Introduction

Emergency Communications is serious business. Whether we are simply speaking to another radio operator about something we observed, or we are passing official message traffic on behalf of a third party, we have two overarching goals. They are, in priority order:

  1. Transfer the message accurately (zero errors)

  2. Transfer the message efficiently (quickly, with as few words as possible)

To accomplish both goals, we all need to agree on a set of “rules” that we will use when speaking on the radio. In most respects, it doesn’t really matter what the rules are, if we all operate by the same rules. Failure to follow the same set of rules results in either inaccurate copy of the message, or unnecessary repeats and extra words used, or both!

Also, please see the Messaging section of the ARES Manual.

All Delaware County ARES/RACES operators are expected to follow these procedures when passing message traffic.