Events

Send Holiday Greetings via Amateur Radio

Mark Galbraith

• 3 min read

The ARRL National Traffic System and Radio Relay International are asking hams around the country to consider sending Holiday Greetings using Amateur Radio. The NTS and RRI operate traffic nets around North America.  They send routine messages to maintain their skills so when an urgent need arises there are trained and ready operators to facilitate the message traffic.  You can help keep these operators busy by sending a Holiday Radiogram to friends and family.

The process is quite easy.  You can reach out to a traffic handler in your area (a few are listed below), and ask them to send a Radiogram for you.  If you want to "Do it yourself", just visit the ARRL Radiogram Portal and fill out the form.  A traffic handler in the area will pick up your message and move it on it's way.

There are a couple of things the traffic handlers will appreciate:

  1. Please make sure you have accurate address information for delivery.  It's especially important to make sure the City and State are accurate so the message gets to the right local traffic net.
  2. Provide a known-working phone number.  Some messages aren't able to be delivered because the phone number is old, out-of-service, or is now a wrong number.  Accurate phone numbers help with smooth deliveries.
  3. If you have an email address, provide that too.  There is a special Radiogram form for delivering Holiday Greetings.  This will be filled in and attached to the email.  Delivery by email is the preferred path for Holiday Greetings Radiograms.

Using the Radiogram Portal

The enterprising programmers at ARRL have created a very nice Radiogram portal for people just getting started with Radiogram traffic.  Visit the link and read up a bit about Radiograms, and then scroll down and fill in the blanks to send your own message.  Provide accurate delivery information (address, phone, email) so the message can be more easily delivered.

When it comes to the message itself, most people will want to send one of the "Standard Text" messages.  Just select the message you want to send from the drop-down list.  Of course, the Christmas and Holiday messages are quite appropriate for this season.

Just a few more clicks to get to a preview of your message, and when it all looks good, you just send it on it's way.

What Happens Next?

One of the Traffic Handlers in the area will pick the message up and "Originate" it; that is, they assign it a number, tag it as being handled by their station, and put it on the traffic nets to move it along the path to reach an operator in the area of the destination.  That operator will pick up the phone and deliver the message, or drop it in an email to the recipient.  If you requested a reply, the operator will collect that reply and generate a new message coming back to you, which will flow back through the nets to reach your area, and an operator (possibly a different operator from the one that sent your message) will deliver it to you.

Getting involved

Traffic handling is fun, rewarding, and easy.  If you'd like to find out more, reach out to one of the local traffic handlers and ask about the next steps.  You don't need sophisticated equipment to get started, just a radio and desire to learn a new skill.  The traffic handlers in the area are:

  • Central Sound:
    • Mark Galbraith, N7YD
    • Rob Horsch, N7RLV
  • South Sound:
    • John Hamilton, AD7AW (RN7)
    • Tom Smith, N7CFI (RN7)

If you are outside the Central or South Sound, reach out to Mark, N7YD who can help you find a net in your area.

Find more information about Traffic Handling at: