Radiogram Template

ARL Numbered Radiograms

Numbered messages have been established for some of the more common texts sent during emergencies and holiday seasons. When this common text can be used, an ARL NUMBER is substituted for the text and sent. The delivering station reads the actual text to the address, not the ARL NUMBER.

Insert ARL followed by the number. Example ARL FORTY SIX

One Group -- For Possible RELIEF EMERGENCY Use

ONE Everyone safe here. Please don't worry.
TWO Coming home as soon as possible.
THREE Am in _______ hospital. Receiving excellent care and recovering fine.
FOUR Only slight property damage here. Do not be concerned about disaster reports.
FIVE Am moving to new location. Send no further mail or communication. Will inform you of new address when relocated.
SIX Will contact you as soon as possible.
SEVEN Please reply by Amateur Radio through the amateur delivering this message. This is a free public service.
EIGHT Need additional _______ mobile or portable equipment for immediate emergency use.
NINE Additional ______ radio operators needed to assist with emergency at this location.
TEN Please contact _______. Advise to standby and provide further emergency information, instructions or assistance.
ELEVEN Establish Amateur Radio emergency communications with ______ on _______ MHz.
TWELVE Anxious to hear from you. No word in some time. Please contact me as soon as possible.
THIRTEEN Medical emergency situation exits here.
FOURTEEN Situation here becoming critical. Losses and damage from _______ increasing.
FIFTEEN Please advise your condition and what help is needed.
SIXTEEN Property damage very severe in this area.
SEVENTEEN REACT communications services also available. Establish REACT communication with _______ on channel _______.
EIGHTEEN Please contact me as soon as possible at _______.
NINETEEN Request health and welfare report on _______. (State name, address and telephone number.)
TWENTY Temporarily stranded. Will need some assistance. Please contact me at _______.
TWENTY ONE Search and Rescue assistance is needed by local authorities here. Advise availability.
TWENTY TWO Need accurate information on the extent and type of conditions now existing at your location. Please furnish this information and reply without delay.
TWENTY THREE Report at once the accessibility and best way to reach your location.
TWENTY FOUR Evacuation of residents from this area urgently needed. Advise plans for help.
TWENTY FIVE Furnish as soon as possible the weather conditions at your location.
TWENTY SIX Help and care for evacuation of sick and injured from this location needed at once.
Emergency/priority messages originating from official sources must carry the signature of the originating official.

Group Two -- ROUTINE MESSAGES

FORTY SIX Greetings on your birthday and best wishes for many more to come.
FORTY SEVEN Reference your message number _____ to _____ delivered on _____ at _____ UTC.
FIFTY Greetings by Amateur Radio.
FIFTY ONE Greetings by Amateur Radio. This message is sent as a free public service by ham radio operators at _______. Am having a wonderful time.
FIFTY TWO Really enjoyed being with you. Looking forward to getting together again.
FIFTY THREE Received your _______. It's appreciated; many thanks.
FIFTY FOUR Many thanks for your good wishes.
FIFTY FIVE Good news is always welcome. Very delighted to hear about yours.
FIFTY SIX Congratulations on your _______, a most worthy and deserved achievement.
FIFTY SEVEN Wish we could be together
FIFTY EIGHT Have a wonderful time. Let us know when you return.
FIFTY NINE Congratulations on the new arrival. Hope mother and child are well.
*SIXTY Wishing you the best of everything on _______.
SIXTY ONE Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
*SIXTY TWO Greetings and best wishes to you for a pleasant _______ holiday season.
SIXTY THREE Victory or defeat, our best wishes are with you. Hope you win.
SIXTY FOUR Arrived safely at _______.
SIXTY FIVE Arriving _______ on _______. Please arrange to meet me there.
SIXTY SIX DX QSLs are on hand for you at the _______ QSL Bureau. Send _______ self addressed envelopes.
SIXTY SEVEN Your message number _______ undeliverable because of _______. Please advise.
SIXTY EIGHT Sorry to hear you are ill. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
SIXTY NINE Welcome to the _______. We are glad to have you with us and hope you will enjoy the fun and fellowship of the organization.

*Can be used for all holidays.

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Overview

The Winlink Express Amateur Radio Radiogram Text Creator was developed as a partnership between Radio Relay International and the Winlink Development Team. Its purpose is to provide a structured forms-based approach to producing a correctly formatted radiogram with a text output that appears in the Winlink Express New Message panel. The completed radiogram can then be sent to a Winlink-RRI Liaison Station. That station will then inject the radiogram into the traffic system.

Printed copies of a Client Worksheet can be handed out to facilitate template entry, when you have many wishing to send a Radiogram. This worksheet is an HTML, that you can open and then copy/paste to any text editor. It is located in the same folder as the Radiogram. Just click on "Multi Client Work Sheet.txt".

A radiogram is simply a telegram message that is sent by a radio-only network that is comprised of amateur radio operators. These interoperable networks are sponsored by the ARRL (National Traffic System or NTS) and by Radio Relay International (RRI). The networks use phone, cw and digital modes. The cw and phone nets operate through a precisely sequenced and layered system of nets that cover local, section, region, area and transcontinental relays. The digital system consists of a mesh network configuration of automated Pactor hubs that are accessed by appointed Digital Traffic Station operators.

