Training Session #3

Well, here we are ready to go with the third session. By this time you should be learning some of the information you will need to operate as a MARS member.

Now for a short review of what was covered in the last two sessions and then on to message handling.

Each of us have a unique call sign issued for our own use on Air Force Tactical Frequencies and this is our only identification whenever we operate on those frequencies. All of the frequencies are specified exact frequencies with extremely close tolerances. Exceptions are for: AFF4T is also the same as AFA4GD. AFA4GD is the call issued after completion of training, upon accepting assignment of Region Four Training Manager I am issued a “Billet” call sign, which identifies me as the Region Four Training Manager. The Region and state positions change from time to time but the billet call sign, remain the same. This same scheme holds true for all Region and State officials. State Emergency Services coordinators do not have a billet call sign, so learn who they are by asking your SMD.

When checking into a net, we are required to check in through the NCS and will not merely transmit our call hoping someone somewhere will hear us and reply. We should understand Universal Coordinated Time or Zulu time, which the military uses for all communications.

We learned that there are specific rules of conduct prescribed including the correct use of prowords. We also know that there are specified words assigned to each letter of the alphabet which are used phonetically to spell a word, name, city, or anything that may need to be spelled, we also know proper phonetics for numerals, which will eliminate any confusion when passing traffic on the noisy frequencies.

We also learned that we do not use Q or Z signals when operating on a military voice net.

(QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, DISCUSSION)

And now that we know and understand all of the proceeding information, we can continue with this session's subject, military traffic handling. The traffic handling information that will be covered will be used throughout your AF MARS experience and will also be used in all branches of military communications. There are many specific rules of conduct called for, and you are expected to remember them and use them. With practice they will become second nature and automatic.

If you will now look at the MESSAGE form (Attachment #4), we will go through all the terms and blanks. As I said before, you are welcome to reproduce this form for your own use, or you can use plain paper, once you understand what information is required. I'm going to use this form, because it contains all the information required to originate, relay, and deliver MARS messages. Some of the terms and blanks are self-explanatory and we won't spend a lot of time on them. I now will break a few seconds, so you may turn to Attachment #4.

(PAUSE)

NUMBER is the file number from your monthly traffic log. At the start of each quarter you should start with message number 001 and increment it for each piece of traffic handled by your station for that quarter.

Next is the PRECEDENCE of the message. Military communications have 5 levels of precedence, which are MORALE, ROUTINE, PRIORITY, IMMEDIATE, and FLASH. Of the 5, we normally use only 2, ROUTINE and PRIORITY (these may be abbreviated with R, & P). Morale is from the golden age of MARS and is no longer used but is still seen in some of the material you may read in the future. The precedence is established by the ORIGINATOR of the message and has nothing to do with the message importance, but determines the priority of delivery. Priority traffic is handled before routine. Immediate is used during exercises on MARS frequencies and is handled before priority. The highest is flash and hopefully you will never have to use it because it is reserved for immediate attack notification and will never be initiated by an affiliate station. All transmissions will stop immediately when flash is used. You will learn more about message precedence as your experience level increases.

DATE/TIME is the time that the message was originated. It will always be six digits. The first 2 digits indicate the day of the month. If this number is less than 10, then the digit will be preceded by a 0. Example: the 3rd day of the month would be 03 and not just 3. The next 4 digits indicate the time that the message was filed with the originating station. Note that the time is in Zulu (hence the next word ZULU) and is based on the 24-hour clock. So, after midnight (2359 hours) the numbers are preceded by zeros.

Following the word ZULU, is Month/Year. The format is the abbreviation for the month (Jan, etc.) and the year (2000 or 00). Let’s look at the sample message one (Included in your packet). It would be written on the message form as follows:

001 R 041347Z Apr 2003

Where does this lines data come from? The PRECEDENCE would be assigned by you as the originator, and the DATE-TIME-GROUP would be the date and time of your filing of the message. The date-time-group of any messages should never be changed. It must remain the same from the origination through delivery, as it is the only way the originator would be able to locate it in their files if there were a problem with the message. The message number does change on messages for relaying. It comes in to you with the previous station's number on it and goes out with yours. Now for an example of how this line would sound with a message coming to you. NUMBER 001 ROUTINE TIME ZERO FOUR ONE THREE FOUR SEVEN ZULU APR 2003. Translated this means message number 1, routine precedence, (04) the first two digits mean the day of the month, (1347) the next four digits is the Zulu time (1:47PM) London or UTC, followed by the month and year (APR 2003). I hope this is starting to make sense to you. Remember that the date and time group will always contain 6 figures and the time will be in Zulu. NOTE: Because this line always contains the same things, it is not necessary to use either of the two prowords INITIALS or FIGURES.

