Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C). www.navymars.org, Documents, NTP8(C)

• The Pacific Area Ops Guide. www.navymars.org, Area, Pacific, Pacific Area Ops Guide

• MARS Operator Course (MOC). www.navymars.org, Training, Continue at the bottom of the page, for Staff in General, MARS Operator Course

• Region Nine Exam. Received from your State Director's Assistant for Training.

Interactive Lesson

Reference materials that all stations should have on hand are available from the Navy-Marine Corps MARS web site at www.navymars.org.

• The first reference guide is a document called NTP8(C) that outlines the general procedures and information common to all areas. This document can be found from the home page by clicking on the link to documents on the left hand side.

• The Pacific Area Ops Guide contains details specific to the Pacific area and can be found on the main web site by following the links: Area, and then Pacific.

• Older versions of this tutorial can be found by following the links: Area, Pacific, and then Training from the main web site home page.

It is a good idea to have hard copies of NTP8(C) and the Pacific Area Ops Guide for use in the field and for making personal notes while you are studying. Any questions you may have can be brought to the State Director's Assistant for Training which is NNNØGAF FOUR in southern California (SCA), to one of these weekly training nets, to an elmer if you were assigned one when you began your training, and to other Navy-Marine Corps MARS members you meet throughout your training.

Only the Pacific Area Director, NNNØASE, can authorize your acceptance as a full member of Navy-Marine Corps MARS. You can reasonably expect him do so upon the recommendation of your Region and State Director which is, in turn, based upon the recommendation of the State Director's Assistant for Training, or NNNØGAF FOUR. It is important to participate on your state nets so that the State Director knows about your progress. Once you have met the requirements outlined in this guide and actively participated in a number of traffic nets, you can expect to hear from NNNØGAF FOUR, your State Director's Assistant for Training, and/or NNNØGAF, your State Director, about handling a traffic net on your own to complete your training.

It is usually true that both you and the State Director's Assistant for Training will come to the conclusion that you are qualified at almost the same time; it just seems to work out that way. If you have a special background such as having previously been a MARS member or having served as a military communicator, please let your State Director's Assistant for Training know about it.

In order for you to participate and get the most out of your training, you are expected to:

• Review the training materials prior to the training net.

• Have an HF station with the capability to participate. If there are hardware problems, we will note it and lend assistance as best we can but it is your responsibility to have a station capable of working on your state nets.

• Learn our protocols sufficiently to confidently check in and conduct net business. There's no better teacher than personal experience, just getting on the nets and participating will reinforce everything you've read during your studies.

• Learn and use the common PROWORDS including OVER and OUT, ROGER and WILCO, CORRECT and WRONG, AFFIRMATIVE and NEGATIVE, those used in giving RADIO CHECKS, and those used to obtain FILLS in messages.

• Compose, list, and send the following six types of messages using proper relay instructions:

  • A third party message from anyone to anyone else in the US.

  • A multiple address administrative message. Unless you have had previous military experience, these are probably new to you.

  • An off air participation report.

  • A service message. These messages are typically sent to inquire about previous message traffic.

  • A Navy-Marine Corps MARS Implementation message.

  • A Department of Defense Essential Elements of Information (EEI) message.

• Complete the Mars Operator Course (MOC) material and final exam and forward your answer sheet to your State Director's Assistant for Training, NNNØGAF FOUR.

• Complete the Region Nine final exam.

• Act as a Net Control Station, NECOS, for one traffic net.

• Be familiar with NTP-8(C), the Pacific Area Ops Guide, the website, and the system of broadcasts.

For those stations that do have digital capabilities, you are not required to but are strongly encouraged to:

• Deliver some of your messages digitally using AMTOR and/or PACTOR.

• Take messages to and from an Area Digital Network Mailbox (ADN MBO) using AMTOR and/or PACTOR.

Each message you will prepare as a tango adds complexity to the previous message you completed. For this reason, it is best to prepare these messages in the order they are introduced but there is no restriction on completing the delivery of one message on a traffic net before working on the next one in the list. In fact, it is a good idea to get some experience in listing multiple messages on a traffic net. The net control station, or NECOS, can always request that you hold one or more of your messages for another net.

Probably one of the more confusing aspects of generating messages is the appropriate addressing for staff positions. This is especially difficult for tango stations because they do not have access to roster information until after they complete their training. During training, you must rely on the advice and corrections provided by your State Director's Assistant for Training, NNNØGAF FOUR, and/or an assigned elmer.

There is no minimum amount of time that you must remain a tango.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 5, paragraph 5Ø1.

Interactive Lesson

There are a number of different nets that are established under various conditions. We're going to take a quick look at all of the net types but concentrate on the differences between training and traffic nets later on.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• Pacific Area Ops Guide, chapter 7, paragraph 1.

Interactive Lesson

When a net is initially opened, multiple net calls are made to get as many stations checked in as possible before assigning traffic.

The first net call is meant for the ALT NECOS, Traffic Rep, and anyone that is holding traffic for the net. It is acceptable to list traffic on later calls as well but checking in on the first call will give other stations that check in the chance to mention that they are guarding for a particular station that your traffic is destined for. Having stations identify who they are guarding for, or which pieces of traffic they will accept, makes the job of assigning traffic much easier and makes the net run smoother.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Net Designator is 9S9B.

• Net Control (NECOS) is NNNØNEC.

• Alternate Net Control (ALTNECOS) is NNNØANC and has no traffic for the net.

• Traffic Rep is NNNØTRA who holds a list of traffic for this net.

• Tango station is NNNØAAAT and has no traffic for this net.

The start of this net would sound like:

The Traffic Rep will list the traffic that is being brought to the net. This may include new and old traffic but we won't worry about the distinction between new and old traffic until a later date. The NECOS must roger for the traffic list so that responsibility for handling the traffic list is transferred from the Traffic Rep to the NECOS.

Once the traffic has been listed, the NECOS will read the traffic list to all stations and start another net call to look for stations still waiting to check in and to potentially speak up for traffic that has already been listed.

This is the second net call so everyone is welcome to check in. Not all net calls are required to identify the net designator, several calls throughout the net are all that are needed. If in doubt about how often to announce the designator of the net, include the designator every quarter hour.

Now that the second net call has been made, our tango station can check in with no traffic as follows:

The NECOS will acknowledge all stations heard with something that sounds like one of the following:

or

All operators are expected to use both call signs on all initial contacts between two stations. After the initial contact is established, stations are allowed and encouraged to use just their own call sign in response to another station that ended their last exchange with the proword over. On initial check ins, you may hear the NECOS list a number of call signs before announcing their own callsign but both the acknowledged station and the net control station call signs appear in the exchange.

Let's take a look at a sample exchange where a station requests information about another training net:

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• Pacific Area Training Guide, Appendix A. www.navymars.org, Area, Pacific, Training, Appendix A.

Interactive Lesson

Unlike using repeaters, there is no courtesy tone to listen for to indicate when it is safe for the next person to speak. Numerous people could transmit at the same time but the more people transmitting, the less coherent the content becomes. This may sound painfully obvious but it's very easy to forget.

During the check in process, during free nets and any time a request is made that will invite a response from more than one station, stations are expected to unkey their microphones before "this is" and their call sign. At all times during a net, you need to listen before you key your microphone to make sure you won't be transmitting at the same time as another station.

Let's take a look at a typical net check in without traffic.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Net Designator is 9S9B.

• Net Control (NECOS) is NNNØNEC and has just made a third net call.

• Tango station is NNNØAAAT and has no traffic for this net.

A tango station checking in with no traffic would sound like:

If you hear someone else transmitting at the same time you are, stop transmitting and wait for another quiet period to attempt checking in again.

Exercises

Practice, practice, practice on the air.

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• Pacific Area Ops Guide, chapter 7, paragraph 2, sub paragraph M.

Interactive Lesson

If you know ahead of time that you need to secure before the end of the net, you should make that request when you check in. This is typically done right after you indicate whether or not you hold traffic for the net. Your request should indicate the time you wish to secure and not a relative time from the moment you made the request.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Net Designator is 9S9B.

• Net Control (NECOS) is NNNØNEC and has just made a third net call.

• Tango station is NNNØAAAT and has no traffic for this net.

A tango station checking in with a request to secure 2Ø minutes into the net would sound like:

You must be present for a minimum of 15 minutes if you wish to get credit for attending the net. When you request to secure early, you should take this minimum time frame into account and not request to secure prior to 15 minutes past the start of the net.

There will be times when you need to secure in short order. You should always contact the NECOS to request permission before leaving the net. The exchange in a request for permission to secure immediately would sound like:

Once you've been granted permission to secure, it is assumed that you are no longer on frequency and won't be able to respond to any calls for your station.

A net must be open for a minimum of 3Ø minutes and typically a maximum of 6Ø minutes; schedules and broadcasts will define the maximum allotted time for any net. A net may be secured after the first half hour once all of the traffic brought to the net has been handled or the net has used up all of its allotted time. Once the net has been secured, members of the net must stop transmitting on that frequency if the intention is to talk to stations that were part of the net. It is not acceptable to call net control after the net has closed to attempt to check in. What is acceptable is to tune and test your equipment as long as your actions do not interfere with other stations on that frequency.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 5, paragraph 5Ø3.

Interactive Lesson

Nets can be operated in one of two modes, directed or free. The directed portion of the net is designed to check stations into a net and to handle any traffic brought to the net. During the directed portion of a net, stations must always contact the NECOS or someone acting on behalf of the NECOS before contacting any other stations or securing from the net. Securing from the net is the same as saying you intend to leave the net and be unreachable on that frequency.

Attempts to contact the NECOS during a directed net should be limited to those times when you hear a net call being made. If the NECOS just finished an exchange with another station, you should wait until you hear another net call before attempting to contact net control. The exception to this is arriving on a traffic net with priority or immediate traffic. As long as you know the net has been opened, priority and immediate traffic should be listed as soon as possible.

If time allows, the NECOS can make the net a free net which relaxes the requirement to contact net control before contacting another station but does not remove the responsibility of contacting the NECOS before securing from the net. Having free net time, when time permits, is important to give stations that don't have traffic for the net a chance to contact other stations for general inquiries about station set up issues, testing equipment or any other MARS related topics. The more time we practice communicating on HF, the quicker we can identify problems with our equipment or procedures we may have forgotten over time. A free net is also an ideal time to get clarification and feedback on recent broadcasts and policy changes.

Always remember to unkey your microphone between calling another station and identifying your station during a free net.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Net Designator is 9S9B.

• Net Control (NECOS) is NNNØNEC.

• Tango Station is NNNØAAAT and has no traffic for this net.

If the NECOS, or net control station, wants to turn the net into a free net, the call would sound like:

Notice that the announcement ended in out and not over. This is done because the NECOS is not expecting any response to the instructions.

Stations are still allowed to check in during a free net. If you are unsure of the NECOS call sign, you could check into the net as follows:

At any time during a free net, all the NECOS has to say is "All stations this net" and the net has been returned to a directed net status. Regardless of whether or not the NECOS makes a net call, those four words are enough to make the net directed again. If the NECOS addresses the net and ends the transmission with OVER or OUT, you must wait for the net to be declared free again or contact net control to ask for permission to talk to another station directly.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

It's easy to become confused when you start thinking in terms of more than one time zone. Picking up a telephone and dialing a long distance number is a reminder to ourselves that we are talking to someone a long ways away. On HF frequencies, we sometimes forget that it's more like a party line phone call than a person to person call and the people that can hear what we're saying can be miles and miles away. So, when you talk about times and dates, referring to a local time or date would be meaningless to most people unless you also specified which time zone you're talking about.

An added complication is the fact that not all places observe daylight savings. Arizona and Hawaii are a couple of examples of places that do not adjust their clocks in the spring and in the fall.

There is a simple solution to this confusing mess of time zones, zulu time. You may be familiar with a few of the other terms used to refer to zulu time:

• Coordinated Universal Time.

