KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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Is this crazy or what?

Posted: 22 Jul 2020 03:05 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email




I got this radiogram in the mail. The message was originated by a ham
friend of mine on Thursday, July 16 (my birthday) and mailed to me by the
ham in PA to whom he passed the message. I received it on Monday, July 20.
While I applaud my friends effort to use the National Traffic System (NTS),
getting this in the mail just seemed crazy to me.

First of all, why did the ham who handled the traffic mail it to me? It
would have been a lot more expedient for him to just phone me.Â*It certainly
cost him more to mail it than it would have been for him to just phone me,
unless he doesnt have a modern cellphone plan with nearly unlimited long
distance calling.

I guess this is just an indication of how poorly NTS operates these days.
Thats not really a criticism. Theres just no need for it anymore.Â*We keep
saying, Well, what if the cell network goes down? That can happen, I
suppose, but how often, and for how long on average, is an area without
cellphone service? My guess would be not very often and not very long.

I dont know how much effort is being expended in keeping NTS running, but
is it really worth the effort? Im somewhat familiar with the system, so I
know why this message took so long to get to me. If my friend, David, had
sent it to someone less familiar with NTS and less forgiving, this would
have been laughable. Do we want to be laughed at like that?



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