send messages, so I'm not sure of how to look up who is available in your area. However, I'm sure that you will be pointed in the right direction if you bring this question to your local VHF traffic net or contact your Section Traffic Manager. 73 Chris W3CJD, ARRL Official Relay Station NNJ

Michael hasn't answered you, but I will explain why I bought mine. I purchased mine before the Icom was released. The price at the time was about 2,300 dollars. I compared mine to the Kenwood 590SG (about 1,900 dollars at the time) at an Atlanta HRO, where I was able to sit at a desk and compare rigs with the same antenna. To me, the receive on the Yaesu was far superior to the Kenwood, especially with the DSP. Another factor for me was the Yaesu looked and felt like like a real base station. Big VFO knob, tons of controls on the front of the rig without going into the menu, etc. I was also able to use the rx out and add an RSP1 dsp receiver as a panadaptor. Using Omni Rig, Log4OM, and SDR Console (all free!), I am able to point and click on received signals, and immediately switch the rig to the correct band and mode. I still love this setup to this day. Sorry for the long explanation! 73, Brett

I chose the FTdx-3000D for a couple of reasons. I was shopping for a mid-range rig to replace my aging Icom IC-718. I already have an FT-891 and loved the receive on it so stepping up in the Yaesu line made sense to me. The IC-7300 is a very nice rig but wanted to go with the triple conversion super heterodyne receiver over an SDR for its increased sensitivity. The band scope wasn't a big draw for me. I also wanted a rig with buttons for common controls so I didn't have to dig through menus. My budget was around $1500 so the 3000 fit nicely in my price range. It's been around for a few years but really has stood the test of time; I'm quite happy with it and glad I made the decision I did.

Gavin, there are a lot of good introductory resources available at www.arrl.org/field-day. Field day is across all bands and modes, so I'm sure you'll hear signals pretty much everywhere (except on repeaters, since they can't be used for field day contacts). 73 Chris W3CJD

Hi, Matt - NTS messages can be sent to anyone; they don't have to be a ham operator. If sending to a non-ham, I recommend supplying a phone number in the address so the delivering station does not have to send it by snail mail. 73 Chris W3CJD

you can using digital modes and audio coupling via fldigi and send many forms like this

I agree. Most of the words were intelligible but even though the spoken audio was loud, I really had to listen closely to understand what I was hearing.

Actually no. We live in a over dependant day and age of cell phones and Internet which could go away in a blink. Then what do you do? It's called preparedness. Who would have thought we would be locked in our closets in the blink of an eye?

While you are correct, the NTS isn't as widely used by the public anymore in our modern, Internet-connected age, the infrastructure still remains in place for emergency scenarios when the cellular network and other Internet links go down. In my opinion, every ham operator should know how to pass radiograms like this, as formal message handling through systems like the NTS is what gives ham radio its public service value during emergencies. 73 Chris W3CJD, ARRL Official Relay Station NNJ

Not really. Case in point‚ 2 years ago Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico's communication infrastructure. Message handling‚ similar to this‚ was crucial in communicating health and welfare traffic to the mainland.

Welcome to the rabbit hole.

Audio quality can be all over the place on the HF bands. One of the reasons NTS traffic has a formalized structure is to aid in receiving the message during poor conditions.