• UTC - a short hand for Coordinated Universal Time.

• Greenwich Mean Time - which was replaced by UTC.

• GMT - a short hand for Greenwich Mean Time.

To get a better idea of what the various time zones are and the list of time zones that observe daylight savings versus those that do not, visit www.worldtime.org or do a search with your favorite search engine for time zones, world time, world clock, zulu time, or any of the other terms we've already mentioned to find a large number of resources you can visit.

If you stop and think for a second about zulu time versus local time, you'll begin to see how much easier it is to coordinate with other people when you only have to mention one time for an event. It is generally easier for everyone to know how to convert from zulu time to their local time than from your local time to their local time. Zulu time never observes daylight savings so you only have to know the daylight savings rules for your local area.

How does this affect you as a member of MARS? All messages that are sent are expected to use zulu time rather than local time for the same reasons already mentioned; you don't know what time zone someone is going to be in when they read a request for assistance or a notification of an actual incident. All month end reports should also be written with references to zulu time. Afterall, month end reports are just another message that we handle on traffic nets.

Considering what we just covered, do you know what day it is?

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), Annex A, section A5ØØ.

Interactive Lesson

Each net is identified by a unique alphanumeric sequence of (Number or Letter) (Letter) (Number) (Letter).

The first character of a net designator identifies the MARS Area or Region where that net is located.

• Regions are referred to by the numbers zero through nine. (Ø - 9)

• Areas are identified by a letter:

  • (C)harlie. Central Area

  • (N)ovember. North East Area

  • (P)apa. Pacific Area

  • (S)ierra. South Area

• Nets under the authority of Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS begin with the letter (U)niform.

The 9 in 9S1B refers to region nine.

The second character identifies the state with the following exceptions:

• (A)lpha. Identifies an area net.

• (X)ray. Identifies a region net.

• (Z)ulu. Identifies a national level net under the control of Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS.

The S in 9S1B refers to southern California.

The third character identifies the instance number for this particular type of net identified by the last character in the designator. Instances are generally simultaneous instances so it is not uncommon to have periodic net designators that repeat at various times throughout the year. ECOM nets are a good example of this. If you have a 9S1E net started for a incident that lasts a week, if another incident occurs a month later, you will have another 9S1E net started for that incident.

The 1 in 9S1B refers to the first traffic net for this region and state.

The fourth and final character identifies the type of net as follows:

• (A)lpha. Administrative

• (B)ravo. Traffic

• (C)harlie. Training

• (E)cho. ECOM

• (V)ictor. Radio-Telephone

• (W)hiskey. Radio-Teletype

• (X)ray. Slow-Scan TV

• (Y)ankee. Single Channel Data (SCD). Single channel data includes baudot, ASCII, Packet, AMTOR, ARQ (FEC), Pactor, Clover, and other digital modes as directed.

Let's take a look at a few examples:

• 9S1B. Region 9, SCA (southern California), 1st, traffic net.

• 9S1C. Region 9, SCA (southern California), 1st, training net.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

Exact frequencies are never announced over the air for the purpose of slowing down stations that want to cause malicious interference when a net moves to an alternate frequency. Nets can always be found by scanning around the band but when a net moves to a frequency identified by three letters, there's no indication of where that particular net is moving to; the new location maybe be elsewhere on that band or another band entirely.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Net Designator is 9S9B.

• Net Control (NECOS) is NNNØNEC.

• New frequency is identified by NCC.

At any time during a net, the NECOS may decide that an alternate frequency would be easier for conducting the business of the net. An announcement to move the current net would sound like:

We will cover the moving of a net in more detail at a later date. The key point is, frequencies are always identified by their three letter designator and never by the actual dial frequency over the air.

As a tango station, you need to be able to find the nets in order to participate and gain the experience you need to be an efficient operator. If you don't already have a copy of the frequency matrix, your State Director's Assistant for Training, NNNØGAF FOUR, can provide you with a copy.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 7, paragraphs 731 and 732.

• Pacific Area Ops Guide, chapter 7

Interactive Lesson

Lets take another look how stations call other stations on a net. When a net becomes busy, the NECOS could authorize abbreviated call signs. An abbreviated call sign is part of the call sign following the zero.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Net Designator is 9S9B.

• Net Control (NECOS) is NNNØNEC.

An announcement to authorize abbreviated call signs would sound like:

Regardless of whether or not abbreviated call signs are authorized during the directed portion of a net:

• The NECOS must always be called using a full call sign instead of an abbreviated one.

• Full call signs must always be used during the free portion of a net.

If two stations are involved in the passing of a message and abbreviated callsigns have been authorized, the end of the exchange might sound like:

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 7, paragraphs 711 and 712.

Interactive Lesson

Stations should always assume that their signal is loud and clear unless they hear otherwise.

The expected phrase for signal strength is one of:

• LOUD. Your signal strength is very strong.

• GOOD. Your signal strength is good.

• WEAK. Your signal strength is weak.

• VERY WEAK. Your signal strength is very weak.

• FADING. Your signal strength fades to such an extent that continuous reception cannot be relied upon.

The expected phrase for readability is one of:

• CLEAR. Excellent quality.

• READABLE. Quality is satisfactory.

• UNREADABLE. The quality of your transmission is so bad that I cannot read you.

• DISTORTED. Having trouble hearing you because your signal is distorted.

• WITH INTERFERENCE. Trouble hearing due to interference.

Radio checks can be requested explicitly. For example:

You can also notify the NECOS of their signal strength when you check in.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Net Designator is 9S9B.

• Net Control (NECOS) is NNNØNEC.

• Tango station is NNNØAAAT.

Informing the NECOS that they are not loud and clear helps letting that NECOS know that other stations may have better luck checking stations into the net.

Whenever you check into a net, you should expect that net control may you to make a net call. Tango stations are not generally asked to perform this task until they've attended a few nets and the NECOS feels that you understand how net calls on behalf of net control are made but don't be afraid to give it your best shot based on the materials you've read and the other stations you've heard. Everyone is eager to help new members get a quick start and one of the simpler tasks to learn early on is making net calls and relaying check ins to the NECOS.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

The key to improving the performance of a traffic net, or any net for that matter, is to always stick to common phrases when speaking with other stations. It is important to remember that the NECOS, or net control station, has the ultimate control and responsibility for the net. When you are instructed to perform a task by the NECOS, you should carry out that task to the best of your ability but inform the NECOS if you are unable to accept the task for any reason.

It is important to always listen to the last word from the NECOS before deciding how you will respond to a request. When the NECOS ends a request or instruction with the proword OVER, stations are expected to respond to the NECOS before taking action. If, however, the NECOS ends the request with OUT, the station receiving the request should immediately perform the task requested of their station without responding to the net control station.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Net Designator is 9S9B.

• Net Control (NECOS) is NNNØNEC.

• Tango station is NNNØAAAT.

If net control asks you to make a net call, that request may end with the proword OUT. For example:

Sometimes the nets will sound rude to someone that has not listened to a number of Navy-Marine Corps MARS nets. The intention is not to make people feel uncomfortable or to act like you're wielding power over other stations on the net, the intention is to keep communications as short and efficient as possible. The less time we spend exchanging unnecessary polite remarks over the air, the more time we can spend attending to the business of the net.

Perhaps the most used and most misused proword is the proword ROGER. ROGER means, "I have received your last transmission satisfactorily". If the last transmission were a formal message, it means that I have copied the message perfectly; my copy is exactly like your copy and I can relay it to anyone else without a single flaw.

Roger does not mean:

• Yes, OK, or Affirmative.

• That I fully understand the content of your message.

• That I will follow any instructions contained in the body of the message.

The next closest proword to ROGER is WILCO. WILCO is used when you are asked to perform some task, you understand the request, and you will do it. ROGER and WILCO are never used together in a response.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Net Control (NECOS) is NNNØNEC.

• Tango station is NNNØAAAT.

• Alternate frequency is NCC.

Net control may ask two or more stations to go to another frequency and check out the conditions prior to moving the net there.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

The words AFFIRMATIVE and NEGATIVE, as it turns out, are not official prowords. They mean YES and NO. On HF frequencies, single syllable words can easily be wiped out by intermittent noise. Multiple syllable words like affirmative and negative are more likely to be understood, even under the worst conditions.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• First tango station is NNNØAAAT.

• Second tango station is NNNØBBBT.

• A free net has been announced.

For example, NNNØBBBT answers a question indicated, "Yes, I'm available":

There are a couple of prowords that are used in place of yes and no in a special case. When fills are being requested for a message, CORRECT and WRONG are used to indicate whether or not the previous statement is true or false. We'll take a quick look at two short examples but leave the details of asking for fills for another net.

Here is an example where the statement is wrong.

Here is an example where the statement is correct.

Why would the second station end their response with over rather than out? This is to give the first station a chance to request additional fills or confirmations before ending the exchange.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 3, paragraph 323.

• Pacific Area Ops Guide, Chapter 6, paragraph 1, sub paragraph A.

Interactive Lesson

Each member must attain 18 hours of participation per quarter. A minimum of 12 on air hours is required and the rest of the 18 hour minimum can come from off air activities. The Pacific Area Ops Guide gives an outline of the types of activities that fall under on air and off air participation. Some examples of off air participation include:

• Studying NTP8(C).

• Studying the Pacific Area Ops Guide.

• Studying ECOM training materials.

• Studying any other training material.

• Studying material from the national web site.

• Working on communications equipment.

• Operating on Army and Air Force MARS nets.

• Telephone conversations with other MARS members assisting with your training.

• VHF net activity.

If you are doing something that is related to improving your performance as a Navy-Marine Corps MARS operator, aside from checking into a net which will be tracked and reported by the NECOS of the net, you should record that activity as off air participation time.

A maximum of 6 hours of off air particiption per quarter will count towards your 18 hour minimum participation requirement. Even though the minimum is so low, you should keep track of every hour you devote to Navy-Marine Corps MARS.

A maximum of 12 hours in a single month can be credited towards the minimum 18 hour quarterly participation requirement. Combined with the maximum 6 hour off air participation, it is possible to satisfy your minimum participation level in a single month, however, everyone is encouraged to participate on an on-going basis from month to month in order to keep their skills sharp.

It is imperative that each and every station track their hours of participation as these numbers are directly referred to in the preparation of annual budgets and justifications for our funding by the Navy. That being said, you really only need to track your off air hours because your on air hours are going to be reported by the NECOS of the nets you check into. But, just like any other journal, it's helpful to be able to look back in your own records and be able to tell whether or not you attended certain nets. Your logs can also remind you of nets that you attended in the past but may have forgotten about recently.

The number of hours you track and record should be rounded to the next highest whole number. For example, if you spent 5 hours and 45 minutes, working on a portable antenna, you would report 6 hours for your off air participation. Then, if you spent another 3 hours and 5 minutes studying NTP8(C), you would add 4 hours to your month end off air participation report. Each major task should be tracked and rounded to the nearest hour individually.

At the end of each month, all members are expected to report their off air participation with an off air participation report sent by MARS message, US Post, or by asking the NECOS of any net to include your off air participation as comments on their month end net participation report. Preference should be given to delivering your monthly off air participation report by message to reinforce your handling of traffic from month to month.

We will discuss the details of an off air participation report at a later date. For now, you should just be concerned about tracking the hours you will be expected to report at the end of the month.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 5, paragraphs 57Ø and 571.

• NTP8(C), chapter 6, paragraph 616.

Interactive Lesson

Each station should keep a record of every message that they receive or send. When you send a message to another station you should also add an OPNOTE to the bottom of your copy of the message you sent so that you will be able to accurately respond to service requests inquiring about the message at a later date. Inquiries may be started for non-delivery or delayed delivery and it is important for each station to be able to identify when they received their copy of the message and when they handed that message over to another station. In this way, any problems that occur can lead to improvements in traffic handling in the future. Without this paper trail, problems could continue for quite some time before being corrected.

