This past weekend was the ARRL Southwest Division Hamcon in Torrance CA. I did not give a "tech talk" this year, but we did have a table in the hallway & we did pass some traffic. Besides me, we had Allie Peet K6ATP, Clara Woll KJ6CNO, Grant Gemel KK6AHZ (new ORG STM) & Nancee Darling K8NBD helping out. Many other traffic handlers stopped by.
Allie K7ATP deserves a special mention, as she is a very new ham (just long enough to get a vanity call). At an ARES district meeting the Saturday before last, she mentioned an interest in traffic, so I handed her a flier listing out local nets, etc. She showed up at Hamcon early on Saturday. I showed her how to help someone fill out a radiogram form. She originated the first one, for a ham who wandered by. After that, she did the same for several more, with very few errors. Smart lady!
It turns out that NOBODY complained or even mentioned that we had the ARRL National Traffic System (NTS) & the Radio Relay International (RRI) banners side by side, despite it being an ARRL convention. Random people did ask what RRI was. Not wanting to go into the political history, I just drew an analogy from the time when our landline phones had a local service & a long-distance carrier. At least in the Western Area, most of the local nets affiliate with NTS & the "long-haul" nets & schedules affiliate with RRI.
Note my traffic cones! I thought they were a nice touch, but most people didn't seem to get the joke.
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