NTS - MPG

Have you ever considered the NTS – Methods, Practices and Guidelines? I do not mean, have you read it. You may have never had a suitable occasion in which it was necessary to read the seemingly endless and always tedious verbiage known as the MPG. Page after page after page of mind-numbing jargon… I can fully understand if you have never read the MPG. Reading the NTS – MPG could be likened to reading a dictionary: boring! What I want to know is have you considered it? Not its specific content, but the whole.

One night as I was traveling across northern Ohio with my family, I was monitoring the 2 meter band for activity, hoping to hear my favorite Traffic Net. Sadly, what I (and my XYL!) heard were a couple of guys discussing a recent visit to their neighborhood strip bar. Needless to say, all my past efforts to convince my wife that Amateur Radio was a "decent" hobby were now in vain. I suppose to be fair I should report that these Hams probably didn't violate any of the FCC rules concerning what can and cannot be said on the air. I could tell that they were being very careful about the use of specific words. However, there was no mistaking the meaning of their "legal" communication. That night, what I wished had existed was a Rag Chewing – Methods, Practices and Guidelines.

I've done a bit of DX chasing, and I will admit that it has been fun to get a QSL card from the Madeira Islands. But, when I try and try and try to get through the cacophony of a DX pileup with my barefoot HF rig, it is then that I wish there was a DX – Methods, Practices and Guidelines.

When I hear some Nut (and I don't mean a Ham who is a nut – a mean a Nut who happens to have an Amateur Radio license) hog a frequency for hours, droning on and on and on and on all by himself… I wish there was a People Who Are in Love with the Sound of Their Own Voice – Methods, Practices and Guidelines.

Have you ever wondered why there is a MPG for Radiogram Traffic Handling, but not for other facets of the Amateur Radio? Could it be that Traffic Handlers are unruly and undisciplined? Perhaps Traffic Handlers are trouble makers and rabble rousers that need controlled. Or… Traffic Handlers are rude and inconsiderate, and thus must be given guidelines on courteous behavior. I can say with confidence that I don't believe any of the reasons above are the reasons for the existence of the NTS – MPG. What then could it be?

I would suggest that the reason for the NTS – MPG is this: In all of world of Amateur Radio, originating, relaying, and delivering Radiogram traffic is at the very heart of what Amateur Radio is all about. Though presently it would seem that some consider Traffic Handling to be the red-headed stepchild of Ham Radio… some sort of illegitimate child that doesn't really belong to the family… the one that all the "real" children tolerate just because Mom and Dad say they have to… I would suggest that the very existence of the NTS – MPG bears witness to the legitimacy of Radiogram Traffic Handling.

Traffic Handlers are the ones who put the Relay in the Amateur Radio Relay League. I haven't been around this game very long, but I have learned one thing. The reason that the FCC gives us the privilege to use the frequency spectrum is because they recognize our ability to serve the good of the general public when all else fails. In short: Public Service. The current FEMA Director, Craig Fugate, a fan of Amateur Radio, has publicly said as much. They tolerate our Rag Chewing and our DXing. However, it is Traffic Handlers that are daily defending the spectrum, proving with the relay of each and every Radiogram that Amateur Radio deserves the frequency allocations we all presently enjoy. It is the NTS that in a very significant way justifies Amateur Radio's reason-for-being before the gods of government. Every day of the year… day after day… night after night… NTS Traffic Handlers train for the day When All Else Fails.

Please understand that in giving emphasis to the NTS I am in no way trying to diminish the role that ARES and RACES and SATERN members play in the big picture that is the ARRL response to a disaster. Each group plays a part in serving the public during times of need. We certainly need each and every part if the job is going to be done well. When All Else Fails, and each of these parts engage their disciplines, the Pubic is served. The random, unwritten courtesies that loosely guide the Amateur Radio Hobby, are superseded when Amateur Radio Public Service becomes necessary.

Radiogram Traffic Handling does not happen in some hap-hazard illogical manner. While it is true that Traffic Handlers routinely have fun passing Birthday Greetings and Congratulatory Best Wishes, Traffic Handling is at its soul, serious business. While some do not understand the passing of repetitive and common Radiogram messages, the reality is that when the day comes, and it most certainly will, that emergency communication becomes necessary, it will be those who logged the most time passing trivia traffic, and grid square requests that will be at the forefront of insuring that vital, life saving "emergency communication" messages get to their destination with accuracy and speed. When All Else Fails… when an ARL TWENTY SIX is the message that needs to be sent, it will be those who passed the most ARL FORTY SIX messages that will get the job done.

There is a reason for the National Traffic System – Methods, Practices and Guidelines… a very good reason. Indeed it may very well be the heart-beat itself of Amateur Radio.