The length of time you should keep a log of the messages passing through your station varies based on the type of message:

• Messages related to distress or disaster should be kept on file for three years.

• Messages involved in any claim or complaint for which the station has been notified should be kept for a minimum of two years or until the claim or complaint has been fully rectified, whichever comes last.

• Messages of historical or continuing interest should be kept on file permanently. When you no longer need to keep a copy on hand for personal reference, a copy must be forwarded to Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS.

• General messages, such as broadcasts, should be kept on hand until they are superceded or canceled.

• All other messages, including non-broadcast messages addressed to NNNØALL, should be kept for a minimum of sixty days.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 5, paragraph 5Ø2.

• Pacific Area Ops Guide, chapter 5, paragraphs 4 and 5.

Interactive Lesson

A net control station, or NECOS, is a station that has been given the responsibility to direct and control the operation of a net. The authority of a NECOS extends only as far as the net they've been assigned to. Specific duties of the NECOS are not limited to:

• Submission of monthly participation and frequency usage reports.

• Directing and controlling the operation and flow of all traffic on the net.

• Referring administrative matters to the appropriate staff assistants.

• Maintaining strict net discpline at all times.

• Limiting all transmissions to the essential minimum when traffic is pending.

• Notifying the appropriate Director at the state, region, or area level via the chain of command of any recommendations for changes and improvements.

• Informing the appropriate Director at the state, region, or area level via the chain of command of any incident that occurs on the air that causes embarrassment to or is not in the best interest of the Navy-Marine Corps MARS program.

• Assisting members having difficulties in obtaining repetitions or relays during the net.

The decisions of a NECOS, during a net for which they have responsibility, are final and should never be disputed over the air. A NECOS may ask a station that is disputing their authority to secure from the net and take matters up with the appropriate Director at a later date and time.

An alternate NECOS, or ALTNECOS, shares the same responsibilities as the NECOS for a net. The ALTNECOS should be ready and available to assume the duties of net control at any time upon request or should the NECOS fail to respond to three successive calls. When assuming net control, the ALTNECOS should make an announcement to all stations.

If the regularly scheduled ALTNECOS has not checked in on the first net call, another station should be assigned this duty on the second set of check ins. You need the new ALTNECOS to be aware of their roll as soon as possible so they can maintain records that will make the transition of net control much smoother should the need arise. If ALTNECOS assumes net control, the first task should be to assign a new ALTNECOS.

It is always a good idea to keep records of the activities on any net you participate in. You never know when you may be asked to assume the role of ALTNECOS which could result in you becoming NECOS. It's good practice and it's one less thing you have to worry about when you're asked to assume control of a net unexpectedly.

In the event that the NECOS and ALTNECOS are not present, another member of the net should assume the duties of net control until the NECOS or ALTNECOS report in. Any check ins should be relayed to the NECOS or ALTNECOS when net control duties are passed back. Regardless of who runs the net, the assigned NECOS is responsible for filing the month end reports and must be given the information to do so.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

You should expect to be called upon at any time to make a net call.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Net Designator is 9S9B.

• Net Control (NECOS) is NNNØNEC.

• Alternate Net Control (ALTNECOS) is NNNØANC.

• Tango station is NNNØAAAT.

The NECOS will request a station to make a net call by saying something like:

If that station doesn't hear the request or doesn't make the net call, the NECOS may assign that task to another station or make the call themselves.

You will likely hear three different versions of net calls that vary only in the way the station making the call is identified.

If the NECOS is making the call:

If the ALTNECOS is making the call:

If the tango station is asked to make a net call:

Notice that the only difference is in the identification of the station, indicating whether the NECOS, ALTNECOS or another station acting on behalf of the NECOS is making the call.

Regardless of who makes the net call, check in procedures remain the same. Any check ins acknowledged by a station other than the NECOS, should be relayed to the NECOS along with any traffic those stations hold and after making several net calls until no more stations can be heard. You are being asked to make net calls to check in stations that may only be able to hear your station so you should make every effort to check in every station you can hear.

Let's take a look at how our tango station would handle a request to make a net call.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 6.

• NTP8(C), chapter 8, paragraph 8Ø2.

Interactive Lesson

Before you can begin to understand how to direct traffic, deliver traffic, or accept traffic, you should become familiar with the composition of messages and the variety of content they contain.

In a general sense, messages are composed of two parts, the header and the body. The header contains information that is identified by a set of prowords for the key items involved in the addressing a message from one place to another. The body of the message is much less structured and depends on the type of message being sent. There are expectations on the content and layout of a message based on its intent but there are no hard and fast rules for all message bodies. A break, written as bravo tango (BT), is used to identify the end of each section, however, when you request portions of the message to be read back to you after the initial delivery, you should treat the second break at the end of the body of the message as though it does not exist. Any reference to break in a request for a fill refers to the break between the header and the body of the message.

A quick list of the items you may encounter in the header of a message are:

• The prosign DE, the station holding the current message and a serial number for digitally formatted messages.

• The precedence of the message.

• The Date Time Group, often abbreviated in the manuals as DTG.

• The source of the message identified by FM.

• The action addresses identified by TO.

• The informational addresses identified by INFO.

• The exempt addresses identified by XMT.

If we take a closer look at the contents of the header, the date time group, from address, and to address should be common to most messages. Info lines are optional and are used to add destinations to a message that don't need to take any action based on the content of the message. The date time group is a part of the message that you never refer to directly in any request for fills.

The body of a message is expected to have lines that do not exceed 69 characters in length with all letters capitalized. Only the letters A through Z, the numerals Ø through 9, question mark, colon, dash, slant, paren, unparen, comma, apostrophe, and period maybe used without an abbreviated form when delivering a message digitally. NTP8(C), chapter 6, paragraph 641, outlines the abbreviated forms of all punction marks you can include in a message. If we want to use the at symbol (@) for an e-mail addresses, it should be written as (AT) in your message.

The only differences between a message formatted for voice versus digital delivery is the additional information needed by the digital mailboxes. If you have formatted a message for digital delivery but are forced to deliver that message by voice, you will learn what to ignore when you deliver your messages by voice at a later date. Digital formatting just involves additions so they are easy enough to skip over during delivery by voice. Initially, all new members will format their messages for delivery by voice.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 6, paragraph 631.

Interactive Lesson

The levels of precedence in order of increasing importance are:

• Routine (abbreviated by the letter (R)omeo)

• Priority (abbreviated by the letter (P)apa)

• Immediate (abbreviated by the letter (O)scar referring to Operational Immediate. The term operational was dropped some time ago but the abbreviation remains the same.)

• Flash (abbreviated by the letter (Z)ulu) is used for initial sightings of the enemy and is not expected to appear very often on MARS traffic nets.

The majority of your trainning messages will be assigned a (R)outine precedence with the exception of an Implementation message and an Essential Elements of Information or EEI message which will be both be delivered as immediate.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 6, paragraph 6Ø3.

Interactive Lesson

As a tango, or new member, you will prepare all your messages as though they will be delivered by voice. Those members who have digital capabilities may modify one or more of their training messages to also be delivered digitally. It is not too hard to remember which items to ignore while delivering the message, it just takes practice. This line of information is ignored during delivery by voice.

The first line of a digitally formatted message contains the call sign of the member that last handled this message following by a serial number. Some members restart their serial numbers monthly or annually and others never do.

Let's take a look at an example:

    DE NNNØAAAT 138
       

There should be only one DE line on a message. Each station putting their own DE line on a message should remove all of the information above the date time group line and put their own DE line there.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 6, paragraph 6Ø3.

Interactive Lesson

The date time group (DTG) is expressed as six digits and a time zone suffix, followed by a three character abbreviation of the month and the two last digits of the year.

The first six digits are broken down as DDHHMM (Day Day Hour Hour Minute Minute). Days prior to the tenth of the month have a leading zero.

All dates and times that occur messages are to be specified in zulu. Therefore, the seventh character of a date time group should always be the letter (Z)ulu.

As an example, Sunday, September 5, 2ØØ4 2132Z would be represented as Ø52132Z SEP Ø4.

When you pass messages by voice, the date time group in the header immediately follows the precedence of the message but does not require you to spell out the letters in the way I did just a few seconds ago. The format of the date time group is understood by all operators and therefore you don't need to spell out the time zone or month. There is an exception to this that I will mention soon.

If a routine message I am delivering to you by voice has the same date and time, Sunday, September 5, 2ØØ4 2132Z, you would expect to hear the following at the beginning of a message being delivered by NNNØAAAT by voice.

Now for the exception to the rule. When a date time group appears in the body of a message you would hear:

The phrase I SPELL is used to clarify the spelling of words or abbreviations that may not be obvious. For abbreviations, you say I SPELL and spell out the word or phrase phonetically without trying to pronounce the abbreviation or saying what the abbreviation stands for.

In the body of a message you should never assume that the date time group is properly formatted. You always want to make sure you have an exact copy of the message being sent to you.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 6, paragraph 6Ø3.

Interactive Lesson

A third party address is similar to addressing an envelope for a courier. You want to provide the full details on the street address as well as contact phone number if possible.

When you deliver an address by voice, you never mention the carriage returns between the lines but you do want to spell out anything that is not intuitive. A good example would be spelling out last names, cities, and street names.

As you may have noticed already, we use the phrase, "I spell", when we want to spell something out. The phrase, "I spell", is used to clarify the spelling of words or abbreviations that may not be obvious; several words sound the same but have completely different spellings. If you can pronounce the word, you begin by saying the word, follow that by saying, "I spell", spell out the word phonetically, and, if the word can be pronounced, finally say the word again as an indication that you've completed spelling it out.

When dealing with numbers or a mixture of numbers of letters, you prefix the delivery of that text by the proword, "figures", or the phrase, "I spell", depending on whether or not the next group begins with a number or a letter. Let's take a look at a few examples.

Whenever there is a space between groups of letters or numbers the rules for when to use "figures" or "I spell" should be applied.

When you hear a message being listed on the net with a 3rd party address, you will often hear figures being mentioned in the listing. These figures are often the first six digits of the telephone number when available. It's just another means of giving the NECOS a hint about how to assign this traffic. If the NECOS knows a station on the net is in the same area code, that traffic will likely be assigned to them.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 6, paragraph 6Ø3.

Interactive Lesson

In general, most messages will have a Navy-Marine Corps MARS call sign in the from address. When this is combined with full address details, the name of the sending party and the call sign with state will appear on the first line in the from address, separated by a slant.

For example, a from address in a 3rd party to 3rd party message generated by NNNØBBBT would read:

It is also possible that messages generated by Navy-Marine Corps MARS operators will contain just a name, call sign, and state or just a call sign and state in the from address. In fact, messages between two Navy-Marine Corps MARS operators only require the call sign and state.

For example, a message from NNNØAAAT to NNNØGAF FOUR would have a from and to address as follows:

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 6, paragraph 6Ø3.

Interactive Lesson

Action addresses are added to a message for people that need to be aware of the content of a message and might need to take some action based on that content.

Info addresses are for people that you just want to have a copy of the message but you do not expect them to take any action based on the content.

If a message is addressed to staff members outside of your state, you should include your state director and the state director for the other staff members in the list of info addresses. You may want to include your state assistant for the same position as well. For example, if you were sending a message to the region nine assistant for training, NNNØAS9 FOUR, you would want to include NNNØGAF, NNNØGAF FOUR, and NNNØAS9 in the list of info addresses.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

There are two breaks, I spell bravo tango, breaks that appear in every message. The first break appears between the header and the body of the message. The second break appears at the end of the message.

The first break can be used as an anchor point when requesting fills for parts of the message you may have missed. We will go into more details on requesting fills at a later date. For now, just remember that the first break is the only break you should hear someone refer to after the initial delivery of the message has been completed.

The first item of a message that always follows the first break is a line with the proword UNCLAS. We'll look into this more later. For now, this just indicates that the message contains unclassified content.

