[Effective June 1, 2025, participants in the National Traffic System will be seeing a new message precedence, introduced by Radio Relay International (RRI). I asked James Wades, WB8SIW, to explain some background on the reasoning behind this new precedence and the benefit to the NTS that is hoped to be achieved. RRI, in its relatively short existence, has done much to add value to the NTS. This is one such initiative. —Ed.]
In recent years, the National Traffic System® has confronted two apparently conflicting imperatives, one of which is the requirement to build an infrastructure around a volunteer base, and the other is the more immediate requirement to provide a customer service in the form of accurate and timely message delivery.
The NTS® network topology and many of its policies, whether explicit or evolved, were built around the old telecommunications paradigm of the postal service and land-line telephone network in which costs were associated with message delivery, such as toll charges for Inter-LATA or long-distance telephone calls. Therefore, the plan has been to move a radiogram as close to the addressee as possible. In doing so, the volunteer incurred no delivery costs and, ideally, the volunteer base would expand based on need.
Problems arose, however, when volunteers (outlets) were not available near the radiogram’s addressee. A routine message would propagate through the network efficiently, only to be held at the state/section level nets awaiting an outlet near the addressee, sometimes for days. In other words, the basic system worked well, but the lack of volunteer support resulted in poor customer service.
As bulk messages became common, a certain “malaise” developed. Some operators, perceiving these messages as unimportant, would simply choose not to deliver messages for which there was no outlet. This had a corrosive effect on volunteer morale that manifested itself in the form of poor customer service and harm to the reputation of a potentially valuable program. As a result, a solution to this problem had to be found that balanced the imperative of customer service against ensuring that nets remained active and interesting to volunteers. The solution developed was a new classification of radiogram message which prioritized customer service called the “certified radiogram.”
The certified precedence is a class of routine message that sets an expiration date/time before which the message must be delivered, regardless of its location within the network. It recognizes the reality that we are operating in a new telecommunications environment in which multiple options for toll-free delivery of messages is the norm. The goal is to ensure timely delivery of unique (non-bulk) radiogram messages, thereby providing both active traffic handlers and new customers with an assured level of timely and accurate delivery.
While the goal remains to get the message as close as possible to the addressee, this new policy recognizes that this is not always realistic. Therefore, the certified message must be delivered within 48 hours of the date-time group in the message preamble regardless of where it stands in the network.
The certified radiogram (precedence “C”) is to be used only for unique, personal or organizational messages in which there is a direct personal or transactional relationship between the originator and addressee and in which case the address information is complete and known to be timely and correct. Common-text messages in which address information is harvested from on-line databases are prohibited from using the “certified” precedence and must remain in the “routine” precedence category.
A more specific definition of the certified message, along with an explanation of how it differs from “bulk” (“canned”) messages, is available in the following Radio Relay International bulletin:
www.radiorelay.org/files/news/Certified_Radiogram_Implementation_Announcement_2025-5-26.pdf .
The Digital Traffic Network (DTN) is the preferred method for the origination or relay of certified messages. However, certified messages may be originated or relayed via any method within the traffic system. A special DTN “virtual pipeline” staffed by RRI Certified Radio Operators (CROs) will be used to route certified messages to their destination. The CRO will then be responsible for ensuring that traffic is relayed to a reliable operator with the necessary skills to ensure accuracy and who is willing to adhere to the guidelines and procedures defining delivery methods. A similar process applies to the Winlink-RRI region gateways to ensure the highest quality of customer service. More information on the RRI Certified Radio Operator program is available at www.radiorelay.org . —James Wades, WB8SIW