SENDING, RECIEVING, AND COUNTING MESSAGES

              TRANSMITTING A RADIOGRAM

      Transmitting the radiogram for the first time applies both to 
originated radiograms and radiograms that have been received for 
relay. Let's assume you have found a station to receive your 
radiogram, either by your own efforts to find one or as a result of 
having been told by a net control station to transmit it to so-
and-so.  You call him, he says he is ready to receive (QRV).  A 
voice example would go something like this:  "Copy message number 
fifteen, routine, KY1T ten, Newington, Connecticut, two one five one 
zulu, April twelve.  Mrs. Judy Smith, one nine zero eight Moon 
Street Northeast, Albuquerque, New Mexico, eight seven one one 
two, telephone two nine eight six four zero eight.  Break. Mother
and Dad arrived home safely Sunday afternoon X-ray love.  Break.
Uncle George.  End of  message, no more".
     On CW, it would go like this: NR 15 R KXIB 10 NEWINGTON 
CONN 2151Z APR 12 MRS JUDY SMITH AA 1908 MOON ST NORTHEAST AA 
ALBUQUERQUE NM 87112 AA 298 6408 BT MOTHER AND DAD ARRIVED
HOME 
SAFELY SUNDAY AFTERNOON X LOVE BT UNCLE GEORGE AR N.
     Phone operators use the proword "break" for separation of 
the address and signature from the text.  It is incorrect 
procedure to use the words "going to" preceding the address and 
"break and the text" preceding the text.
     Radiograms should be sent by voice, not read.  That is, 
reading puts emphasis on certain syllables and words, and this 
means de-emphasis of others.  In transmitting a radiogram by voice, 
no word or syllable should be de-emphasized.  Letting your voice 
fall at the end of a sentence as would be done in reading is poor 
practice in voice traffic work, as is letting your voice fall for 
unaccented syllables.  You are not a broadcast announcer.  Keep 
in mind that the receiving operator must put down what you 
transmit, completely and accurately.
     Avoid such inanities during transmission as "Mrs., a married 
lady" or "Moon, opposite from Sun."  They only confuse things and 
give a bad impression of our service.  Avoid giving dates as 
"four, twelve, eighty-eight."  Just say "April twelve" and forget the 
year.  (We hope no message will be over a year old!  Also, don't 
say "today's date."  Spell all difficult or unusual words (e.g., 
"Ferrier, I spell F-E-R-R-I-E-R").  If the word is very 
difficult, unusual, or a group of letters not forming a word, 
spell it out using ITU phonetics (e.g. "NCOIC, I spell:  
November, Charlie, Oscar, India, Charlie.")  Using phonetics 
excessively is poor procedure.  Usually simply spelling the word 
is sufficient.

                      RECEIVING A RADIOGRAM

     Some of the problems of receiving have already been touched 
on above.  The principal rule to follow is do not, repeat do not 
assume you have received a part of a radiogram correctly if you are 
not absolutely certain.  This is what causes most of the 
"garbles" in our amateur message handling.  A single letter lost 
in a crash of static can completely change the meaning of an 
entire CW message, as can loss of an entire word by voice.  Most 
operators are prone to "guess" and usually they guess right.  But 
if you did not actually "copy" the missing part, it is taking a 
chance.  It's best to make sure.  
     Modern procedure, both on voice and CW, uses "break in."  On 
voice, this usually refers to "VOX" procedure, in which the 
transmitting operator can pause long enough between words or 
phrases to let his VOX relay open, enabling the receiving 
operator to "break" if he misses something.  On CW, the meaning 
of "break-in" is that the receiving operator may miss the last 
word of this phrase:"... arrive on Sunday."  He would simply say 
"on" and the transmitting operator would repeat "Sunday" and go 
on with the message.  On CW, the receiving operator, after 
missing "Sunday," presses his key to interrupt the transmission, 
sends ON and the transmitting operator repeats SUNDAY and goes on 
with the message.  "Break-in" procedure is strongly recommended 
for all radiogram traffic.
     If break-in is not used, it is necessary to get "fills."  
This makes it necessary for the receiving operator to note the 
parts missed and get the missing parts filled after the radiogram
has been completed.  On voice, simply ask for "word after..." or 
"word before..." or if more than one word might have been missed, 
"between... and."  On CW, the abbreviations WA, WB, or BN are 
commonly used.  When break-in is not used, it is common practice 
for transmitting stations to repeat (on voice "I repeat," on CW a 
question mark) difficult words, letters or groups.
     Perhaps the second most prevalent cause of "garbling" of 
messages is poor handwriting.  Many people cannot make out their 
own handwriting a day or more after it is written, and in some 
cases only an hour or so delay can erase the memory of what a 
scrawl is supposed to mean.  The answer is to copy by typewriter 
or a personal computer.  A little practice is all that is needed 
to be able to do this as easily as copying by pencil; usually it 
is faster, and always is more legible.  If you must copy by 
hand, require the transmitting operator to send at a speed at 
which you can write legibly; don't scrawl illegibly because you 
don't want to admit you can't copy that fast.  Copy five words or 
groups to a line by hand, ten (5+5) by typewriter, to enable an 
instant "check of the check."  In fact, this is the origin of the 
word "check" for word count.