The system is in final stages to be able to handle bulk disaster communications out of an affected area, but can be activated upon request in the interim, see comments in green below. It is in operation 24/7, handling a variety of personal greetings as well as exercise traffic. Thousands of messages are handled on a weekly basis and the networks welcome traffic. Examples include congratulatory messages, thanks for the QSO messages, happy birthday messages, etc. Also, a number of hams have established penpal relationships with hams and even non-ham friends and family members.

The Radiogram Format

The radiogram format has been in existence since 1949 and is very similar to the old commercial Western Union telegram as well as contemporary military formats.

The radiogram has 4 primary sections:

The first line is the preamble and includes the message number (assigned by the originating station), precedence (importance i.e. Routine, Welfare, etc.), handling instructions for the delivering station (e.g. HXC is a request for delivery confirmation from the delivering station), originating stations call sign, check (number of words/groups in the message body), town, state and date of origination. Note: If doing a message relay back into the system, be sure to use the original message number. The SVC check box is for NTS handler use for servicing back a message. Time is a user option.

The preamble is followed by the recipients address and contact information. It is very important to note that routing through the entire system is based on the recipients USA or Canadian postal code, state and town The street address and phone number (10 digits only 555 555 5555) and other information are used by the delivering station. The deliverer is a human who can exercise different methods as might be appropriate to complete the delivery. Also need a phone number, email, or both to ensure delivery. Keep in mind that sending INTO a disaster a welfare check is not recommended, as delivery will be most likely impossible. Sending outbound "I am OK and status" traffic from a shelter or any disaster venue is a good use of the Radiogram.

The message body is enclosed between breaks (BT). For compatibility with all transmission modes, the radiogram uses a limited character set, as is true throughout the radiogram. The period character is interesting as there are several uses. A period at the end of a sentence becomes an X. A decimal point is R, such as 146R750 The ".com in an email address is DOT COM. Other substitutions include QUERY for the question mark, ATSIGN for @, UNDERSCORE for _. The slant bar (slash) / is a permitted character. Telephone numbers are 10 digits - area code, exchange and number with no dashes. An entered extension is numbers only and will add EXT to the front. The / (stroke) can be entered and will remain as a /.

The Text Creator assists with all of this by making the substitutions for you, or not allowing certain characters.

The last section is the signature of the sender. All radiograms must have a signature, (name). In the case of 3rd party messages, the signature is that of the person who provided the message - not the originating stations ham radio operator.

The first OP NOTE is for special instructions to the traffic handlers. This could be a note that the addressees phone number is a daytime work number, additonal delivery instructions, etc.

The last OP NOTE can be for return handling instructions, notes you feel are applicable to pass on. Please keep OP NOTES brief!

If indicating a return email to obtain a delivery notification (SVC) do not use a Winlink address. You do not know if the final traffic handler is in your whitelist. Remember while you are using Winlink to input the traffic, the next delivery route may not be Winlink, it could be CW or voice.

Getting the Message into the System

The traditional way to get a message into the network is to check into a local or section traffic net and transmit the message by voice or cw. As a Winlink operator, you will need to get your message to a Winlink-RRI Liaison Station. These are listed as tactical addresses in the drop down at the bottom of the form. When you are ready to send your message, select the Liaison Region that is associated with the addressee's location.

Note: During the introductory phase of injecting messages into the traffic network by this template, not all of the procedures or personnel have been put in place to handle traffic with a precedence of EMERGENCY.

However if an event or disaster occurs that warrants originating EMERGENCY precedence traffic, please notify the RRI National Emergency Communications Coordinator immediately to request activation of the RRI National Emergency Communications Response Plan at 269-650-0215 or inject a message requesting RRI emergency activation via an available IATN (Inter-Area Traffic Network) circuit, or to KB1TCE@winlink.org

References

The most up to date information on RRI and message handling is being provided by Radio Relay International http://radio-relay.org/

The Traffic Operations Aid or Pink Card is a concise 2-page summary of radiogram formatting and transmission procedures for voice, cw and digital. Have a copy at your operating position as you enter a message into the Winlink Text Creator.

Direct link to the PDF: http://radio-relay.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/RRI-TRAFFIC-OPERATIONS-AID-1720r3.pdf

The RRI Publications page http://radio-relay.org/about/publications/ has a number of other useful guides and aids. Two of special note are the Traffic Operations Field Manual FM-001 and the RRI Training Manual TR-001.

Note: If you desire for future use and with no Interent there are free Zip code data bases available to install.

Questions or suggestions concerning the Radiogram template or its use, may be submitted via Winlink to KB1TCE

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Amateur Radio RADIOGRAM Text Creator Read Help and Instructions!

Number

SVC (Handler use)

Precedence
Emergency not in
use at this time.

Handling Instructions

HX Help

Station Of Origin Change if not you.

Check

Place of Origin

Time

Date

   Current UTC Time
   Current Local Time
   No Time

TO: Name: Call Sign: Address: City / Town: State or Province: 2 Letter Codes Zip: Country: Phone: Extension: E-mail: Op Note about this Radiogram:
MESSAGE TEXT Check: ARL Message Numbering Help
Signature (name) of person for whom message originated: Operator Note:
>>> NOW CLICK HERE and select a Liaison Station <<< Contact KB1TCE about this form: Ver 10.5

HX - Message Handling Instructions

ARL Numbered Radiograms

RRI Liaison Stations

Overview

USA State and Canada Province Codes