Our weekly net, every Thursday, Has a different training subject each week of the month.
The calendar shows the subjects and is updated should any changes be necessary.
- Week 1 – Interoperability (ICS, FEMA, ARES Field Guide)
- Week 2 – Nets (Types, when to use, control, join, participate)
- Week 3 – NTS RRI (Traffic Handling)
- Week 4 – Digital Modes (FLDigi, Packet, Winlink, Etc)
- Week5 – Coordinate alternate band communications within the county (HF, 6m, VHF, UHF)
Interweaving the topics helps give time to absorb, as well as cover, more information in shorter time spans.
The most recent Net gave an brief introduction to NTS and RRI, (2026, 15, 01). The following is a brief outline of that night’s session.
Traffic handling is a key part of emergency communications. Messages sent from a disaster area to areas outside of that are are typically handled by either National Traffic System (NTS) or Radio Relay International (RRI). NTS has been around a very long time while RRI is a more recent organization. RRI was created by those who felt NTS had stagnated and not adapted well to changes in technology or ICS messaging. As recent as mid 2025, NTS and RRI have recognized the need to come together rather than dupicate efforts and have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to cement that partnership.
Both organizations hold daily nets to pass traffic, and do so in a hierarchy of local, to regional, to wide and back down again. This method is quite efficient. NTS still uses the familiar Radiogram, while RRI uses the Radiogram-ICS213 format which merges nicely with emergency communications groups like ARES and RACES. NTS also has a Disaster Welfare Message Form which uses canned messages to reduce the time needed to pass the most common messages,
Many of these nets feature the same operators that are very dedicated and well versed in handling traffic.The nets are very well organized and run quite smoothly. It is recommended to listen to a few nets to get a feel for how they are managed, how participants join the net, and how the net control operator handles traffic. Listening to the net only requires a receiver and can be done quite casually. The more you listen, the more it will make sense.
Next month’s training on NTS/RRI will go over Radiogram message formats and attempt to pass a few messages if time allows.
73 de Paul, KE6PIJ