The Ontario Beaver Net and Ontario Beaver Slow Speed CW Nets (OBN and OBSSN) began operation in 1938, ceased operation during WW II and continued again until the early 21st century. Unfortunately, due to a shortage of operators the nets have largely disappeared from the airwaves. Additionally there were three daily sessions of the Ontario Section Net (also CW) .

  The net manager of these nets for many years was Al Taylor, VE3WV of Trenton Ontario. Al now resides in a retirement home since the passing of his dear wife a few years ago. According to database listings he still maintains ownership of his residence, but I do not believe he is currently active at least on the HF bands.

  Several years ago, Mr Taylor compounded a training manual for the OBN and OBSSN. This manual contains a wealth of information for anyone interested in CW traffic nets or traffic nets in general. The information contained therein is as current today as when it was originally created.


TRAINING MANUAL
ONTARIO BEAVER SLOW SPEED NET,
OBSSN
AND
ONTARIO BEAVER NET, OBN
PLUS
ONTARIO BEAVER NET HISTORY
Compiled by
Al Taylor, VE3WV
Ex pre WW II VE3PI After WW II VE2RZ
VE3CFA, VE3AEY
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
CONTENTS
Page Contents or Index, This page
1-4 Introduction
1. Net Calling and Check-in Procedure
2. “ ” “ ” “
3. “ ” “ ” “
4. “ ” “ ” “
5. “ ” “ ” “
6. International Q Signals very suitable to message traffic
7. ARRL QN Signals for Morse Net Usage Only
8. “ ” “ ” “ ” “ ” completed.
9. Other Abbreviations, very useful for traffic
10. HX Prosign, Handling Instructions. The Service Message.
11. Book Traffic, Booking Traffic
12. Net Report Formats and explanation.
13. “ ” “ ” “
14. “ ” “ ” “
15. Other Traffic Nets Frequencies and Times
16. “ ” “ ” “ ”
(Note Net Frequencies are not carved in stone.)
17. Comparison International with American Morse, also
ICAO International Civil Aeronautic Organization
Phonetic Alphabet.
18. Comparison International Morse Figures and Punctuation
with American Morse Figures, with exaggerated pronunciation for
numerals.
19. ARRL Numbered Messages
20 ARRL Recommended Precedences
21. A.R.E.S. Welfare Msgs.
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
INTRODUCTION
During a recent conversation with George Neeson, VE3BDM; George made
mention of a training manual that one of the American Nets are using.
I guess this planted the germ of an idea, and I thought I should do
something about a manual for the Ontario Beaver nets. I hope the
manual will be interesting and serve as a refresher to those who do
check into the Ontario Beaver Nets.
The name of the net revives the history and tradition of a
traffic net that was in existence prior to WW II. QST for Jan. 1939
makes mention of the Beaver Net. There is approximately a two month
lag from when reports are sent in till they appear in the journal, so
I think it safe to say the Beaver Net existed in 1938. The year
1998, sixty years later would have been the diamond anniversary of
the original Beaver Net if it had continued as The Beaver net. It
should make you proud to be associated with a net that has a
tradition of service to both Amateur Radio and the public.
Addendum to the Introduction. Sept. 1999
My original compilation became unretrievable from my old computer,
not compatible with my new Y2K compliant one with a different word
processor. Fortunately Doug Berry, VE3XTM had a hard copy of the
original, which he made available to me. Early this year the use of
the International Morse Code was abolished for the shipping industry.
Cont’d .....>
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
2. Introduction cont’d.
Many new amateurs are now licensed with a Basic License with no code
requirement, and with advanced technology and construction methods,
we are no longer able to construct our own receivers and transmitter,
there is not the same thrill of getting on the air with something we
built ourselves, with that box of parts we put together as a home
made rig had brought a signal from a distance and that she/he copied
your CQ and call sign, that had been sent with trembling fist.
Something of the romance and fun of Amateur Radio must be
missing for the type of appliance operators we have become. Even for
those of us who did it the hard way, now go to the Ham Radio Emporium
and pay our money for a lovely manufactured rig, with all sorts of
features we would never have even dreamed of.
It was just a very short time after being licensed when a fellow
ham asked me if I would QSP a message for one of the mining towns of
Northern Ontario. He was in the Toronto area. At that time I had
not heard of traffic nets. I agreed to take his traffic and made a
sked with him in case there would be a reply coming back in answer to
his message. I was living with my parents, and after receiving the
message, called CQ one of the mining towns and received a reply, and
he said he would relay the message the rest of the way. I made a
sked with him for the following day. This was during the 30's
economic depression days, there was hardly any work south but the
mining areas of Northern Ontario and Quebec were busy. So we had
Cont’d.