The second break indicates the end of the body of the message. The content between the first and second break should never be changed as messages pass from one operator to another. Only the originator of a message can modify the body of a message; an example of this would be in response to a serice message. The information between the two breaks must always be passed in a way that guarantees the received copy is an exact duplicate of the transmitted copy. Any abbreviations in the original message should be identical in the copy of the message that is delivered to it's final destination. When you encounter abbreviations in a message, you should always use the phrase, "I spell", to ensure that the receiving station is writing down an exact copy of what you have.

For example, if the body of a message refers to a city and state, "OCEANSIDE, CA", you would deliver this information by voice as follows:

This way, there's no confusion or mistakes when the receiving station copies your message by voice. If you had said, "california, I spell, charlie alpha, california", the receiving station might have written half the word before going back to correct it and this could end up in transmission errors when the message is passed on to another operator or its final destination.

An OPNOTE may or may not appear after the second break and before you hear the proword over to prompt the stations receiving the message to confirm whether or not they have a perfect copy of your message.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

OPNOTES appear after the second break. An OPNOTE is a note between operators that pertains specifically to the message it is attached to. It can contain information that expands upon anything in the header, body, or other OPNOTES.

For example:

Drill messages always contain an OPNOTE to notify the other station not to forward a message that is used for educational purposes.

Other OPNOTES on your local copy of the message after delivery should include the date, time, net designator, and call sign of the person you forwarded the message to.

In a drill message, like the six messages each new member, or tango, must prepare during their training, an OPNOTE should be written as follows:

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• Pacific Area Ops Guide, Annex C, paragraph 15.

Interactive Lesson

Drill messages are used for training and are not intended to be delivered like regular traffic. It may not be quite as important in the early messages you prepare but clearly identifying messages as drill messages is imperative when you generate Implementation, Essential Elements of Information (EEI), and other ECOM related messages. You don't want someone taking your homework and treating it like a real incident.

As a tango, or new member, you will prepare all your messages as though they will be delivered by voice. Those members who have digital capabilities may modify one or more of their training messages to also be delivered digitally.

When you bring messages to a traffic net, you should always be prepared to deliver the message by voice if requested to do so. It just takes practice to remember which items to ignore in a digitally formatted message while delivering that message by voice.

Identifying your message as a drill message requires the following:

• Add the word DRILL after the word UNCLAS.

• Add an OPNOTE to the bottom of your message, following the second break (BT) that says OPNOTE: THIS MESSAGE IS FOR TRAINING PURPOSES ONLY. DO NOT FORWARD.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 6, paragraph 6Ø3.

Interactive Lesson

There are a few points to keep in mind when composing a message to be delivered digitally:

• Include a DE line at the top indicating your call sign and a serial number.

• Add a line at the bottom of the message, after any OPNOTEs, with NNNN, I spell November November November November, NNNN.

• For drill messages only, add ZEU after the date time group.

The additional information for digital formatting is always ignored when delivering a message by voice.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 5, paragraph 54Ø.

• NTP8(C), chapter 6, paragraph 6Ø3.

• NTP8(C), appendix L.

Interactive Lesson

For your first 3rd party message, you don't need to worry about what the actual message has to say but you need to pay attention to the formatting required to get that message where it needs to go. All of your training messages should initially be written as though they will be delivered by voice. Those stations that have digital capabilities can modify their voice formatted messages to be delivered again digitally.

Let's take a look at a very simple 3rd party message. I want everyone to copy this message and then we'll go back and take a look at the components, one by one. For the moment, we won't worry about the details of the exchange between two stations while passing a message. I will read the message as I would in passing any message and I want you to just copy as best you can for the moment. Listen to how some words are spelled out for clarity, how punctuation is sent, and how carriage returns are ignored.

    R Ø61453Z SEP Ø4
    FM MS JESSICA SIMMONS OCEANSIDE CA/NNNØBBBT SCA
    TO MR JOHN DOE
    8675309 BURNING BUSH BLVD
    OCEANSIDE, CA 92Ø56
    76Ø-555-1212 NNNØTRA(AT)NAVYMARS.ORG
    BT
    UNCLAS DRILL
    THE MESSAGE FORMAT LOOKS CONFUSING BUT EVENTUALLY BEGINS TO MAKE SENSE.
    BT
    OPNOTE: THIS MESSAGE IS FOR TRAINING PURPOSES ONLY. DO NOT FORWARD.
       

The body of a message is expected to have lines that do not exceed 69 characters in length with all letters capitalized. Only punctuation recognized by Amtor and Baudot is allowed; all other punctuation marks must use the abbreviations outlined in NTP8(C), paragraph 641. For example, the at symbol used in e-mail addresses should be written as (AT).

Due to a limitation of the mailbox software, an e-mail address in the header should appear on the same line as the telephone number.

The body of your message can contain a maximum of 5Ø words. If an address is included in the text, the address will count as only one word. If abbreviated texts are used, they will be counted as the number of words in the abbreviation. For example, NMAT ONE counts as two words. NTP8(C), appendix L has a list of the available NMAT (Navy-Marine Corps MARS Abbreviated Texts). ARRL numbered radiograms are also available with the exception of ARL SEVEN.

Exercises

I would like all new members to compose their first 3rd Party to 3rd Party message addressed to:

    MR JOHN DOE
    8675309 BURNING BUSH BLVD
    OCEANSIDE, CA 92Ø56
    76Ø-555-1212 NNNØTRA(AT)NAVYMARS.ORG
       

and forward a copy to me by e-mail. I will look it over and send you feedback. When I approve of the format of the message, I will ask you to check into one of our regular traffic nets, list the message and deliver it, and then e-mail me the details of the net and person you passed the message to.

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

Now that you have a message to deliver, you need to know how to inform the NECOS so your traffic can be assign to another operator and eventually make its way to its destination.

Remember, the first check in is for the ALTNECOS, Traffic Rep, and anyone that is holding traffic for the net.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Net Designator is 9S9B.

• Net Control (NECOS) is NNNØNEC.

• Tango station is NNNØAAAT.

When you're ready to deliver your first 3rd party to 3rd party message, you announce the traffic you hold identifying the city, state and prefix of the phone number, when available, when you check in as follows:

Listing the prefix of the phone number gives another station on the net a chance to tell the NECOS they will accept your traffic if they can make a non-toll call to deliver it. The final delivery could be done by e-mail, telephone or US Postal Service.

If your message were addressed to someone outside of southern California (SCA), you would list your traffic as:

The reason for the difference in outbound versus the city, state and phone prefix is the message will likely land on a digital mailbox to be delivered to a net closer to the destination. Most of the time, your message would be assigned to a Traffic Rep rather than another member checking into the net.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

Passing a message to another operator by voice is an essential skill. We can't always rely on digital communications, especially if you're out in the field and have equipment problems. The tried and true method of getting a message through is delivering a message by voice.

There are a number of skills involved in effective voice delivery:

• Knowing how to give relay instructions.

• Knowing what to say and what not to say from a message formatted for digital delivery.

• Knowing how to phrase the spelling of words and numbers so that the operator receiving your message has a clear idea of what you're trying to say and ends up with an exact duplicate of the message you have in front of you.

The first step in delivering any message is getting instructions from the NECOS on who you are going to pass the message to.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Net Control (NECOS) is NNNØNEC.

• First tango station is NNNØAAAT that holds one routine message for a third party.

• Second tango station is NNNØBBBT that will accept delivery of the message from NNNØAAAT and forward it to its final destination.

The NECOS will instruct you to contact a station and pass your message in one of the following ways:

or

Unless the message you hold is for the person you are delivering the message to on the net, you will always start the delivery with the proword RELAY.

When you are reading a message to another station, keep in mind that people can't write as fast as you speak. It's a good idea, in the beginning, to write out your message a second time while you are reading it to another station to get the timing right. The closer you are to timing what you read to how fast you can write, the less fills you will be asked for after the initial message content has been read.

A phrase you will often hear when messages are delivered by voice is, "I spell". The phrase, "I spell", is used to clarify the spelling of words or abbreviations that may not be obvious; several words sound the same but have completely different spellings. If you can pronounce the word, you begin by saying the word, follow that by saying, "I spell", spell out the word phonetically, and, if the word can be pronounced, finally say the word again as an indication that you've completed spelling it out.

When dealing with numbers or a mixture of numbers of letters, you prefix the delivery of that text by the proword, "figures", or the phrase, "I spell", depending on whether or not the next group begins with a number or a letter. Let's take a look at a few examples.

Whenever there is a space between groups of letters or numbers the rules for when to use "figures" or "I spell" should be applied.

Let's look at another example. In a message that reads "I heard you have the opportunity to travel up north. Are you going to?" would be spoken in the following way:

Copying tango oscar oscar instead of tango oscar would change the entire meaning of the question. By using the phrase, "I spell", you can be sure that the other operator wrote down an exact copy of what you have in front of you.

Once you've read the final break and the opnote, you want to use the proword over and wait for the other station, or stations, to call you. This allows them to examine the message they received before calling you back to ROGER for the message or ask for any fills they require.

If you are receiving a message from someone else and you know you copied the message without any mistakes, you simply have to respond as follows:

If you missed something in the message, you will ask for as many fills as you need to make sure you have an exact duplicate of the original message.

Now let's take another look at our first third party to third party message:

    R Ø61453Z SEP Ø4
    FM MS JESSICA SIMMONS OCEANSIDE CA/NNNØBBBT SCA
    TO MR JOHN DOE
    8675309 BURNING BUSH BLVD
    OCEANSIDE, CA 92Ø56
    76Ø-555-1212 NNNØTRA(AT)NAVYMARS.ORG
    BT
    UNCLAS DRILL
    THIS MESSAGE FORMAT LOOKS CONFUSING BUT WILL EVENTUALLY BEGIN TO
    MAKE SENSE.
    BT
    OPNOTE: THIS MESSAGE IS FOR TRAINING PURPOSES ONLY. DO NOT FORWARD.
       

Delivering the message by voice after the initial exchange would sound like:

    relay routine time zero six one four five three zulu september zero four
    from miss jessica simmons oceanside california slant 
    en en en zero alpha alpha alpha tango southern california
    to mister john doe
    figures eight six seven five three zero niner burning bush 
    i spell bravo lima victor delta
    oceanside comma california
    figures nine two zero five six
    figures seven six zero dash five five five dash one two one two
    i spell november november november zero tango romeo oscar 
    at sign i spell november alpha victor yankee mike alpha romeo sierra
    period oscar romeo golf
    break
    unclas drill
    this message format looks confusing but will eventually begin to
    make sense period
    break
    opnote colon this message is for training purposes only period
    do not forward period
    over
       

Take note of the way punctuation is sent and the way certain words and abbreviations are spelled out to make sure the other operator has an exact copy of your message, character for character.

In the header of the message, common abbreviations for states don't need to be spelled out. It's assumed that when you say, "California", for example, that you write down the two letter abbreviation if you're receiving the header of the message at the time. If the state appears in the body of the message, you would expect to hear, "I spell", if the state is abbreviated rather than spelled out long hand. Remember, the goal is to have an exact duplicate of the sending stations copy of the message.

Now suppose the message is from a neighbor and Jessica Simmons is sending the message on behalf of Mrs. Alison Crane. The call sign in the from line would still be NNNØBBBT SCA to identify the operator that sent the message but the name would be a name that the recipient recognizes:

    R Ø61453Z SEP Ø4
    FM MRS ALISON CRANE OCEANSIDE CA/NNNØBBBT SCA
    TO MR JOHN DOE
    8675309 BURNING BUSH BLVD
    OCEANSIDE, CA 92Ø56
    76Ø-555-1212 NNNØTRA(AT)NAVYMARS.ORG
    BT
    UNCLAS
    THANK YOU FOR THE KAWASAKI ROSE. WOULD IT BE TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR
    ANOTHER DONE WITH YELLOW PAPER?
    BT
       

Suppose you are delivering two messages to the receiving station, or stations. Rather than send the messages one at a time and then start with the relay instructions all over again, you can end the delivery of the first message with "more to follow, over". The receiving stations then have a chance to review the first message, ask for any fills they require, and roger for the first message before you proceed with the second message.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), Annex C, paragraph C2Ø3.

