ARES & NTS Reintegrated--Atlantic Division Conference 2013

ARES & NTS REINTEGRATED

Atlantic Div Conference 2013

ARRL and Public Service 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

NTS organized in 1949 Regularized ad hoc traffic relay with state-of-the-art network

design RACES recognized in 1952

Designed with substantial input from ARRL Based on WWII’s Amateur Radio operations under martial law

(WERS) Never implemented – never was another Congressional declaration

of war or a presidential declaration of disaster Amateur Radio Public Service Corps ca.1963

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Atlantic Division Convention 2013: ARES & NTS Reintegrated 05/03/2023

The Field Organization ARES and NTS were designed to complement each

other and did so nearly half a century Phil-Mont Radio Club’s recently recovered, “

Amateur Radio: Every Single Minute” documents their response to 1955’s Hurricane Diane disaster in the North East U.S.

Storm led to creation of the EPA Emergency Phone Net which later joined the NTS

ARES and NTS split up sometime in the 1990s Accelerated by 9/11 dynamics

Reintegration of the ARRL Field Organization benefits everyone Citizenry: much needed disaster communication ARRL: restored cooperation between factions ARES: public relations and recruiting opportunities Volunteers: meaningful assignments and training NTS: regains traditional purpose of citizen to citizen

communications

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYx8VNzYwRE

ARES – A Changing Mission

ARESCOM (2003) effectively split NTS from ARES Adoption of Winlink2000 orphaned NTS as Tech licensees no longer

aspired to HF for access to Section nets ARESCOM (2005) modernization recommendations

Use Winlink2000 to provide radio-email to served agencies Serve the general public through cooperation with NTS as long-

haul backbone Post-9/11 government communication is increasingly

specialized Vast technology spending for digital and broadband capabilities DHS/NIMS leaves little room for volunteers, incl. ARES ACS concept further muddies waters

General public remains underserved Government prioritizes response and relief efforts as “top-down” Citizens left to fend for themselves (See

EmergencyManagement.com handout)

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Current Status of NTS NTS is fully operational

System covers 83 Sections in U.S.A. and Canada EPAEPTN: 170 QNI and 40 QTC per typical month 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 specific 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

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Hampered by lack of delivery stations ARES pull-back severely damaged local participation Technician Class licensees cannot participate in HF nets Delivery tends to be via toll calls or postcards

NTS capabilities are underutilized Efficient coast-to-coast message delivery

Within minutes via NTSD relay Same day/next day for traditional circuits

Traditional operations are scalable Can add up to three additional cycles Delivery times improve exponentially with added cycles

NTSD stations operate 24/7 and have significant capacity O.R.S. are highly trained with good skills and robust stations

Current Status of NTS6


Written communiques are event documentation Form part of the permanent historical record of an event Provides for message verification and authentication Important part of the event management process

Header information is useful and necessary Aids in message routing and delivery Confirms accurate transmission and display Allows efficient and speedy response Provides audit trail for entire “chain of custody”

Written memos are superior to ad hoc and improvised notes Thoughtfully considered and deliberately constructed Editable for clarity and content – fewer mistakes Makes efficient use of resources through

Concise, accurate wording no extraneous chatter (“noise”)

Formal documentation7


RADIOGRAMS? 8


Priority

Addressee

Origin

Time Filed

Text

Number

Header Data

Check

E-MAIL!9


Priority

Addressee

OriginTime Filed

Text

Check (embedded in file system as “CHKSUM”)

E-mail Header Data – “Handling Instructions”10


Return-Path: [email protected]: from imta17.emeryville.ca.mail.comcast.net (Fri, 8 Nov 2013 17:38:37 +0000 (UTC)Received: from gx1.sas.upenn.edu ([128.91.234.50] (Fri, 08 Nov 2013 17:38:36 +0000Received: from qmta08.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net (Fri, 8 Nov 2013 12:38:34 -0500Received: from omta08.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net ([76.96.62.12])Received: from AsusServer ([76.99.37.108]) Fri, 08 Nov 2013 17:38:29 +0000Reply-To: <[email protected]>From: "Joseph Ames MBA, MS" <[email protected]>To: <[email protected]>Subject: Email Header DemonstrationDate: Fri, 8 Nov 2013 12:38:31 -0500Organization: Organizational DynamicsMessage-ID: [email protected]