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
Introduction cont’d. 3.
plenty of traffic going back and forth between friends up North and
their friends, left behind in the south.
How long our phone and morse traffic nets will continue is
anyone’s guess. When I applied to the Department of Marine for my
first license, two of the lines on the application we had to fill out
were ‘The nearest Coast Station’ and ‘The nearest Telegraph Office’.
Many persons did not have a telephone, and when it was necessary to
advise someone at a distance of serious illness or death, a Telegram
was sent from the nearest Railway Telegraph Office, or the slower way
of mailing a letter.
Railroad telegraphers used American Morse considered to be a
faster code than the Continental Code, which became the International
Morse. Land line telegraphy gave us 73, 88, & (the ampersand) and
what we mistakenly send as Hi Hi. Land line morse operators sent Ho
Ho, like the Santa Claus HO HO, meaning laughter. When you are using
radio telephone, laugh so the other party knows you enjoyed it.
Don’t say Hi., which sounds like you were greeting someone that came
into the shack.
The American Morse letter O was two dits, with space between the
dits greater than the letter i but less than the space between
characters. You can not send it correctly with an electronic keyer
and paddles because the length of dits and dahs as well as the spaces
Cont’d over
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
4. Introduction cont’d.
are controlled by an electronic timer or clock. You can send it
correctly with the old fashioned telegraph key, sometimes referred to
as a pump handle, or the mechanical key using the weighted pendulum,
there were many versions, but the Vibroplex is still available and in
use by many of us.
It was after the restoration of amateur privileges following
WW II, when I operated as a VE2 that I started with traffic nets, and
that is the best way to get a message to it’s destination by ham
radio.
TRAINING MANUAL
FOR THE
ONTARIO BEAVER SLOW SPEED NET, OBSSN
AND
ONTARIO BEAVER NET, OBN
Compiled by
Al Taylor, VE3WV
Ex pre WW-II VE3PI After WW-II VE2RZ
VE3CFA, VE3AEY
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
NET CALLING and CHECK IN PROCEDURE 1.
TRAFFIC NETS operate on TIME. Each of us should know how well our
station clock maintains correct time from the last time we compared
it to CHU Ottawa on 3.330 Mhz. Or 7.335 Mhz. Or WWV. Traffic nets
always keep their log in UTC or Zulu time.
It has been a rule of traffic nets that 1 minute after the start
time, if the regular NCS has not called the net, anyone of the net
members is authorized to do so. The regular NCS will not be offended,
she/he will thank you for taking it on. When you QNG, (take over)
continue for the rest of the session. If and when the scheduled NCS
checks in, they are counted as a check-in like everyone else on the
net. There are times when anyone may be unavoidably detained, and we
all know this.
QSK BREAK-IN All stations on a traffic net should be able to operate
break-in, it saves the time of having to operate a send/receive
switch.
OBSSN start time is 1815 local time, when on Standard time there is a
5 hour difference with UTC, and when we are on Daylight time the
difference is 4 hours.
CQ Obssn obssn Ontario Beaver Slow Speed Net obssn QND pse QNZ de
(call sign of NCS sent twice) QTC? QNI K
This a general call to the Net, QND it is a directed net. Once
having checked in and acknowledged by NCS we make no further
transmissions, except when directed to by NCS. It is custom to QNI
(check in) by sending one or two letters of the suffix of your call
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
2. NET CALLING and CHECK IN PROCEDURE
sign.
The NCS sends what he/she heard, and you check in by sending:
de (your own complete call sign) gm, ga, or ge (name of NCS) QNI QRU
(If no traffic) or QTC followed by the destination, or call sign of
the station your traffic is for and the number of messages. NCS will
__
acknowledge with your call sign followed by AS (the wait signal),
QNZ K please zero-beat. Some of our receivers use narrow band
filters and unless you are on frequency you will not be heard. Be
sure your RIT Receiver Incremental Tuning is turned OFF no Off-set.
This very important on a Morse net. Net frequency is where the NCS
calls the net, and NCS is not going to tune around looking for you.
QTC? list your traffic with destination and number of messages.
When calling the OBN send a few Vees, this is just to give a little
more time to adjust to the NCS frequency. Note listed net
frequencies are always nominal +/-. The Net Frequency is the
frequency being used by the NCS. It is the privilege of NCS to chose
the actual spot, sometimes there is QRM or a QSO in progress close to
or on the net frequency. The net normally operates on a particular
frequency by custom, however, we have no more right to use that
frequency than any other party, so we use just common courtesy and
QSY up or down to permit the QSO in progress to continue.