Interactive Lesson

When you request fills from the header of a message, you should always used the proword TO.

Whenver you are requesting fills from the header of a message, the following prowords should be used in identifying which information you would like to have repeated:

• Routine, Priority, Immediate - depending on the precedence of the message.

• From

• To

• Info

• Break

You should never attempt to request a portion of one of these sections of the header, you should always phrase your request to identify the start point and the end point that contains the information you need. For example, if you missed the date time group, you can request just that information:

The response you would expect to hear would sound like:

When you request fills from the header, use the proword TO with the prowords that identify each component of the header.

To request the from address again:

Notice that the word TO appears twice in the request but this is not as confusing as it might sound at first. The operator receiving the request recognizes the proword TO and knows from experience that a fill request using the proword TO has a starting word and an ending word. This means the request is asking for everything from the from address to the beginning of the to address. It is important to remember that from in a fill request like this one is referring to the FM component of the header and is not a formal part of the fill request.

Never try to use line numbers or portions of a component, such as a telephone number or e-mail address, to get the missing text you need. Always stick to the prowords that surround the missing text.

When requesting fills from the body of a message, you have a lot more flexibility in the way you can word your requests. You always want to choose the method that will give you the missing text as simply as possible.

The phrases available for fills from the body of a message are:

• TO

• WORD BEFORE

• WORD AFTER

• ALL BEFORE

• ALL AFTER

The proword TO, in the context of requesting a fill, is used to ask for text to be repeated from the first word to the second word, including both words mentioned. For example, if a message contained, "THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG.", and you missed "BROWN FOX JUMPS", you could make the request:

The response you would expect to hear is:

Notice that the first and second words from the request are repeated along with the text that was missed. The original request was also repeated just prior to providing the fill that was requested. This is done so the originator of the request can confirm that you heard the request correctly and are providing the right fill for the missing text.

When delivering a message with multiple numbered or lettered paragraphs, you identify the paragraphs without the phrases, "Figures" or "I spell".

If a message has several numbered or lettered paragraphs, it is acceptable to identify the paragraph in question to speed up the process of getting the fills you need. This is especially helpful when a phrase you are requesting occurs more than once in different paragraphs.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 2, paragraphs 223 and 224.

Interactive Lesson

Your immediate point of contact for all matters is your State Director (A "STATE" is usually one state, a part of a state, as in Southern California or Northern California, or a group of states, such as Colorado/Wyoming). If your State Director has an assistant for training, as is the case in southern California (SCA), then this is the person who you should turn to first for assistance. You are also encouraged to bring any questions you may have to training nets. State Director's administrative callsigns in southern California are of the form NNNØGAF (en en en zero GOLF ALPHA FOXTROT). The assistants to the State Director have a number added to this callsign. The assistant for training has the number FOUR appended.

We'll take a very quick look at the list of staff positions available at each level, the state, the region, the area, and as assistants to Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS. Not all staff positions may be staffed at any given moment.

The organization is divided into four areas, ten regions, and fifty states. Each area, region, and state has a director. Only the four area directors are enlisted personnel, usually a navy chief. All others are volunteers, just like you.

There are currently five levels within the Navy-Marine Corps MARS organization. The job descriptions for the following positions can be found in NTP8(C), chapter 2. Some of these have recently been changed and some are being changed or considered for change. By reviewing NTP8(C) and Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS broadcasts, you will have a better understanding of what is happening. The following information is furnished as a brief overview and is based on the most recent information available.

1. Individual MARS Station (You). As with all positions in MARS, your position is both administrative and operational. This means that you are more than a radio and a microphone. You will be required to maintain certain station files and records.

2. State Director. A State Director is an individual with the same requirements for files and records and is also responsible to maintain a records system for all of the stations within their state. A State Director is authorized to appoint other individuals to fill various administrative and operational tasks associated with those duties. The State Director is NNNØGAF and their personal call sign is ???.

3. Region Director. A Region Director, like you and the State Director, is a volunteer. They are charged with the responsibility of coordinating the efforts of the individual states so that they operate as a cohesive portion of the Navy-Marine Corps MARS team. A Region Director is also authorized to appoint members to fill staff positions to assist with administrative and operational responsibilities.

4. Area Director. An Area Director is not a volunteer, he or she is an enlisted Chief Petty Officer. More specifically, he or she is an Information Technician Chief. (NOTE: For those of you who are not familiar with the military, specifically the Navy, Chief Petty Officers can not walk on water, they never try, they stand still and direct that the water pass beneath their feet. This was just in case the Chief was listening in on this net.) The Area Director is responsible for the completion of the Navy-Marine Corps MARS mission and the welfare and morale of each person at the levels mentioned above.

5. Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS. Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS is a salaried civilian that is responsible to Commander, Naval Network and Space Operations Command, abbreviated COMNAVNETSPAOPSCOM. Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS is sometimes abbreviated as CHNAVMARCORPMARS and has a call sign of NNNØASA VA.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

Navy-Marine Corps MARS follows the Navy and Marine Corps concept of "Chain of Command". In your dealings with the leaders of MARS you do not skip levels. If you have a matter that requires the attention of the Region Director, you must go through your State Director to get to him. If the attention of Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS is required, you must go through your State Director, Region Director, and the Area Director to get to him. Just remember, just like any other organization, you should not go over anybody's head in Navy-Marine Corps MARS.

Administrative call signs at various levels have a common prefix:

Any messages that are heading out of state for any reason should include your State Director, NNNØGAF, in list of info addresses.

As you progress in Navy-Marine Corps MARS, you are going to discover that advancement is encouraged. You can start off by becoming a member of your State Director's staff and learn the different positions. Each position has its challenges and rewards. You will find that the directors at all levels are always looking for the individuals who are willing to put out the extra effort to fill one of their vacancies or to replace a person that wants to step up or down from the position they currently hold.

You are not alone, there are about 17ØØ trained Navy-Marine Corps MARS members linked by a fairly sophisticated automatic radio digital forwarding message system completely independent of telephone circuits and power lines. A like number of members are also in each of Army and Air Force MARS, with similar training and capabilities. It may be of interest to you to tune in and listen to or actually check into these nets. At present, you are authorized to check into any of the Pacific Area traffic nets for which the frequency has been authorized for use in your location, and any Army or Air Force traffic nets. Note that this does not extend to Administrative Nets which may have restricted staff membership.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

Previously, we briefly touched upon action and info addresses. Your first multiple address admininstrative message is not much more complicated than your first 3rd party to 3rd party message. In fact, in some ways it's a little simpler.

The addresses you list on an administrative message fall into two categories:

• Action. Action addresses fall under the proword TO in the header of the message.

• Info. Info addresses fall under the proword INFO in the header of the message.

There can be any number of addresses listed on your multiple address administrative message but they will all be Navy-Marine Corps MARS addresses.

Administrative messages can range from very formal, with a subject, reference list, and several paragraphs, to fairly informal where a single sentence is all that is need to convey the necessary information.

References are documents or previous messages that you want to refer to in the body of your message. You may be discussing further details about a conference that you talked about in a message from a couple of months ago or you may wish to refer to the content of a document like NTP8(C) to resolve some confusion. Using references reduces the amount of information you need to repeat.

When you list references, you generally want to itemize them as (A)lpha, (B)ravo, (C)harlie, etc. When you have multiple paragraphs, you generally want to number them numerically. Try to avoid using unnecessary indentations in long messages; numbered paragraphs should be all that is needed to clarify one distinct line of thought from another.

Let's take a look at a simple form of administrative message. I would like all stations on this net to copy the message and ask for any fills required. You can never practice this essential skill too much.

    R Ø8Ø258Z SEP Ø4
    FM NNNØAAAT SCA
    TO NNNØGAF FOUR SCA
    INFO NNNØGAF SCA
    BT
    UNCLAS DRILL
    ASKING FOR FILLS JUST TAKES TIME, PATIENCE, AND 
    PRACTICE AND I WILL IMPROVE OVER TIME.
    BT
    OPNOTE: THIS MESSAGE IS FOR TRAINING PURPOSES ONLY. DO NOT FORWARD.
       

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• Pacific Area Ops Guide, chapter 7, paragraph 2, sub paragraph D.

Interactive Lesson

Listing a message with multiple addresses is not much different from listing messages with single addresses. There are a couple of things to keep in mind:

• Are the addresses destined for southern California (SCA)?

• Does the address have a ZEN/ in front of it?

Addresses that have a state other than southern California (SCA) are all lumped together as "Outbound" when you list your traffic. The only detailed addresses you want to worry about in the listing of your traffic are those addresses destined for someone in southern California (SCA).

Addresses that have ZEN/ in front of them have already received a copy of the message by other means and do not need to be listed or sent another copy of the message unless they explicitly request one when the traffic is listed on a net. When you deliver a digital message with addresses prefixed by ZEN/, you must remember not to mention ZEN/ in your delivery, it's the relay instructions that you give that determine where this message is going next.

Let's take a look at an example. Suppose we have a routine message with the following header:

    R Ø917Ø8Z SEP Ø4
    FM NNNØAAAT SCA
    TO NNNØGAF SCA
    ZEN/NNNØGAF SEVEN SCA
    INFO NNNØGAE NCA
    NNNØGAE SEVEN NCA
    BT
       

This message has two desinations that are outside of southern California (SCA) and one destination that has already received a copy of the message. When you check into a traffic net, on the first call since you hold traffic for that net, you want to let the NECOS know that you have one local address and any number of destination addresses that are outside of state.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Net Designator is 9S9B.

• Net Control (NECOS) is NNNØNEC.

• Alternate Net Control (ALTNECOS) is NNNØANC and has no traffic for the net.

• Traffic Rep is NNNØTRA has no traffic for this net.

• Tango Station is NNNØAAAT and has one routine message with multiple addresses for this net.

Listing the traffic above would sound like:

You can expect net control to call you back to ask for the list of addresses. When you have just one address, you can list that information right away but when you have any messages with multiple addresses, you want to give net control the opportunity to call you for the list of addresses when they are ready to take down a list.

Completing the listing for your traffic would sound like:

You may not hear who to contact to pass your message right away. A number of other net calls could happen between the time you list your traffic and the time that traffic is assigned to someone. This is done so that stations checking into the net have the option of requesting your message and to give the NECOS a chance to pick the station that will be able to copy your message the best given the current propagation.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 8, paragraph 841.

• NTP8(C), annex C, paragraph C204.

• Pacific Area Ops Guide, chapter 7, paragraph 2.H.2.

Interactive Lesson

Relay instructions are instructions you give to stations to inform them of what to do with the message you are about to send them. You only need to provide relay instructions if the message is not addressed directly to the person who is accepting it.

Let's take another look at a simple multiple address admininstrative message:

    R Ø8Ø258Z SEP Ø4
    FM NNNØAAAT SCA
    TO NNNØGAF FOUR SCA
    INFO NNNØGAF SCA
    BT
    UNCLAS DRILL
    ASKING FOR FILLS JUST TAKES TIME, PATIENCE, AND 
    PRACTICE AND I WILL IMPROVE OVER TIME.
    BT
    OPNOTE: THIS MESSAGE IS FOR TRAINING PURPOSES ONLY. DO NOT FORWARD.
       

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Net Control (NECOS) is NNNØNEC.

• Tango station is NNNØAAAT that holds one routine message for NNNØGAF and GAF FOUR.

The first thing you'll encounter after listing your traffic is instructions from the NECOS on who to call to deliver your message.

Now, you need to call each station to make sure they can hear you. Listen to how the stations respond in the order they were called.

