PACIFIC AREA DIGITAL STATION AND TARGET STATION GUIDELINES (Revised Nov 26, 2012) 1. Pacific Area Automated NTSD HUB/MBO's will NOT poll any Automated NTSD HUB stations for traffic numbers of times an hour. If a Hub/MBO has traffic that is the only time it should connect to another Hub/MBO. and should format their forwarding file as such. Also any NTSD State or Digital Relay Stations (DRS) should only pole a Regional Hub to receive traffic once an hour or if told that Region Hub has traffic. You should never ask for that NTSD HUB/MBO to listing of "all traffic" on that NTSD HUB/MBO. If a NTSD HUB/MBO has traffic for said station it will be forwarded at the time of the connection. 2. All forwarding files within the Automated NTSD MBO's in the Pacific Area will only connect and send traffic if they have traffic. This also applies to connections outside the Pacific Area. 3. State and Regional Hubs may not connect to out of Area Digital Hubs/MBO's unless they are instructed to do so by a designated local, county, state or federal official or in an emergency or disaster. NOTE: Only in a proclaimed emergency or time of disaster can this rule be broken. During a proclaimed emergency, stations may contact any digital station to send and receive emergency traffic 4. In an emergency, NTSD stations are to advise the Regional Hub if #3 above is in effect. The Regional Hub will inform the Pacific Area Hub. The Pacific Area Hub is responsible to manage all available Pacific Area assets to support emergency traffic. 5. Health and Welfare traffic for the affected area will be held for 48 hours before being sent to reduce interference and maintain clear frequencies for emergency traffic unless told otherwise by either the Area Digital Coordinator (ADC). 6. Bulletins will only be forwarded on VHF or Telnet, not over HF circuits. The mission of NTSD stations is to only send and receive traffic. Note: The name of the game is to expedite emergency traffic; bulletins tie up frequencies which are then no available to process emergency or Health and Welfare traffic. 7. During normal operations, traffic will be sent to the proper Regional Hub for distribution within that Region. If there is more than one station in a Region that receives traffic, it is the responsibility of the Regional Hub to divide the traffic among those stations either by zip code or by daily, weekly or monthly appointment or a combination of all the before. 8. If you cannot connect to your Regional Hub OR that Regional Hub's alternate NTSD, digital stations may connect to the next Region’s Hub or Alternate to send outgoing traffic. If a NTSD digital station cannot receive any traffic on an ongoing basis, that station should notify the Regional Hub’s Sysop or the Area Coordinator, OR both, so they can make arrangements so that digital stations can receive traffic. Note: Alternate Regional Hubs should follow the above statement in Rule 5 above regarding the breakup of traffic for other Regions or Areas. 9. Stations will send in a monthly report before the 7th of the month, consisting of a traffic count of sent and received for the past month. 10. If a NTSD Digital station goes down for any reason that station needs to advise the Area Digital Coordinator ASAP. The Area Digital Coordinator will then advise all other stations in the Pacific Area as well as the other two Digital Coordinators East and Central. 11. For "HAM" on "TELNET" over the WL2K System the forwarding protocol should be B2F. For forwarding over "HF" or "VHF" over the “NTSD" System the forwarding protocol should be B1F. 12. All Pacific Area NTSD Digital stations must read and be familiar with the New Chapter 6 of the MPG found at http://wx4j.com/WL2KLayersWeb12.htm and http://wx4j.com/MPG6_NTSD_RADIOEMAIL.htm 13. Stations operating on HF with manual software such as Airmail, Paclink, or WINMOR must listen at least 15/20 seconds on the frequency before transmitting or attempting connecting to their State or Regional Hub. 14. All Regional Hub Sysops should have SKYPE software. Alternate's are not required to have said software but it is highly recommended so they might join in Area conferences regarding the NTSD Pacific Area. This software is free and can be downloaded at http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/get-skype 15. Target stations must be able to connect send or receive radio email and traffic from any served agencies or other Target stations. Section Target Stations are required to check the WL2K system at least once a day or more if possible for traffic. Target Stations should have the ability to connect to a VHF RMS if possible or to Telnet. Target Stations at the State or Sections Target must have or be able to link to a RMS on HF do to the fact in some areas VHF links are too far apart and thus could not connect to a VHF RMS. 16. Regional Target Stations/Digital Hubs must be able to connect to the WL2K System via HF if their internet/Telnet fails, this is a must. NTSD Hubs must have software running twenty four hours a day that is connect to the WL2K (Winlink2000) and is able to receive radio email over the WL2K system via Telnet. It is paramount that the Regional Hubs be able to reach into VHF or section networks at the lowest level with either HF, VHF or Telnet in a emergency or disaster. 17. These Guidelines are recommended for the Pacific Area Digital and Target Stations only, and not for any other Area, other Area's may differ in their operation. These Guidelines follow the revised Chapter 6 MPG which should be read a followed for good operation of a NTSD Station. 18. "unattended" USA stations should not operate P3 outside the 7100-7105 segment. In is my understanding that "attended" P3 operation outside that segment is legal. (for "best practice) scan P3 only in the 7100-7105 segment, and scan P1,P2, WINMOR outside that segment. In is my understanding that "attended" P3 operation outside that segment is legal if used to pass traffic. 19. There is a little known Winlink limit regard Attachment names. fifty (50) character maximum, including spaces and file extension type. See Winlink FAQ 360. There is no "error message" that shows up....the Attachment is just not received by the WL2K recipient! Chuck Verdon W5KAV Pacific Area Digital Coordinator NTSD Chuckw5kav@comcast.net w5kav@arrl.net w5kav@winlink.org Skype Chuckv1