When band conditions are not the best, we may have to QSP for a
station that QNIs and is not heard by NCS, or the one that is to
receive traffic.
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
NET CALLING and CHECK IN PROCEDURE 3.
QTC? How many messages have you and destination? It has long been a
custom for the Ontario Beaver Nets to have one of the stations act as
liaison to the Ontario Phone Net. When ve3bdm checked in the NCS
asked him if he was going or could go to the Ont. Phone Net, like
this; ge George ve3bdm opn? Ve3bdm acknowledges and indicates he
will or is going to opn by simply sending the letter ‘C’ meaning yes.
__
NCS continues; tu ve3bdm AS (Thank you ve3bdm please Wait). Here is
an example; ve3pxr has 2 messages for Hamilton and 1 for Brighton.
__
de ve3pxr ge (name of NCS) QNI QTC Hamilton 2 Brighton 1 AR.
__
NCS acknowledges in similar manner to above telling ve3pxr AS. When
the NCS is satisfied there are no more check ins, proceeds to clear
the traffic, knowing Hamilton is best cleared over the OPN sends
ve3bdm and ve3pxr up or down from the net frequency 5 or 10 Khz to
clear Hamilton tfc. The call sign of the station that is to receive
is sent first followed by the call sign of the one that has the
traffic. Ve3pxr ve3bdm u5 Hamilton 2. Ve3bdm and ve3pxr both send
‘G’ meaning gone, and the station that is to receive the traffic
finds a clear spot close to where they were told to go. The
frequency up 5 may have some QRM that would make receiving difficult,
when he is satisfied he calls ve3bdm and ve3bdm will send QRV?,
meaning are you ready, ve3pxr replies with QRV, meaning I am ready.
NCS knows that ve3wv is in a good location to take the Brighton
traffic and sends ve3wv u5 Brighton after ve3bdm then both QRU QNX.
Ve3wv waits till he hears ve3bdm and ve3pxr complete the transfer of
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
4. NET CALLING and CHECK IN PROCEDURE
traffic and immediately calls ve3pxr indicating to go ahead with the
Brighton traffic. Ve3bdm returns to the net frequency indicating his
return by sending the suffix of his call followed by clr. In this
way the NCS knows the traffic has been successfully passed. Ve3wv
up 5 for Brighton traffic, on completion will indicate to ve3pxr that
they are both excused from the net. They may return to the net
frequency indicating the traffic cleared, although it is not
obligatory, in this case the NCS knows they clear their traffic.
Comparison of Morse and Phone procedure in listing their
traffic:
__
Morse net QTC Hamilton 2 Brighton 1 AR
Phone net I have 2 for Hamilton and 1 for Brighton OVER
On phone we say it.
Here is another example of a check in, ve3bdm is NCS and at the
invitation to check in QNI he hears Z, he sends Z and hears GE George
de ve3xtm QNI QRU wds ve3wv K Earlier in this treatise we said to
use a letter or letters from the call suffix. We have another
station that checks in frequently and he always sends X. Doug avoids
the confusion of two stations checking in with the same letter by
sending Z, and of course those who act as NCS are now aware of this
and know who it is without even waiting for his call sign. However,
during the regular check in procedure, Doug indicated no traffic but
he wants to have wds (words), or a short chat with ve3wv. Chats are
often held on the net frequency after the net is finished, however,
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
NET CALLING and CHECK IN PROCEDURE 5.
sometimes if they are not needed for traffic, NCS will tell them wds
u5 or d5 and they will return to the net frequency for the duration
of the net.
Calling the OBN. The Ontario Beaver Net operates at any speed you
are comfortable with. CQ obn obn Ontario Beaver Net obn QND pse QNZ
de (call sign of NCS sent twice) v v v QTC? QNI K. The difference
here being the sending of vees to give time for zero beating the Net
frequency.
The net liaison query, when one is going to the OPN or can go to OPN
we simply send ‘C’, when we are unable to go a simple ‘N’ for no is
sufficient, no explanation needed. Explanations require valuable
net time, are unnecessary and superfluous.
MESSAGES GOING OUT OF PROVINCE
QNI as usual but list tfc as QTC ecn with numeral. Ecn Eastern
Canada Net and Digital APLINK NTS handle traffic leaving and coming
into Canada, and Ontario. Just list as above, leave the routing to
the NCS. NCS knows who can pass it along for you, NCS will possibly
have someone going to the OPN or OSN take the traffic. Have no fear
it will get to it’s destination.