Next, give the relay instructions and pass the message. You never need to ask if a station is ready to copy; all stations on the net should be ready to copy a message at any time. If a station is unable to copy a message for whatever reason, they should let you know on the initial call before you give the relay instructions.

Let's take a look at a header from an EEI message just to illustrate another point about giving relay instructions.

    O 151616Z SEP Ø4
    FM NNNØAAAT SCA
    TO ZEN/NNNØDOM VA
    INFO NNNØASA VA
    NNNØASZ GA
    NNNØASE SCA
    NNNØASE ONE AZ
    NNNØASE TWO OR
    NNNØAS9 AZ
    NNNØAS9 TWO AZ 
    NNNØGAF SCA
    NNNØGAF TWO SCA
    BT
       

When you hear a message being delivered by voice, you can't tell which stations have already received a copy of the message because the ZEN/ prefix is never spoken during the delivery. The only way you can tell is by listening to the relay instructions and adding ZEN/ to those addresses in the message that you were not explicitly instructed to relay for.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Net Designator is 9S9B.

• Net Control (NECOS) is NNNØNEC.

• Traffic Rep is NNNØTRA.

• Tango station is NNNØAAAT and holds the above immediate traffic.

• Tango station guarding for NNNØASE, NNNØGAF, and NNNØGAF TWO is NNNØBBBT.

To list the above message on a southern California traffic net:

NECOS will give you instructions to deliver your message:

Then all you have to do is call the stations and deliver your message as follows:

Only the addresses that do not have ZEN/ as a prefix are given in the relay instructions.

Now if you go back and compare the addresses on the message to the addresses in the relay instructions you can determine which addresses to prefix with ZEN/. Look at the first destination address, if it is not in the list of relay addresses, add a ZEN/ prefix, otherwise, leave that address alone and look at the next destination address. Use the same logic for each address in the TO and INFO lists.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• Pacific Area Ops Guide, chapter 6.

Interactive Lesson

Off air participation reports are compiled by the State 13 and forwarded to the Area 13 each month. At the area level, these totals are tracked and reported, every quarter, to Chief MARS in Virginia. It is imperative that each and every station prepare a monthly off air participation report as these numbers are directly referred to in the preparation of annual budgets and justifications for our funding by the Navy.

Message preparation and delivery is an essential skill and every member who prepares a montly off air participation report gets the necessary practice to keep these skills fresh and sharp. It is in everyone's best interest to become completely comfortable with message preparation, listing traffic and delivery of traffic so that these tasks eventually become second nature. This not only improves the efficiency of the traffic nets but will play a critical role in our ability to fulfill our ECOM mission.

NTP8(C), chapter 3, paragraph 323, sub paragraph A states that each member must attain 18 hours of participation per quarter. This participation may be split between on-air and off-air activities. The Pacific Area Ops Guide, Chapter 6, paragraph 1, sub paragraph A gives an outline of the types of activities that fall under on-air and off-air participation. Some examples of off-air participation include studying NTP8(C), the Pacific Area Ops Guide and other ECOM and training materials, working on communications equipment, operating on nets in other areas, and operating on Army and Air Force MARS nets.

Let's take a look an off air participation report for a new member. For this example, we will not be generating a drill message but rather a real message that will report your time for the past month.

    R 3Ø1839Z SEP Ø4
    FM NNNØAAAT SCA
    TO NNNØGAF THIRTEEN SCA
    INFO NNNØGAF SCA
    BT
    UNCLAS 
    SUBJ: OFF AIR PARTICIPATION FOR THE MONTH OF SEP Ø4
    1. OTHER HOURS: 97
    BT
       

Each monthly report should have a subject line that identifies the month and year of the report. In our example, the subject line reads, "SUBJ: OFF AIR PARTICIPATION FOR THE MONTH OF SEP Ø4". The second and last line of the report identifies the number of hours you have invested in off air activities. The simplest way to convey this information is with the words, "OTHER HOURS", followed by the total number of hours for the month.

When you create your off air participation report, the number of hours you report should be rounded to the next highest whole number for each major task. For example, if you spent 5 hours and 45 minutes studying and working on portable antennas, you would record 6 hours for your off air participation. If you only spent 5 hours and 5 minutes, you would still record 6 hours for the time you invested. At the end of the month, you total up all the times and report them as one sum for the entire month.

When you are tracking your hours, all times should be recorded in zulu time. The reporting period for off air participation reports begins at ØØØ1Z on the first day of the month and ends at 2359Z on the last day of the month. These reports should be listed and delivered on one of the HF traffic nets every month as this is the best way to keep your skills sharp.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

When a NECOS has assigned a piece of traffic to your station, all you need to do is make sure you have an exact duplicate of the message being sent and make sure the message reaches its intended destination. The only expectation is that all messages should be delivered over the air at least once, once you receive a message you can deliver it via:

• E-Mail

• Telephone

• US Postal Service

A few things to keep in mind when copying a message from another station:

• Listen for the prowords in the header to recognize when to start a new line.

• Line feeds / carriage returns are never vocalized.

• All punctuation marks are vocalized.

• Break is typically written as BT.

• UNCLAS is often followed by other prowords like DRILL or EXERCISE.

• Upper and lower case do not matter, everything sent through the digital mailboxes are translated to upper case.

• The @ symbol in e-mail addresses must be translated to (AT) for digital traffic and is read to another station as "at sign".

• The phrase "I spell" should remind you that the last word or phrase you heard will be spelled out phonetically and then repeated one more time before continuing with the rest of the text of the message.

• The proword "figures" usually indicates that a string of numbers of numbers with embedded characters follows. The word following figures should tell you whether you're copying numbers or the word figures.

• Don't worry if you miss bits and pieces on the first delivery, you always have a chance to ask for as many fills as necessary to get an exact copy of the message being sent. In the case of digital traffic, you have to make a judgement call as to whether it will be faster to ask for a few missing words or ask to have the whole message delivered again.

• Word your requests for fills carefully. You want to keep the request as short as possible but give enough information to let the sender know exactly what text you need to hear again.

Remember, accuracy is valued above all else when handling traffic.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Sending station is NNNØAAAT that holds one routine message being sent to NNNØBBBT for relay.

• Receiving station is NNNØBBBT that will accept delivery of the message from NNNØAAAT and forward it to its final destination.

Take your time and make sure you are sure you have an exact copy before saying:

Saying "roger, out" after accepting a piece of traffic tells the sender that you have an exact copy and their responsibility for the delivery has been transferred to your station.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 6, paragraphs 62Ø through 624.

• NTP8(C), Annex C.

Interactive Lesson

Service messages are sent from one operator to another to inquire about prior message traffic.

A common service message is used to indicate the failure to deliver a message with a request to cancel and file the message:

    R Ø92144Z SEP Ø4
    FM NNNØAAAT SCA
    TO NNNØBBBT SCA
    BT
    UNCLAS SVC
    ZDE3 YOUR Ø21343Z SEP Ø4. PHONE NUMBER WAS NOT IN SERVICE AND
    MAIL WAS RETURNED WITH NO FORWARDING ADDRESS.
    BT
       

If you were the station initiating the service message, it is your responsibility to inform the person who originated the message the reason it could not be delivered. Try to obtain additional information about the addee so that the message may be sent again.

You can talk plainly and openly in the body of a service message but you can also use Q and Z signals for brevity. Don't be afraid to say what you want to say to the other operator.

Suppose you accepted a piece of traffic and realized, after the net, there was something that didn't sound right. For example, if a message from NNNØGAF TWO informing people of an up coming exercise on Sept 18, listed the year as 2ØØ7, you might want to find out if that was just a typographical error and whether the year in question really is 2ØØ7.

Your message might look something like this:

    R Ø92148Z SEP Ø4
    FM NNNØAAAT SCA
    TO NNNØGAF TWO SCA
    BT
    UNCLAS SVC
    INT ZDK YOUR Ø9Ø833Z SEP Ø4 SAYS 2ØØ7 INSTEAD OF 2ØØ4, IS THIS
    CORRECT?
    BT
       

A typical response to this request might look like:

    R Ø92157Z SEP Ø4
    FM NNNØGAF TWO SCA
    TO NNNØAAAT SCA
    BT
    UNCLAS SVC
    ZDK Ø9Ø833Z SEP Ø4. 2ØØ7 SHOULD BE 2ØØ4 INSTEAD.
    BT
       

Probably the most common and most misunderstood service message is a tracer message.

Assume the following:

• NNNØAAAT sent a message for NNNØTRA to NNNØBBBT.

• NNNØBBBT forwarded the message to NNNØCCCT.

• NNNØBBBT sends a message to find out why the original messsage did not reach its destination.

A tracer message from NNNØBBBT would look like:

    R 1919Ø9Z SEP Ø4
    FM NNNØBBBT SCA
    TO NNNØCCCT SCA
    INFO NNNØASA VA
    NNNØASE SCA
    NNNØAS9 AZ
    NNNØGAF SCA
    NNNØAAAT SCA
    BT
    UNCLAS SVC
    A. NNNØAAAT Ø622Ø4Z SEP Ø4
    1. NNNØAAAT CLAIMS NON-DELIVERY OF REF A.
    2. TRACE TO DESTINATION AND ADVISE ALL CONCERNED.
    BT
       

Lets take another look at the addresses in the header for a moment.

    R 1919Ø9Z SEP Ø4
    FM {station that forwarded the message}
    TO {next station that handled the message}
    INFO NNNØASA VA {Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS}
    NNNØASE SCA {Area Director}
    {Senders Region Director}
    {State Director to keep him up to date with what is going on}
    {List of previous stations involved in the trace}
    BT
    UNCLAS SVC
    ...
       

If the two stations involved were from different regions, the addressing would look a little different.

    R 1919Ø9Z SEP Ø4
    FM {station that forwarded the message}
    TO {next station that handled the message}
    INFO NNNØASA VA {Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS}
    NNNØASE SCA {Area Director}
    {Senders Region Director}
    {Region Director of the station that could not complete delivery}
    {State Director to keep him up to date with what is going on}
    {List of previous stations involved in the trace}
    BT
    UNCLAS SVC
    ...
       

You should always add your State Director to the list of INFO addresses to keep him aware of what is going on. As a tracer message progresses from one station to the next in the chain of custody, each station that handled the message should be added to the list of INFO addresses. This serves to keep all stations involved in the trace aware of the progress.

Remember, it's important to keep good logs and record a minimum of the date and time of the net, the designator for the net, and the call sign of the person the message was passed to. When you deliver messages to a digital mailbox, you should record the mailbox that it was delivered to, the date and time, and the message number assigned by the mailbox for your particular message.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• Pacific Area Ops Guide, Annex C, paragraph 15.

Interactive Lesson

Exercise messages are used to distinguish between messages that refer to a real incident and messages that are used in the simulation of an incident to practice how we will respond to a real emergency.

Identifying your message as an exercise message requires the following:

• Add the word EXERCISE after the word UNCLAS along with the key phrase that identifies the type of incident. For example, an earthquake exercise might use the line, "UNCLAS EXERCISE ROLLING THUNDER".

• Just prior to the second break (BT) you add everything on the line following the word UNCLAS. In our example we would have a line before the second break (BT) that reads, "EXERCISE ROLLING THUNDER".

Exercise messages are always forwarded to all listed addressees that do not have a ZEN/ prefix indicating they already have a copy of the message.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), chapter 6, paragraph 631.

• NTP8(C), chapter 7, paragraph 746.

• Pacific Area Ops Guide, chapter 7, paragraph 7.3.F.

• Pacific Area Ops Guide, chapter 7, paragraph 7.3.G.

Interactive Lesson

Priority and Immediate traffic are listed on the nets in the same way as other precedence traffic unless a message of lower precedence is in the process of being delivered. If a message is currently being delivered digitally when you arrive with high precedency traffic, you'll have to wait until a pause in the digital portion of the delivery before you use break in procedures.