Now we are finished with the difficult part. The rest of the form is like addressing an envelope for the postal service. The FROM line: is the complete name, address, and telephone number, including the area code.

The "Slant" line is for the originating station's call sign, and location. Most traffic coming from overseas locations will have only the senders name followed by the originating station and location. i.e. JOHN SMITH/AGA8HU ROK. ROK stands for Republic of Korea. There are others you will learn as you go. In the CONUS (Continental United States), the complete FROM address should be given. The station location, after the call sign, would be the two letter initials that are used for each state.

The TO line: requires the same information as the FROM line. The telephone number is important especially if the message was originated in CONUS and is to be delivered in CONUS. This type of traffic cannot be mailed at Government expense. So you should attempt to include telephone number. Most stations will make an honest attempt to deliver the message to the person in the TO line. If unsuccessful, the only recourse is to SERVICE the message back to the sending station as undeliverable.

NOTE: Remember to spell all the names in the FROM and TO lines phonetically, because accuracy is our first goal. Don't use the term "common spelling" because common to one person may be strange to the next.

Next comes the line labeled GROUPS. The number that goes into this spot represents the total groups of information in the text of the message. Each word of the text is one group. Each group of numbers, like a telephone number, would be a group. Avoid all punctuation unless it is required to complete the meaning of the message, if you do use punctuation each punctuation mark like a period, comma, etc. would be a group. Names of cities with more than one word like New York City, Los Angeles or Salt Lake City are counted as one group. All the groups are added up and sent to the receiving station by the sending station and given as "GROUP ONE SIX". If you are the receiving station you put the number 16 on this line. If you were the originator of the message your group count of the message would go on this line. After the message text has been sent, the receiving station counts all groups and if it matches what was sent, they will know that they have received the complete message text and not missed any words.

After the GROUP has been sent, the sending station gives the proword "BREAK" and unkeys their transceiver. BREAK, indicates to the receiving station that all words following are to be included in the message text. No other expressions are required and should not be added. Only the proword, BREAK. Sometimes you may hear other stations say "all after break", "text follows", and etc. These are not authorized and are confusing because when the receiving station hears the proword, BREAK, their entire concentration should be on the first word of the text instead of some other expression which could cause their concentration to be distracted.

Next comes the text of the message that the originator wishes sent to the recipient. We try to keep the group count to 50 group or less. But, on occasions it gets stretched a bit. Text information may be in the form of words, figures, or initials, and may or may not contain punctuation. The rule for punctuation is: if it is essential to the meaning of the text, use it. Normally MARS messages do not contain punctuation. When transmitting the text, try to stay away from reading it one word at a time in a monotone. It is best to break it up into groups of two, three, or four words. I love you is easier to receive than I..... love ..... you. Remember that numbers are pronounced using each single digit of the number. Names and confusing words such as to, too, and two are spelled phonetically. This holds true for names that are included in or are signatures. Names are always spelled phonetically.

The text is always sent exactly as written with no added words or expressions. The group count of the transmitted message must be equal to the group count of the received message. If not, then there must be a reconciliation of the group count. This is most easily accomplished by what is called LETTERING THE TEXT where the transmitting station sends the first letter of each word group or the first number of each number group. If the receiving station finds a missing word, they can ask the transmitting station to send "all between" the last word they have and "before" the word following the missing word. The biggest error that happens when copying text is adding a word or expression when none is intended or included in the original text. This is usually caused by copying ahead or anticipating a word or expression. Another cause is due to the sending station sending a large group of words instead of the three or four word groups. To hold the text to 50 or less groups, originators will write the message in short hand leaving out words that are not needed for the meaning of the text. When the recipient reads the message they automatically add these words. Example: "mail Slow". The word "is" is the word left out. It is understood and does not change the meaning of the phrase by being left out. But if we add it while copying the text, the group count will be inaccurate which effects total accuracy. Another way to reconcile a mismatched group count is to request the sending station re-read the text at normal reading speed.