CLOSING THE NET SESSION
When all traffic possible has been dispatched, NCS closes the net
session with something such as: Tnx all for QNI obssn or obn QRU QNF
__
(ge or 73) de ve3xtm SK
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
6. INTERNATIONAL Q SIGNALS VERY SUITABLE TO MESSAGE TRAFFIC
International Q Signals were developed by an International Convention for
Safety of Life at Sea. Many have to do with shipping and are not applicable
to Amateur Radio. They are for Morse use only, in fact they were developed
before Radio Telephony. The following short list in combination with ARRL QN
signals increase the efficiency of our Morse Traffic Nets.
The Q signals have both an interrogating meaning and a response, when used as
a Question they are followed by the Interrogation Mark or Question Mark.
QUERY RESPONSE
QRQ ? Shall I send faster? Send faster (.. wpm).
QRS ? Shall I send slower? Send slower (.. wpm).
QRT ? Shall I stop sending? Stop sending.
QRU ? Have you anything for me? I have nothing for you.
QRV ? Are you ready? I am ready.
QRW ? Shall I tell .... that you are Please tell .... that I am
calling him on .... Khz? calling him on .... Khz.
QSB ? Are my signals fading? Your signals are fading.
QSK ? Can you hear me between your I can hear you between my
signals and if so can I break signals, break in on my
in on you’re your transmission? transmission.
QSL ? Can you acknowledge receipt? I acknowledge receipt.
QSP ? Will you relay to ....? I will relay to .... .
QSV ? Shall I send a series of vvv Yes send a series of vvv
on .... Khz.? on .... Khz.
QSZ ? Shall I send each word twice Send each word twice (or
(or .. times? .. times).
QTA ? Shall I cancel message Cancel message number ...
number ...?
QTB ? Do you agree with my number I do not agree with your
of words? number of words; I will
repeat the first letter of
each word and first figure
of each number.
QTC ? How many radiograms have I have ... radiograms for
you to send? you (or ... ).
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
ARRL QN SIGNALS FOR MORSE NET USAGE ONLY 7.
The QN signals used on North American Traffic Nets originated in the late
1940s in the Michigan QMN Net, and were made known to ARRL head-quarters by
W8FX. W1UE the assistant communications manager at ARRL headquarters, thought
enough of them to print them in QST, and later to make them standard for ARRL
nets. Unfortunately my back issues of QST are incomplete so I am unable to
state what issue they appeared in. They may be used either as an
interrogation or response.
* For use by the Net Control Station
QNA* Answer in preArranged order.
QNB* Act as relay Between ______ and _____.
QNC All net stations please Copy.
I have a message for all net stations.
QND Net is Directed (Controlled by Net Control Station).
QNE Entire net standby. Sometimes used to identify a weak signal.
QNF Net is Free (not controlled).
QNG Take over as Net Control Station. Act as NCS.
QNH Your net frequency is High
QNI Net stations report In.
I am checking Into the net. (Follow with a list of traffic.)
QNJ Can you copy me or ______?
QNK* Transmit messages for _____ to ______.
QNL Your net frequency is Low.
QNM* You are QRMing the net. Stand by.
QNO Station is leaving the net. Out of net.
QNP Unable to copy you.
Unable to copy ______. ......>
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
8. ARRL QN SIGNALS FOR MORSE NET USAGE ONLY cont’d.
QNQ* Move frequency to _______ and wait for ______.
QNR Answer and Receive traffic.
QNS Following Stations in net.
QNT I request permission to leave the net for ___ minutes.
QNU The net has traffic for you.
QNW How do I route traffic for ____?
QNY Shift to another frequency (or to ___ Khz. to clear
traffic with _____.
QNZ* Zero-beat your signal with mine.
* For use by the Net Control Station.
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
OTHER ABBREVIATIONS 9.
Some of the following short-cuts originated with land-line
telegraphers, others with ship and ship to shore operators, becoming
standard practice by use. Note a similarity of land-line 30 and SK.
AA All After, send last NIL I have nothing for you.
word received.
AB All Before, send first NW Now
word received.
ADS Address
__
AR End of transmission PBL Preamble
Ref Post Master Generals
Handbook.
__
AR End of Message. REF Reference
__
AS Wait SIG Signature
BN Between, send the two SK End of work. Ref. Post
words or figure groups Master Generals Handbook
C Yes SVC Service Message
CL I am closing my station TFC Traffic
CFM Confirm CFM WA, CFM WB, TXT Text
CFM ADS, send the word
you received correctly.