HXE

HXD

Number

mailto:[email protected]

Delivery Receipt aka HXC:

“Report date and time of delivery to originating station”

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Civil Defense (“RACES”) Radiogram from 1970s

Contains same elements as ARRL Radiogram

Includes additional space for longer messages

Replaced by email systems in 1990s

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ICS-213 Interoffice Memo from 1960s Office correspondence

form designed for typewriters not radio transmission

Limited header/audit data Not actually required by

NIMS; it’s merely a sample form made available as an example format

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NTS Value Proposition Manpower

~800 traffic handlers at any given time Trained Practiced Reliable

Organization Orderly and disciplined structure Scalable Underutilized

Equipment 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

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Reintegration 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 Benefit to NTS

ACCESSIBILITY: Exposes Technician Class operators to traffic handling

DELIVERY: Solves last-mile problem GROWTH: Increases authentic Radiogram business

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05/03/2023Atlantic Division Convention 2013: ARES & NTS Reintegrated

Organizational Linkages

Atlantic Division Convention 2013: ARES & NTS Reintegrated

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05/03/2023

ARRL Field Organization

Structure:

NTSD Network

Digital Relay Station Regional MBO Station Area Hub Station

NTS digital linkage to ARES

05/03/2023Atlantic Division Convention 2013: ARES & NTS Reintegrated

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Region MBO

(Automated)

Section DRS(Semi-

automated)

County DRS

(Semi-automated)

ARES Nets(Manual)

HF VHF

Pactor III Pactor I Packet or HSMM

Full-time Ad-hocWeekly

Spectrum

Technology

Commitment Level

Area Hub(Automated)

Section-level support Use section nets for official business once again

SM was traditionally “Section Communication Manager” HF is a best practice for regional comms without infrastructure Restore linkages between STM and SEC at section net level

Field Organization appointments O.R.S. is the traditional appointment for liaison stations “Digital Relay Station” now recognized by HQ

Section level at present ARES district or even county level is possible

Training programs for novice traffic handlers NTS over-the-air courses via VHF nets (12 weeks) Direct participation in Section nets Leverage existing ARES training for ICS memo traffic

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Steps Forward ARES leaders:

Identify potential HF liaison and Digital Relay ops Introduce them to your STM Arrange for NTS training for your weekly nets Promote NTS nets

NTS leaders: Invite HF ARES candidates to your section nets Refer NTSD candidates to your Regional MBO operator Promote weekly ARES nets

Contact Information: Joe Ames W3JY, NTS Eastern Area Staff

[email protected]

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NTSD Technology Overview

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 (must select B1F) not Paclink

(B1F not supported) Contains sort and forward code crucial to automated routing of

messages BBS, keyboard-to-keyboard, and Bulletin functionality retained

“Target Station” interface via Airmail “Parser” tool converts radio email content to NTSD messages &

vice versa Leverages Winlink 3.x high capacity import/export batch utility May replace Winlink Classic at some point

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NTS Traffic Flow


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• Manual and Digital nets follow same hierarchical structure

• Normally two, as many as four cycles provide 24hr traffic flow

• Point-to-Point easily organized

• Weak link is at local delivery level due to ARES pull back

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WL2K-ARES Traffic Flow


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• Winlink 2000 links RF to CMS Internet backbone

• RF-only capable but not exercised

• Winlink Classic is interoperable but no longer supported

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Shared Traffic Flow


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• NTSD Target Station concept leverages CMS system for message origination and delivery

• Dramatically increases HF Pactor resources

• Brings NTS/ORS manpower into the response effort and relieves constraints

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RF-Only Traffic Flow


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• Fully capable emcomm backup in case of Internet/CMS failure

• Origination ↔ Relay ↔ Delivery using existing ARES capability

05/03/2023

ARES & NTS Reintegrated--Atlantic Division Conference 2013

Government & Nonprofit

Transcript of ARES & NTS Reintegrated--Atlantic Division Conference 2013