After we have completed sending all of the message text, we again transmit the proword "BREAK". This tells the receiving station that the text is complete, that no text follows, and that if there is any transmission following, it is instructions for the receiving station. If there are no instructions after "BREAK", then the proword, "OVER", follows. This lets the receiving station know it should count and match the group count and "ROGER" the traffic as such: "ROGER YOUR MESSAGE NUMBER ..... . Following this would be either the proword, OVER, if there is more traffic from the same station or, OUT, if no other traffic follows.

As you can see, there really isn't much to it. I hope you can understand that many rules and constraints are used to increase accuracy even through it seems to take longer to pass, the traffic. Speed is important but never at the expense of accuracy. Suppose you received a message about the arrival of a person at the airport at a specific time and date. Now speed is important so that the recipient receives the message prior to the time and date. But due to the possible errors made in the transmission or reception of the message, it could contain either the wrong time or date or both. Now is the message really worth anything, when you do deliver it? I think we all can say no, but it could have been, if all things were done properly and correctly in both the transmission and reception of the message. Again all these things I have talked about will become second nature with practice.

Now I will make up a message using everything I have just finished talking about and you can copy it as I send it. Then we will discuss any problems you may have and answer any questions. The message will originate from this station and is being sent to each of you. Grab your pencil and some paper and prepare to copy. Ready?

This is AFF4T NUMBER 014 ROUTINE TIME 051926Z APR 2003

FROM:
WILLY WILSON
1012 S LOCUST DRIVE
MIDWEST CITY OK 73110
405-736-0056

TO:
JOHN SMITH
123 MAIN ST
JOHNSON CITY, TEXAS 45678-9876
503-326-1641

GROUP 20

BREAK

HOW ARE YOU TODAY HOPE RADIO REPAIR IS GOING WELL GIVE ME A CALL WHEN YOU ARE READY TO TEST

BREAK

OVER

See how simple it is when everyone follows the rules. We don't have a lot of garbage to filter out which in the long run would decrease the speed and accuracy. You should also note that as long as the traffic is passed with all the parts in their proper places, this or any traffic could be copied on a plain piece of paper without missing any information and be accurate. A form with blanks to fill in is handy though and is neat in a file. But in case you don't have one, you still could take traffic with just a pencil or pen and any piece of paper. A pencil, pen, and a message form, if you are going to use them, and paper should ALWAYS be at your operating location, whenever you are on a MARS net.

Now that we have some traffic our next concern is to get it delivered to the recipient. The most expeditious way is to pick up the telephone, call the number on the TO line, ask for the person, and read the message. In case there is no phone number, then it would be appropriate to see if you could find it in the telephone directory. If not, then you have a problem. If it is from overseas, you may mail it at government expense.

If it is from CONUS, to be delivered in CONUS, you CAN NOT mail it at government expense, except, if it is official traffic and then the first word of the message must be "OFFICIAL". This makes it official traffic. We receive a lot of traffic from organizations that have an individual assigned to them and send a MARS message welcoming them prior to their leaving their present assignment. This is official traffic and can be mailed at government expense regardless of where it was originated. Of course you could drive to the address, or call directory assistance for the phone number. Both of these methods will cost you money. They are not required by the MODs and it is strictly your choice. If you cannot deliver the message, then you must SERVICE it back to the originator. We will discuss SERVICE MESSAGES next week after you have had some time to digest this week's information.

What I have discussed in this session is call a "PLAINDRESS MESSAGE". It is third party traffic from a person to another person and is handled through MARS as a service. If a message is from me, a MARS member, to you, a MARS member, we can delete all after the name and call sign in the "FROM" line and all except the name and call sign in the "TO" line. This then is called an "ABBREVIATED PLAINDRESS MESSAGE". It can only be used between licensed MARS stations.

Of course, there is another exception. Overseas stations are required only to furnish the name and the originating station on the "FROM" line on outgoing traffic. But they are required to furnish all of the "TO" line information to include the telephone number. Likewise any traffic originating in CONUS going overseas only needs to have the complete "TO" line and only the name and originating station on the "FROM" line. If there is no telephone number, this message may be mailed.

That ends Session #3