K Invitation to transmit, UA Do You Agree?
or Go Ahead.
__ __
KN On a directed net KN is WA Word After used when
unnecessary. Getting fills.
Note: The combination of two letter groups shown with
a bar over top are sent as one character __ __
no space between. Examples: AR, AS
Land-Line Morse ...-. ___ 30 News Reporters ended their
3 0 despatches to their paper
with 30 thirty.
International ... _._
S K
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
10. HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS Prosign HX
The HX prosign (when used) will be inserted in the message preamble
by the originating station, thus Nr 207 R HXA50 W1AW 12 ... (etc.).
If more than 1 prosign is used they may be combined if no numbers
inserted: otherwise HX should be repeated, thus Nr 207 R HXA50 HXC W1AW
... (etc.).
On radio telephone use phonetics to insure accuracy.
Note: It is not a requirement to use the prosign HX, however when
HX_ has been inserted at the originating station, it is
obligatory that all relay stations transmit the HX_ prosign.
HXA (Followed by a number.) Collect land-line delivery authorized
By addressee within _____ miles. (If no number, unlimited.)
HXB (Followed by a number.) Cancel message if not delivered within
_____ hours of Filing time, Service the originating station.
HXC Report date and time of delivery (TOD) to originating station.
HXD Report to originating station the identity of station from
which received, plus date, time and method of delivery.
HXE Delivering station get reply from addressee, originate message
back.
HXF (Followed by a number.) Hold delivery until ____ (date).
HXG Delivery by mail or land-line toll call not required.
If toll or other expense involved, cancel message and service
Originating station.
THE SERVICE MESSAGE
A service message is simply a message in standard format sent back to
the originating station, which explains difficulty or inability to
deliver a message. Example:
Nr 1 R ve3aaa ARL 9 Toronto On Aug 30
W1PEX NASHUA NH BT
ARL SIXTY SEVEN NR 37 AFTER REPEATED TELEPHONE CALLS BT __
Jake AR
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
BOOKED TRAFFIC 11.
Occasionally, when originating messages from public places, a
situation may occur where a number of messages may have identical
parts, the same message going to several different addresses.
Sending and receiving time can be saved if the common parts are sent
once, then the different parts which would be the number, name and
address are sent separately. Here is a typical example, of a
message, picked up during a County Fair demo of Amateur Radio, the
names, addresses and telephone numbers are all fictitious and it is
purely coincidental if some one by any of these names were at the
address given for examples only:
__
Hr book of 3 R ve3pac ARL 9 Picton On Sept 6 BT
__
ARL Fifty we are enjoying the Picton Fall Fair BT Mom and Dad
__
Nr 11 Jason Smith RR 1 HASTINGS K0L 1Y0 Tel 705 696 3519 AR 2
__
Nr 14 Katie Brown RR 2 CAMPBELLFORD K0K 1L0 Tel 705 924 2824 AR 1
__
Nr 15 Becky Jones RR 1 HASTINGS K0L 1Y0 No Tel given AR
End book of 3.
__
The numeral 2 following AR means there are 2 more left, we send it
that way as a guide to the receiving operator. A book is not limited
to 3, and use of the book method saved sending the preamble and
message text 3 times. In the example given suppose an amateur at
Campbellford received the book of 3, she/he might relay the remaining
2 to Hastings. She/he might know one of the parties and deliver it,
but send the remaining one to another amateur in Hastings.
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
12. NET REPORT FORMAT
One of the requirements of all traffic nets is the net report sent to
the net manager. At the end of the month, the net manager compiles
the information contained in each net report into his own report to
the Section Traffic Manager, STM. The activities of the various nets
appear in TCA, The Canadian Amateur, the American amateurs have their
information in QST. The net reports are transmitted in NTS message
format to the net manager, except that it is superfluous and
unnecessary to send his full name and address, which all takes time,
we all have other things to do.
Here are examples of acceptable net report format, for this example
we assume that ve3bdm is Net Manager. (George was Net Manager at one
time.), and that ve3pxr was NCS, the regular NCS didn’t show.
Keeping to the format makes for reliability.