                     RELAYING THE RADIOGRAM

     The rule is that received radiograms must be relayed or
delivered within 48 hours after receipt.  However, this is only a 
"counting" rule; for practical purposes, the rule is to relay or 
deliver the message as soon as possible after receipt.  This 
means immediately if you have an outlet; otherwise, as soon as an 
outlet is available.  The public is conditioned to "instant 
communication" and will be unimpressed with messages, even free 
ones, which are slower than the mail, and in some cases "slower 
than walking."
     Relaying the message uses the same procedure as transmitting, but here 
are some principles that are applicable especially to relaying.  For one 
thing, when you are relaying a message, its contents are none of your 
concern.  You take no action and make no changes, nor any comments on its 
contents, except in making sure you receive it correctly and relay it in 
the same condition.  Neither do you judge its importance, except on the 
basis of the precedence assigned to it by the originating station.  If you 
disagree with the precedence assigned, your argument is with the 
originating station, not necessarily the one sending the message to you.
     Relaying stations are authorized to change the form of radiograms 
they handle, if incorrect when received, but not the content.  Even 
spellings that appear to be obviously incorrect are best relayed 
exactly as sent; for all you know, the writer may have a purpose in 
spelling incorrectly.  The best rule to follow in relaying is to relay 
the radiogram exactly as you received it, after making certain that 
you received it correctly.  If the station sending it to you is the 
originating station, he may change it if desired; otherwise, no 
changes (except in form) should be made.

                       COUNTING RADIOGRAMS

     All amateurs who handle traffic are invited to report their total 
message count monthly to their Section Manager. 
     For counting purposes, traffic is divided into a few 
categories, as follows:
     Originated:  Any radiogram originated by someone other than 
yourself, filed with your station for initial transmission on the 
air.
     Received:  Every radiogram received by Amateur Radio at your 
station.  This includes all messages received, whether received 
for relay or received for delivery.
     Sent:  Any message transmitted from your station by radio to 
another station, whether such a message was initially transmitted 
from your station or was received from another station.
     Delivered:  Any message delivered by you to the addressee, 
provided that the message was received at your station by radio 
and that the addressee is someone other than yourself.  This 
delivery must be an off-the-air function (by telephone, mail in-
person, etc.)
     The traffic total is the sum of originated received, sent 
and delivered points.  Note that in some cases the same message 
can be counted twice; for example, the same message received by 
radio and then relayed to another station by radio is counted 
both in the "received" and "sent" categories, while a message 
received by radio and then delivered is counted both in 
"received" and "delivered" categories.
     When transmitting or receiving messages in book form, count 
one point for every three messages in the book, plus another 
point for any over a multiple of three.  That is, a book of three 
messages would count as a single message, but a book of four, 
five or six would count as two, and a book of seven would count 
as three, etc.  "Booking" of messages is a time-saving device for 
those who want to use it in the interest of efficiency.  It is 
similarly perfectly proper procedure to separate booked messages 
into single messages if desired; that is, the transmitting 
station decides in what form they shall be sent, as long as it is 
proper.   Each message, regardless of its content, deserves to 
receive separate treatment.  Messages handled using unauthorized 
"short cuts" cannot properly be included in your traffic