Priority and immediate messages should be handled before other routine, drill, or exercise messages.

To break in and notify the NECOS that you hold an immediate or priority piece of traffic, you repeat the precedence level of the message you hold three times before identifying your call sign and listing the immediate or priority traffic you hold.

The break in exchange would sound like:

Immediate precedence traffic may use the break in procedure at any time there is a pause during the delivery of a message with lower precedence.

Priority precedence traffic should only interrupt the delivery of lengthy routine messages. If the message is short, like an off air participation report, it is better to wait until that message has been delivered and then break in with your priority message.

Break in procedures should not be used during normal check in procedures. If everyone is still checking into the net, you list your immediate or priority traffic just like you would routine traffic.

Only the addresses for the state are listed and all others should be grouped under outbound.

When you retrieve messages from the mailbox, you can identify these priority and immediate messages by the letter that appears at the start of the date time group.

Priority messages are prefixed with the letter (P)apa.

Immediate messages are prefixed with the letter (O)scar.

Aside from the requirement to handle immediate and priority traffic before other messages on the net, the assignment and delivery of these messages is carried out like any other traffic that comes to a net.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C) Annex D.

• Pacific Area Ops Guide, Annex C.

Interactive Lesson

You will find yourself in the position of having to generate, list and deliver an implementation report whenever you get a request from an individual representing one of the many agencies we have offered our services to.

Up until now, the formatting of your messages as drill messages has not been critical. Now that you're going to be generating messages that could be misunderstood as referring to a real emergency, it is imperative that you pay attention to the formatting of the message as a drill message to avoid confusion. You never know who may be listening in on the traffic nets.

Lets take a look at an example:

    O 121659Z SEP Ø4
    FM NNNØAAAT SCA
    TO NNNØDOM VA
    INFO NNNØASA VA
    NNNØASZ GA
    NNNØASE SCA
    NNNØASE ONE AZ
    NNNØASE TWO OR
    NNNØAS9 AZ
    NNNØAS9 TWO AZ
    NNNØGAC AZ
    NNNØGAC TWO AZ
    NNNØGAE NCA
    NNNØGAE TWO NCA
    NNNØGAF SCA
    NNNØGAF TWO SCA
    NNNØGBE NV
    NNNØGBE TWO NV
    BT
    UNCLAS DRILL
    SUBJ: EMERG COMM IMPLEMENTATION
    1. WILDLAND FIRES AND HIGH WINDS HAVE DISRUPTED 
    COMMUNICATIONS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
    2. YES, MR. CHARLES SMITHE, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT 
    OF FORESTRY ECOM DIRECTOR, 619-555-Ø199
    3. YES
    A. ESTABLISH ECOM NET (9S1E) ON NFD PRIMARY, 
    NCC SECONDARY, AND DEPLOY ART TO CORONA, CA.
    B. NONE
    C. NONE
    BT
    OPNOTE: THIS MESSAGE IS FOR TRAINING PURPOSES ONLY. DO NOT FORWARD.
       

The addressing for this message may be a little difficult to understand in the beginning without the benefit of a membership roster. While you are in training, you will need to rely on the guidance of your State Director's Assistant for Training for confirming the proper state to assign to the various area and region call signs.

The first item of note is the precedence of the message. Implementation reports are always sent with a precedence of immediate which is abbreviated by the letter (O)scar on the date time group line.

Remember to format your training message as a drill message.

Notifying neighboring states of the emergency is a judgement call. If there is even the slightest possibility that they can lend assistance, it is a good idea to include them in the address list for this message.

Keep the wording as simple and clear as possible. You don't want to make this long message any longer than necessary but you want to be sure to include all the essential components to get a reponse rolling as soon as possible.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Net Designator is 9S9B.

• Net Control (NECOS) is NNNØNEC.

• Tango Station is NNNØAAAT and holds the above immediate traffic.

The listing of this traffic as soon as you hear the first net call would sound like:

Only the addresses for the local area are listed and all others should be grouped under outbound.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

Navy-Marine Corps MARS has a unique network of auto-forwarding digital mailboxes that forward traffic to the nearest node where a particular message is destined.

The delivery of messages from one mailbox to another is not dependent on commercial communications but HF radios instead. Even when commercial communications channels have broken down, messages will still make it from one region to another via HF.

Traffic reps spend more time than other members visiting the mailboxes to check for traffic destined for their local traffic nets but personal mailboxes also exist.

While the individual operators may have many digital modes available to them for passing traffic, the two most common digital modes available for mailbox access are PACTOR and AMTOR ARQ. AMTOR ARQ is also known as AMTOR Linked or AMTOR Mode A.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

Traffic Reps are representatives for a particular net that are charged with the responsibility of carrying traffic between the traffic net and the digital mailboxes. Each traffic net has a particular mailbox that holds traffic destined for that net. Traffic Reps try to visit the mailbox for their assigned net at least once before the net begins and more often if possible. Any traffic that comes to the traffic net with a destination outside of the nets area of responsibility will be assigned to the Traffic Rep to deliver to one of the mailboxes after the net secures.

During an ECOM net, Traffic Reps may leave the net several times to expedite the delivery of traffic and to check for any pending messages waiting on the mailbox.

Messages that are brought to a traffic net but not successfully delivered for whatever reason must be brought the next traffic net. This requires some coordination between all of the members acting as traffic nets throughout the week.

More details about traffic rep responsibilities and duties are available from another training guide geared specifically towards those individuals that will be acting in that capacity.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), Annex C, paragraph C2Ø3.

Interactive Lesson

What we're going to do now is copy a message that I have created and addressed to a number of you. In the initial pass, request fills as you normally would. Once everyone has a copy of the message, I will ask individual stations to make a request for a specific piece of text and it will be up to you to phrase your request appropriately.

[Call each station on the net and add them to the list of info addresses]

[Wait for each station to respond in the order they were called]

    DE NNNØTRA ØØ3
    R 2818Ø8Z AUG Ø4
    FM NNNØTRA SCA
    TO NNNØ??? SCA
    INFO NNNØ??? SCA
    NNNØ??? SCA
    BT
    UNCLAS 
    SUBJ: SCA TRAINING
    1. I HOPE TO PROVIDE A FRIENDLY AND CHALLENGING TRAINING ENVIRONMENT
    THAT ENCOURAGES NEW MEMBERS TO CHECK INTO AS MANY NETS AS THEY CAN AND
    LOOK FOR ITEMS THAT THEY DO NOT YET UNDERSTAND TO HELP GUIDE THEIR
    STUDIES BEYOND THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS TO BECOME A FULL MEMBER.
    2. ALL MEMBERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO WORK WITH OTHER MEMBERS, NEW AND OLD,
    TO PROVIDE WHATEVER ASSISTANCE THEY CAN.  MEMBERS ARE WELCOME TO
    CONTACT NNNØTRA AT 76Ø-555-1212 OR VIA EMAIL AT
    NNNØTRA(AT)NAVYMARS.ORG AND I WILL TRY TO ASSIST OR POINT YOU TO
    SOMEONE THAT CAN LEND ASSISTANCE.
    3. ALL MEMBERS SHOULD KEEP TRACK OF ALL OF THEIR OFF AIR PARTICIPATION
    THAT IS BENEFICIAL TO MARS, ROUNDED TO THE NEXT HIGHEST HOUR.
    4. ALL MEMBERS SHOULD BE PREPARED TO COPY MESSAGE TRAFFIC WHENEVER
    THEY CHECK INTO A NET.
    5. NAVY-MARINE CORPS MARS, PROUDLY SERVING THOSE WHO SERVE.
    BT
    NNNN
       

[Wait for each station to call back in the order they were first called to either roger for the message for ask for any fills they require before rogering for the traffic.]

For the sake of time, I am only looking for the actual request you would make for the phrase I will give you. For example, if I ask you to request a fill for the last three words of the message, I would like to hear an answer that sounds like:

Remember, the proword TO can be used to request a fill for words between a starting word and an ending word including the two words from the request.

Remember, when requesting fills from the header, you must use the proword identifying the section of the header that contains the information you are looking for and you can use the break between header and the body. The break following the body of the message should never be used in requesting fills.

Remember, the break between the header and the body can be used as an anchor point for requesting fills so asking for all before break is a valid request.

When you use the proword TO in a request for a fill, it is best to choose words that are easy to recognize and not common words that may appear multiple times.

Remember, you can use the first break in a message as an anchor point when requesting fills. You should not refer to line numbers in your requests.

Remember, never mention the date time group directly in fills, you should use the precedence of the message to identify the line holding the date time group. All fills in the header should use the proword TO unless you're requesting the entire header with all before break.

Remember, if you just need a single word, it may be easier to use the phrases WORD AFTER or WORD BEFORE to get the fill you require.

Any time you are requesting fills, you should choose the method that is clearest and requires the least amount of effort to provide you the information you requested. In other words, if you missed just a few words in a long paragraph, making two or three short requests for single words may be more efficient than asking for a repeat of the entire paragraph. Use your best judgement to get the traffic delivered as efficiently as possible but never sacrifice accuracy for speed.

Exercises

For those stations on frequency that were assigned the message I sent, I would like to receive a copy of the message you wrote out by email.

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C), Annex D, paragraphs D9ØØ, D9Ø1, D9Ø2, and D9Ø3.

Interactive Lesson

Essential Elements of Information, or EEI, messages are special Department of Defense (DoD) messages sent through the Navy-Marine Corps MARS system. They use a special set of codewords not used in other MARS messages.

All paragraphs must be present in any EEI you create. There are notes in NTP8(C) that outline what phrases you should use when you don't have information for a given paragraph.

NTP8(C) also provides a list of identifiers to be used in identifying the event rather than the explicit descriptions of the event in question. For example, rather than stating earthquake as the event identifier, rolling thunder is to be used instead.

EEI reports should have a subject line identifying the message as an EEI report and an update number if applicable. Your final EEI will state UPDATE FINAL at the end of the subject line.

Paragraph 1 should be a reference to the type of incident or exercise and the state where it is occurring.

There are eight lettered sub paragraphs of the first paragraph and each one must be present in an EEI report.

Paragraph A lists the incident and location. You are expected to describe what, where and when as short and to the point as possible.

Paragraph B is used to describe the state of emergency medical resources. This should be operational, unknown, or a short description of the status such as medical assistance unable to reach the scene.

Paragraph C describes the state of local transportation. This could be N/A for not applicable, operational, unknown or a description of traffic conditions that limit access to the scene.

Paragraph D gives a brief description of what was damaged. Possible content is N/A, unknown, or a brief description of the damages.

Paragraph E gives an overview of the state of utilities in the area. This should cover power, water, drainage but could be N/A, operational or unknown.

Paragraph F identifies the state of local communications such as land line telephone service, cell phone service, television and radio broadcast stations, or any other means of communications in the area. This could also be stated as N/A, operational, or unknown.

Paragraph G identifies the source of the information which could be a news broadcast or personal observation. Be cautious of generating an EEI report based on a single news broadcast. If the source of information is from a news broadcast, try to verify the information from at least one more source.

Paragraph H is for any other remarks that do not fit into the categories of information in the other seven sub paragraphs. If you have no further remarks, state NONE for this paragraph.