__
Nr 48 R VE3PXR 19 Toronto Aug 1 VE3BDM BT
Obssn 312217z ve3pxr QNG x QNS va3pm/opn ve3bb hk gbk xtm x
__ __
Tfc 3/3 time 13 mins x 73 BT Fred AR
First the number, this is Fred’s message number, we can number from
the first of the year, first of the month, it’s your choice, the
message numbers are for tracing purposes. R, it is Routine. The
originating station is ve3pxr. 19, There are 19 words in the text
only, counting the x’s or xrays. Toronto the place of origin, the
__
Date followed by the Net Manager’s call sign. BT, the break sign for
separation of preamble, address and text, another break sign and the
__
Sig. AR end of message.
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
NET REPORT FORMAT cont’d 13.
TEXT Obssn, the net, 312217z the 6 figure group giving the date and
time in U.T.C. or zulu indicated by the Z. Note the late start time
2217z and QNG following the NCS call-sign. Same practice used on
other nets so we might as well do it the established way, then when
you have gained sufficient confidence to go to another net, you will
be familiar with the general format. You may be asked to QSP, or
relay, it will then be old hat to you. Call sign of NCS, QNG, Fred
was acting NCS, either pre-arranged or after one minute no show of
NCS, he took control.
QNS, stations that checked in, usually in the order of QNI. You will
note va3pm/opn, this shows that va3pm was the liaison station to the
OPN, Ontario Phone Net. Va3pm would therefore receive any traffic
traffic that was going to some place where the net members could not
deliver. When he checked in with OPN he would say he was from the
Ont. Beaver Net, and list the traffic, again leaving it with the OPN
NCS to decide who should take it for delivery or relay.
Traffic, the number of messages 3/3 3 listed and 3 cleared or
passed. There may have been more listed but, they may have been
canceled, QTA, so are not in the count.
The time duration of the net in minutes from the initial call till
the net was closed by the NCS. The message concludes with the usual
__
73 BT and Sig.
Cont’d ...
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
14. NET REPORT FORMAT cont’d.
ALTERNATE NET REPORT FORMAT
__
NR 48 R VE3PXR 18 TORONTO Aug 1 VE3BDM BT
Obn 312230z ve3pxr QNG x QNS va3pm/opn ve3bb ve3gkb va3xtm x
__ __
QTC 3/2 QND 6 mins x 73 BT Fred AR
Note here the start time is on the half hour, Fred is continuing to
act as NCS, in the preceding obssn report the start time was shown as
2217z, the regular NCS had not shown at 2215z, so Fred had taken over
ve3pxr QNG.
Not much different that the first, the preamble is the same except
for the word count, and the report is for the OBN, Ontario Beaver
Net. Text gives the information but uses the International Q sig
QTC for the traffic, and QND for the time the net was directed.
In this example we have shown 3/2 3 listed and 2 passed. There was
one listed for ve3wv who didn’t QNI. The msg ends with the usual
__
Amateur greeting 73 and BT to separate text from the signature.
AN ALTERNATE FORMAT (used by ve3cza since gbssn before obssn)
__
Nr 7 R ve3cza 16 Goodwood Aug 8 Al ve3wv BT
QNS obssn Aug 8 ve3wv xtm/opn gkb cza x
__ __
Tfc 2/2 time 8 mins x 88 BT Sam AR
The above net report sent by ve3cza gives the required information,
but omits the start time of the net, which is a time established by
consistent day after day use over several years by the GBSSN and GBN
predecessors of OBSSN and OBN.
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
OTHER TRAFFIC NETS 15.
It was 1949 after WW II, when the National Traffic System concept was
developed by George Hart, W1NMJ of ARRL Headquarters, when he was
assistant Communications Manager. It takes into account the times
when most Amateurs are available, and therefore the Time Zones which
had been developed by a Canadian Sir Sanford Fleming, a Civil Engineer
with the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Standard Time System was
adopted world-wide in 1884.
The NTS was designed to move traffic across the continent and made
use of the times when most amateurs were available. Previously message
traffic had been moved by various Trunk Lines. Although the
two Ontario Beaver Nets cover a wide area of Ontario, the nets operate
during the time slot slated for local nets. We use the same
practices as the Nets of the National Traffic System NTS, and therefore
the proficiency you gain on the Ontario Beaver Nets is not
wasted, you are already prepared for Section and Region Nets.
Anyone who has listened to or participated in National Traffic System
Nets, may have heard the term “cycle”, followed by a number one, two,
three or four. A cycle refers to a nets scheduled meeting time.
The order in which the various nets meet is essential to the operation
of the system.
Refer to QST, May 1998 page 85.
I know some of you don’t receive QST, so for your interest here is the
important part, the schedule. The Eastern Area Net is an upper
echelon net.
