Traffic nets....

[W3WN]

Now, to answer the original post...

No, that is not the intended purpose of a Traffic net. The original purpose of Traffic nets was to send messages on behalf of 3rd parties (ie "free" Radiograms) in part as practice for emergency situations, in part as practice for potential call-up by the military.

This was highly relevant in the 1940's through 1970's. A lot has changed since then... Internet, e-mail, cell phones, texting... all have conspired to, as an unintended consequence, to remove the bulk of the need for Traffic Nets. We've gone from the era where a Western Union Telegram was a rare & expensive thing, thus making the appearance of a "free" ARRL Radiogram something special... to an era where the only reason someone even remembers what a Telegram was, is courtesy of an old movie... or the Candygram scene with Mongo in Blazing Saddles.

To say nothing of the fact that emergency communications for disasters is now handled in a formal, bureaucratic, structured way, as mandated by your local, state, or federal Emergency Response organizations... and we don't fit in with most of those that well anymore. Or that the military no longer feels the need for having a pool of experienced, self-trained hams available to call up if needed in time of war.

Many Traffic nets have cut back (some used to have 2 or 3 sessions a day) or outright folded. The ARRL NTS is withering on the vine, so to speak.

The days where a ham club or group of hams could set up at, say, a county fair or other event, and offer to send "FREE RADIOGRAMS" around the country? Gone. You will never again see a 2 week onslaught of traffic from the Florida State Fair, coutersy of W3CUL & W3VR. Who wants to bother, when they can not only text their friends & family from their smart phones, but send pictures to? And speaking of those two Silent Keys, I doubt few even recognize or remember these days their unique signature... 161 Al & Mae.

And on top of all that, often when a piece of traffic IS sent out, it is undeliverable... no one is left in the recipient city to get it and deliver it, or they don't want to bother looking up a phone number, or the information is outdated and can't be delivered. Worse, on the rare (these days) occassion of a VALID piece of traffic... there are a few self-appointed heroes, who love delivering traffic (and do so poorly, to boot), to the point where they short-circuit the NTS system. IE, they intercept traffic meant for out-of-their-area, starving the local traffic nets, simply for the "glory" of being the "hero" delivering the message. If only they learned to identify themselves, ennunciate, speak slowly enough to be understood, or even ask if there is a reply; no, they're too busy delivering messages (poorly) to bother with any of the fine details.

Is it any wonder that traffic nets have little traffic these days? The real wonder is that so many of them still hang on by a thread.

[KJ3N]

The real wonder is that so many of them still hang on by a thread.

See my previous post. Time for it to go gently into the night.

[W2NAP]

i have to laugh a bit, cause if it wasn't for the silly ecomm net or traffic or general club net. pretty much all the machines around here would be dead 24/7 instead of having its 15mins of activity once a week

[n2ize]

What I don't understand is that the whole point of amateur radio is communication, but it isn't used. Why don't radio clubs have meetings over the air, instead of half an hour of 'check in's and "no traffic''? Or why don't Elmer's get on the air and answer questions from new hams? Or why aren't "nets" used for things like passing on dates and times of community events outside of the hobby, like the fall festivals and other stuff?

A few radio clubs in this area do have a variety of nets where they chat about all different kinds of things. And not just tech nets, one repeater even has a "nostalgia net" among other nets dealing with less than common topics for typical ham radio. One has an informal "tech net" where you can talk about almost anything. There is one repeater in the area which still does a regular nightly traffic net and believe it or not they still handle traffic. Not as much as in the old days but they still get traffic. It also gives an opportunity to make club announcements and announcements of general amateur radio topics, such as meetings and VE exam sessions.