Here is an example of an EEI:

    O 151616Z SEP Ø4
    FM NNNØAAAT SCA
    TO ZEN/NNNØDOM VA
    INFO NNNØASA VA
    NNNØASZ GA
    NNNØASE SCA
    NNNØASE ONE AZ
    NNNØASE TWO OR
    NNNØAS9 AZ
    NNNØAS9 TWO AZ 
    NNNØGAF SCA
    NNNØGAF TWO SCA
    BT
    UNCLAS DRILL 
    SUBJ: EEI REPORT
    1. REF FALLEN STAR/CA
    A. COMMERCIAL AIRLINER CRASHED INTO TRI CITY MEDICAL CENTER 
    1313 WEST VISTA WAY OCEANSIDE CA 1717Ø8Z JUN Ø4
    B. UNKNOWN
    C. SR 78 IS CLOSED IN BOTH DIRECTIONS AT VISTA WAY. ACCESS TO 
    MEDICAL CENTER BY WARING ROAD ONLY.
    D. BUSINESSES ALONG PLAZA DRIVE SEVERELY DAMAGED, UNKNOWN. 
    E. ELECTRICAL POWER IS OUT, UNKNOWN.
    F. LOCAL TELEPHONE SERVICE IS OUT. RADIO, TV, PUBLIC 
    SERVICE UNAFFECTED.
    G. PERSONAL OBSERVATION, NNNØAAAT.
    H. LARGE CROWDS IN THE AREA.
    DRILL
    BT
    OPNOTE: THIS MESSAGE IS FOR TRAINING PURPOSES ONLY. DO NOT FORWARD.
       

If updates are made to an EEI, the subject line is changed by appending the number, spelled out, of the update. For example, a third update would have a subject that reads:

    SUBJ: EEI REPORT UPDATE NR THREE
       

For actual incidents, the EEI should be e-mailed to:

• TO. foxhole@doms.army.mil

• TO. jdoms@js.pentagon.mil

• CC. nnnØasa@navymars.org

The subject of the e-mail should say, "ACTUAL INCIDENT/EEI/city_or_county_in_question SCA".

Keep the wording as simple and clear as possible. You don't want to make this long message any longer than necessary but you want to be sure to include all the essential components to get a reponse rolling as soon as possible.

Assume the following for demonstration purposes only:

• Net Designator is 9S9B.

• Net Control (NECOS) is NNNØNEC.

• Traffic Rep is NNNØTRA.

• Tango Station is NNNØAAAT and holds the above immediate traffic.

• Tango station guarding for NNNØASE, NNNØGAF, and NNNØGAF TWO is NNNØBBBT.

The listing of this traffic as soon as you hear the first net call would sound like:

Only the addresses for the state are listed and all others should be grouped under outbound.

A little while later, NECOS will give you instructions to deliver your message:

Then all you have to do is call the stations and deliver your message as follows:

Only the addresses that do not have ZEN/ as a prefix are given in the relay instructions.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• NTP8(C) Annex D, paragraphs D7ØØ, D71Ø, D72Ø, D73Ø, and D82Ø.

• Pacific Area Ops Guide, Annex C.

Interactive Lesson

There are a number of reports required during an emergency and during exercises:

• Implementation Reports

• Situation Reports (SITREP)

• State Director's report at the termination of an emergency.

• Region Director's report at the termination of an emergency.

• State Director's notification report for planned exercises only.

You will typically be involved in the generation, listing, and delivery of the first two types of ECOM reports. It is important to remember that any Navy-Marine Corps MARS member, on their own initiative, can commit the entire MARS organization to the support of an emergency when they get a request for support from an individual representing the angencies that we support. We cannot commit our services without a request.

If you are involved at the scene of an emergency or linked to it in some special way, as a member of ARES for example, then you may also be sending situation reports or SITREPS.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

Eventually, we'll all pick up the phone and hear that request we all know is going to come some day. We'll be asked to respond to a real emergency and be expected to be prepared for anything that comes our way. This doesn't mean that we'll be expected to do things outside of our capabilities but we are expected to be up front about what we can and can not do at the time we are called. We all decided to become part of Navy-Marine Corps MARS for different reasons but the end result of what we're all trying to accomplish is to make a difference. While our availability to respond at different times throughout the year or throughout the week may be different, everyone is expected to perform to the best of their abilities and inform the person on the phone, or any other means that we've been notified, when we'll be available to respond.

Responding to an emergency doens't always mean you have to jump in a vehicle and go somewhere. There are ART and SAT members that train for remote operations. You may be asked to operate from home and open an ECOM net or you may be asked to take a list of phone numbers, make a few calls, pass on the required information, and report back on the availability of the individuals you've been tasked with contacting.

There are too many combinations of activities that any one of us could be asked to do. The best you can do is prepare yourself for as many scenarios as you can personally come up with. Just as an example, this is what NNNØGAF FOUR does:

• Keep paper and writing implements next to all the phones in the house.

• Have a couple of clocks or at least a wrist watch that is WWV-synchronized so that everyone is talking in terms of the same time frames.

• Keep a complete change of clothing laid out next to the bed including foot wear. This not only makes sense for responding to emergencies but for personal safety in the event of an earthquake or other natural disaster.

• Keep flashlights in well known places and check the batteries often.

• If you are going to partipate as an ART member, have your gear organized in easy to grab containers so you can grab what you need quickly. Organize everything that belongs to one radio setup together so you'll spend less time getting on the air at your destination.

• Plan to always have emergency supplies for food and water to last at least 72 hours without public utilities of any sort.

• When the phone rings and you hear that first call out, remain calm, write everything down and make sure you have all the details you need before you hang up the phone.

Exercises

Practice, practice, practice. You owe it to yourself to run personal drills. It's easy to picture how you would respond by running scenarios in your mind but it's a whole different situation when you try to do it for real. In the past four months, this station has purposefully tried to load the car with everything needed to operate in the field alone on three occasions and on two of those occasions, operated from a remote location. On the other occasions, it was just a test to see if everything I needed could fit in the vehicle and how long it took to make everything fit and be prepared to be on the road or simply attending a net using emergency power.

You may never remember everything when the time comes, but a little practice goes a long way towards forgetting less and less each time you practice.

Reference Materials

• This training document.

• www.navymars.org - at the national level and at the region nine level.

Interactive Lesson

Navy-Marine Corps MARS is guided by a series of messages called broadcasts:

• Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS Broadcasts.

• Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS Info Broadcasts.

• Pacific Area Broadcasts.

• Region Nine Broadcasts.

• Region Nine Info Broadcasts.

• Region Nine ECOM Broadcasts.

• Region Nine RDS Broadcasts.

• Region Nine Training Broadcasts.

• Many other categories of broadcasts.

When you are authorized to access the protected sections of the national website, spend a little time reading through the list of messages and familiarize yourself with the types of information contained in the various categories.

The Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS broadcasts outline policy changes from the top of the chain of command. At any moment in time, the current NTP8(C) and the active Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS broadcasts spell out the current policies in effect. These broadcasts are in effect until cancelled. The first broadcast each year lists the effective broadcasts. Normally, the broadcasts are cancelled when they become out of date or when NTP8(C) has been updated to include the changes. These broadcasts should be kept until they are officially cancelled.

The Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS info broadcasts will not concern policy but are used to pass out information of usefulness to all members. There is no retention criteria for info broadcasts.

Region nine broadcasts are used to establish policy within the region and are in effect until cancelled. The first broadcast each year lists the effective broadcasts. Normally, the broadcasts are cancelled when they become out of date or when the Pacific Area Ops Guide has been updated to include the changes. These broadcasts should be kept until they are officially cancelled.

The region nine info broadcasts will not concern policy but are used to pass out information of usefulness to all members in the region. There is no retention criteria for info broadcasts.

The region staff members, NNNØAS9 TWO, NNNØAS9 FOUR, NNNØAS9 EIGHT, and NNNØAS9 TEN have been authorized to issue broadcasts to all members in region nine. These broadcasts cannot be used to dispense policy but they can be used in the distribution of interesting information and the notification of ongoing events and transient data. Information in these broadcasts is advisory in nature. Only the Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS and region nine broadcasts can create or change policy.

State director may issue broadcasts to establish policy within their own state and are in effect until cancelled. These broadcasts should be kept until they are officially cancelled.

All Chief Navy-Marine Corps MARS, region and state broadcasts are available on the area traffic nets for one week after their release. Members are encouraged to request and receive all broadcasts in digital form, for those that have digital capabilities. These broadcasts are also available on the website once you have access to the password restricted areas. These broadcasts are not expected to be sent every day for a week on the traffic nets; on the first net that a new broadcasts appears it is expected to be delivered to all stations but for the remainder of the week, these broadcasts will only be sent on demand.

As a Navy-Marine Corps MARS member, you are expected to have this material and keep it up to date. Not having digital capabilities will not prevent you from keep your files up to date as long as you can access the navymars.org website.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

The first thing to remember when acting as net control for the first time is relax, relax, relax. If you get stuck and don't know what to do, you can always call another station and ask for advice or assistance.

Here is a short check list of things to remember when you act as net control:

• Open the net as close to the scheduled time as humanly possible. It helps to have at least one clock that is synchronized to an atomic clock. There are clocks and wrist watches available that will do this automatically.

• Speak clearly so everyone can understand you.

• Announce your call sign and the designator for the net on every net call.

• Keep a list of stations that check in and whether or not they hold traffic for the net. Record who is ALTNECOS and TRAFFICREP for the net.

• Keep track of frequencies you use during the net. At the end of the month, if you hold a regular net control position, you will need to file reports for the frequency, mode (SSB or SCD - single channel data or digital), hours, days, and number of messages passed from one station to another.

• If the assigned ALTNECOS does not check in, be sure to assign that role to another station you believe has a strong and clear enough signal to take over the net should conditions change and no one can hear you any more. Assigning a new ALTNECOS should happen as you check in the second set of stations, is the assigned ALTNECOS isn't present, to give that station a chance to record all the details necessary to take over for you should the need arise.

• Remember to make net calls every 5 to 1Ø minutes.

• Ask other stations to make net calls for you.

• Remember to handle every piece of traffic that comes to the net; this could mean asking a station to hold that traffic for another net should the net run out of time.

• If all the traffic has been handled, turn the net into a free net and allow stations to call each other without asking your permission first. Don't forget to make net calls from time to time. It's important to let people know what net they are listening to if they just joined part way through the net.

• If a station asks for permission to secure, grant it. They are doing this as a favor to you so you know who is still on frequency and who is not. If they just disappear, you won't know if their absense is due to propagation or something else. Try not to call on that person just before they are about to leave unless it is absolutely necessary.

• Remember to pay attention to the time and to remember to secure the net on or before the scheduled end time arrives.

• Most of all, RELAX! Everyone is looking to help new operators become comfortable running a net and we've all been through our first net control experience in the past. There is nothing to be afraid of. The only thing you should concentrate on is sticking to the proper net procedures, assigning all the traffic that comes to the net, and closing the net before the allotted time has run out.

After your first net control experience, remember to e-mail the details of the net to the regularly scheduled NECOS so the month end reports can be filed and all stations that checked into your net can receive on air participation credit.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

If you attend enough traffic nets, you will hear traffic that is assigned to NNNØALL. Messages addressed to NNNØALL are intended for all stations on the net. The first time an alpha lima lima is brought to the net, it must be delivered to all stations but it must also be assigned to a particular station who will have to roger for this traffic.

Remember, all traffic must be rogered for, even alpha lima limas.

Once the traffic has been delivered, the receiving station has requested any fills necessary and rogered for the traffic, the NECOS, at their discretion, can decide to read or assign the message to be read to all stations for the benefit of those that do not have digital capabilities.

Alpha lima lima traffic that is being read to the net does not have to be read as though it were being formally delivered to a specific station by voice; it is perfectly acceptable to paraphrase the contents of an alpha lima lima message as long as all of the important points are covered.

Exercises

Reference Materials

• This training document.

Interactive Lesson

There are a number of differnt areas to explore within Navy-Marine Corps MARS:

• Accepting a full time NECOS or ALTNECOS position.

• Learning to become a full time Traffic Rep.

• Volunteering to operate as a member of a Station Augmentation Team (SAT) geared towards the operation of key selected MARS region radio stations on a 24 hour basis.

• Volunteering to be a member of an Auxiliary Radio Team (ART) capable of setting up a station with one or more radios in the field.

• Working towards accepting a staff position so you can use your unique skills to help improve Navy-Marine Corps MARS as a valuable resource to those in need.

Exercises