Cycle One Cycle Three
10.00 AM Section 4.00 PM Section OSN
10.45 AM Region 4.45 PM Region
11.30 AM Area 5.30 Area
12.30 PM Region 6.30 Region
Cycle Two Cycle Four
1.00 PM Section 7.00 PM Section OSN and OPN
1.45 PM Region 7.45 PM Region ECN
2.30 PM Area EAN 8.45 PM Area EAN
3.30 PM Region 9.30 PM Region ECN
10.00 PM Section OSN
Message Traffic crosses the country, west to east and east to west by
a few dedicated operators, who maintain schedules with each other and
with Area nets for exchange of traffic. So you see it doesn’t just
happen, it is planned. That is why it is reliable.
EAN Cycle 2 7243 Khz. M-F EAN Cycle 3 3670/7050 Khz. Dy.
EAN “ 2 7050 Khz. S, Sn. EAN “ 4 3670 Khz. Dy.
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
16. OTHER TRAFFIC NETS
Local Time Examples
Ontario Section Net Daytime 4.00 pm OSND Ont. Section
Net Daytime
3667 Khz.
Local Nets operate prior to 6.30 pm OLN, Open Line Net
7.00 pm and should have liaison Toronto and area
to a Section Net or Nets; On 2m Rptr VE3RPT
Ontario is a Section and should 7.00 pm OPN, Ont. Phone Net
have liason to the Region Net with 3742 Khz.
out of province traffic. OSN Ont. Section
Net 3667 Khz.
Region Net Cycle 4 should have 7.45 pm ECN, Eastern Canada
liaison to Area Net with out of Net 3655 Khz.
province traffic.
Area Nets North America East 8.30 pm EAN, Eastern Area
of Missippi River has 3 cycles Net see cycles
or sessions daily. The process on page 15.
then reverses itself.
Region Net Cycle 4, traffic 9.30 pm ECN, Eastern Canada
coming into the province if not Net 3665 Khz.
cleared to OSN C4 is held to the
following day for OPN or OSN C3
or C4.
10.00 pm OSNL Ont. Section
Net Late
3667 Khz.
During Winter months OSND operates on 3667 Khz. However
during Summer months OSND operates on 7040 Khz.
(Note at present 2001 there is no OSND no one could
be found when VE3PXR had to give up for health reasons.)
A word about DIGITAL APLINK. A Digital Net is also listed as ECN,
George ve3bdm has been operating a dedicated digital terminal at his
QTH which links Canada to ECN 11RN, it is an automatic system, George
tells me that 50% or more of cross border traffic is now moving by
Digital Mode, APLINK. The Digital System requires computers connected
through the transceiver automatically shifting from send to receive as
required and with error checking due to transmission fades, static etc.
If the person entering the message types it incorrectly, the system
accepts that as being what was intended. If the signature intended
was Roberta and the typist typed Robert, the message would arrive with
signature Robert instead of Roberta. GIGO, Garbage In Garbage Out, as
the computer people say.
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
COMPARISON INTERNATIONAL & AMERICAN MORSE 17.
This comparison is shown for interest only, land-line morse was completely done away with in the
50s, in favour of the teletype. Originally the railroad dispatchers telegraphed the orders for
trains to wait and take a siding to permit another train proceeding in the opposite direction to
continue, or a slow freight to allow a fast freight or passenger train to overtake it. As a
train went past the station the dispatcher with a long pole with a hoop at one end would hold it
up so the locomotive operator could put his arm through the loop and then retrieve the written
train orders, and drop the pole for its next use. Stock broker’s office had a morse operator to
mark the board showing the latest stock quotes. In larger centres the railways would have a
down-town office to handle the commercial telegrams and the ordinary person could drop in and
file a message.
INTERNATIONAL AMERICAN ICAO PHONETIC
MORSE MORSE ALPHABET
A .- .- ALFA
B -... -... BRAVO
C -.-. .. . CHARLIE
D -.. -.. DELTA
E . . ECHO
F ..-. .-. FOXTROT
G –-. –-. GOLF
H .... .... HOTEL
I .. .. INDIA
J .--- -.-. JULIET
K -.- -.- KILO
L .-.. __ LIMA
M –- –- MIKE
N –. –. NOVEMBER
O --- . . OSCAR
P .–-. ..... PAPA
Q –-.- ..-. QUEBEC
R .-. . .. ROMEO
S ... ... SIERRA
T - - TANGO
U ..- ..- UNIFORM
V ...- ...- VICTOR
W .-- .-- WHISKEY
X -..- .-.. X-RAY
Y -.-- .. .. YANKEE
Z –-.. ... . ZULU
PUNCTUATION
Period .-.-.- ..–..
