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1989-06-15
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AMTOR/PACKET Link (APLINK) Version 3.81, June 10, 1989
Copyright (c) 1989 - Victor D. Poor, W5SMM
[NTS OPERATIONS SUPPLEMENT TO APLINK.DOC]
NATIONAL TRAFFIC SYSTEM FEATURES
APLINK, beginning with Version 3.8, includes features specifically
to support National Traffic System operations in the United States
and Canada. Sysops for APLINK outside of these countries can
safely ignore these facilities.
The purpose of these features it to make selected APLINK
installations a clearing point for NTS traffic being passed between
active NTS stations. When activated, these facilities will
restrict access for certain NTS traffic to designated NTS stations
and provide for automatic confirmation of access and forwarding
back to originating stations.
CONFIGURING THE SYSTEM FOR NTS OPERATION
To activate special handling of NTS traffic, the SYSOP must include
the following parameter in the APLINK.CNF file:
NTS=ON
If this parameter is not set then 'ST' messages will have no
restrictions placed on their access and no confirmation messages
will be generated.
The following discussion assumes that NTS=ON has been set.
DESIGNATING NTS STATIONS
The SYSOP must co-ordinate with NTS TCC Directors to designate
which stations have NTS access privileges. This designation is
done with the USERS.EXE program, setting the NTS field for each NTS
station to YES.
ENTERING NTS TRAFFIC
Traffic to be cleared by designated NTS stations should be entered
into the system with the APLINK station's call or with the 'AT'
field not used. For example, where WA8DRZ is the APLINK station,
any of the following commands will 'capture' a message for the NTS
users:
ST WA8DRZ
ST NTS
ST WA8DRZ AT WA8DRZ
ST NTS AT WA8DRZ
ST WA8DRZ AT 94062
ST NTSTX AT WA8DRZ
In other words, any 'ST' message reaching WA8DRZ with WA8DRZ in
either the 'TO' field or the 'AT' field or with a blank 'AT' field
is considered an NTS message with restricted access and to be
cleared by a participating NTS station.
Messages arriving at WA8DRZ, to use this example, that are
addressed such as following would be autoforwarded by the APLINK
station and would not be treated as restricted NTS messages:
ST 78240 AT NTSTX
ST WB7QWG AT WB7QWG
ST WA5QZI AT 78229
No restriction is placed on any station entering an 'ST' message -
restrictions only apply to access.
NTS MESSAGE FORMAT
NTS operators entering messages into the system to be cleared by
other NTS operators would be expected to use the following form
(lower case is the system response):
ST WA8DRZ
nr 5678 nts ga msg+?
NTS WISCONSIN
NR 45 R HXG W7ABC 8 TACOMA WASH 1245Z 23 MAY
ROSEY MAY JONES
321 GARDEN ST
GREEN BAY WISCONSIN
404-555-4321
HAPPY BIRTHDAY X SEE YOU SOON X LOVE
TONY
NNNN
nr 5678 filed ga+?
Note that the 'title' or 'subject' line is the NTS routing. The
first non-blank line following is the standard NTS header.
ACCESSING NTS MESSAGES
A list of NTS messages may be viewed by entering the command:
NTS
A list of all NTS messages that have not been accepted by an NTS
station will be displayed. Any of the messages displayed may be
read by the standard APLINK command:
R <message number>
Following the display of the message the following prompt will be
displayed:
ACCEPT (YES/NO/CANCEL)+?
The system will not proceed until one of the three responses is
given. A response of YES means that the NTS station accepts
responsibility for further delivery and APLINK will mark it as
forwarded and delete it from the NTS message list. A response of
NO leaves the status of the message unchanged and a response of
CANCEL provides the option of removing a message from the system
that is unsuitable for amateur handling. In all three cases a
confirmation message will be generated as discussed below.
AUTOMATIC CONFIRMATIONS
Whenever a restricted NTS message is accessed a confirmation
message is automatically generated and sent to the station
originating the message into the APLINK system (not the station
whose call appears in the NTS header line). The address to the
originating station will leave the 'AT' field blank unless the call
appears in the intercept file.
The confirmation will take the following form:
CNF
UR MSG NR 5678 ACCEPTED BY W2DEF 890523/1534Z
NR 45 R HXG W7ABC 8 TACOMA WASH 1245Z 23 MAY
NNNN
The word 'ACCEPTED' will alternately be 'READ' or 'CANCELLED'
depending on the accessing station's response to the above prompt.
ARCHIVING MESSAGES
APLINK will hold messages in the system for at least 24 hours after
they have been marked as forwarded. A participating NTS station
may see a list of all messages including forwarded 'ST' messages
using the standard APLINK 'L' commands and may read any message
appearing on an 'L' command message list.
Sometime after 24 hours has passed from forwarding, APLINK will
remove the messages from the system and archive them. Only the
SYSOP can retrieve a message from the archive.
A message that remains unforwarded in the system for 21 days will
be removed and archived.