REMAINDER OF PREAMBLE

STATION OF ORIGIN

    The Station of Origin is the callsign of the station originating the message. So if you are originating the message, it would be your callsign. This is true even if you are originating on behalf of another ham or an unlicensed person. If you are NOT the originator, such as a relay station, then leave the callsign intact in the box.

CHECK

    This represents the number of words in the message. It is useful to determine if we have missed anything. While the typical Radiogram form has space for 25 words, that word count is not a hard limit. It is strongly recommended that we keep the messages within that limit when we can.

    The check is normally a number. Sometimes, however, the number might be prefaced by the letter group "ARL." This tells us that the radiogram has an ARL numbered phrase included. These are used to save space for common phrases. An example is ARL FIFTY, which stands for "Greetings by Amateur Radio." When using ARL numbered messages, the "ARL" is always before the number, and the number is always spelled out. So, it is FIFTY instead of 50.

PLACE OF ORIGIN

    City and state where the message originates. Traffic of international origin may also include the country. The notable exception to this is Canada, which uses their city and province, but not usually the country name.

TIME FILED

    The time that the message enters the NTS network. This is normally left blank. Exceptions include emergency traffic, priority traffic, and anything with handling instruction "B." This instruction includes a number. This number represents the number of hours allotted for delivery, so the time filed is a necessity on these messages.

DATE

    The date of the message. Unlike the time, the date is included on all messages.