Comma –-..-- .-.-
? ..–.. -..-.
Colon ––... -.- . .
Semi-colon -.-.-. ... ..
Hyphen -...- .... .-..
! none at present ---.
Apostrophe .----. ..-. .-..
/ -..-. ..- .
( ) -.--.- ( .... -.
) .... .. ..
“ .-..-. “ ..-. -.
“ ..-. -.-.
ONTARIO BEAVER NETS TRAINING MANUAL
18. COMPARISON INTERNATIONAL & AMERICAN MORSE
FIGURES
INTERNATIONAL AMERICAN EXAGGERATED
MORSE MORSE PRONUNCIATION
1 .---- .–-. WUN
2 ..--- ..–-.. TOO
3 ...-- ...-. THUH-REE
4 ....- ....- FO-WER
5 ..... --- FI-YIV
6 -.... ...... SIX
7 –-... –-.. SEV-EN
8 —--.. -.... ATE
9 ----. -..- NINER
0 ----- __ ZEERO
NOTE:
As you will observe the American Land-Line Morse character for zero and the letter
L used a longer dash than normal. Also other letters C, O, R, Y and Z used a
longer space between parts of the character; that space was greater than the normal
space between parts of a character but less than the space between two successive
letters of the same word. It was considered to be a faster code, but the convention
for Safety of Life at Sea rejected the American Morse in favour of the Continental
code. It was felt the spaces in the characters of American Morse would make it less
reliable when received over radio, under adverse propagation conditions. So the
the Continental became the International Morse, we use in radio.



ONTARIO
BEAVER NETS
HISTORY
COMPILED BY AL TAYLOR, VE3WV
EX pre WW-II VE3PI,
AFTER WW-II VE2RZ, VE3CFA, VE3AEY
HISTORY OF THE ONTARIO BEAVER NETS
I thought those of you who check into the Ontario Beaver Nets would like to
have a bit of knowledge about it’s history, so here goes, and I trust it will
not be boring. When we know the history, we are part of it. The net has a
long history, some-thing of which to be proud of, from before the WW II years,
in 1938.
Some of us on the net remember back to the days before we renamed the
Grey Bruce Net to become The Ontario Beaver Net, the word Ontario being more
descriptive of the coverage than Grey Bruce the name of just two counties.
In part I must thank Dennis Garrod, VE3CYR for giving me some
information, which triggered my search of some of my old QST magazines. Den’s
letter to me dated October 13, 1993, says the ARRL Beaver Net was operating as
early as 1938, and he has a list of the stations and frequencies they used.
Stations at that time operated crystal controlled or as we used to say
we were rock-bound.
The Canadian radio amateurs were shut down in 1939 with the outbreak of
World War II, our American brothers continued as the U.S.A. remained out of
the war till after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. We were not
permitted to get back on the air till late in 1946, when the 10 metre band was
released. The military were still occupying parts of the 80 metre band, and a
LORAN navigation system was still operational very close to the 160 metre
band.
QST, May 1938 page 100, “The Ontario Traffic Net has sixteen stations
meeting six nights a week.” QST, 1939 page 105, “The Beaver Net is now in
two sections, the new one the Maple Leaf Net.” When you consider that the
Station Activities section of the magazine lags by about two months, so the
report in Jan. 1939 would indicate the net was operating in 1938.
2.
QST, April 1947 on page 116, Station Activities section, “The Beaver Net
(c.w.) is in operation again,” “Look for them on 3535 kc.” We used the term
Kilocycles then, that term being replaced by Kilohertz in honour of Heinrich
Hertz. The station activities section further notes that ATR schedules
Buckeye and Beaver nets.
That statement verifies the information imparted to me by Dennis in his
letter. The Buckeye net is an Ohio based net verified by looking up the ARRL
Net Directory, Ohio is known as the Buckeye State. VE3ATR was Reuben
Lautenslager in Kincardine.
NTS National Traffic System
Have you often wondered why OBSSN and OBN are not part of the N.T.S. A very
simple reason, the net operates at the incorrect time for what is known as a
Section Net. Ontario is a section and section nets are supposed to start
operation at 7.00 pm. Obssn and Obn operate during the time for local nets.
The National Traffic System NTS was conceived and written up in QST
September 1949 by George Hart, W1NMJ, who was Communications Manager at ARRL
Headquarters in Hartford, CT. N.T.S. was based on the use of the Standard
Zones, which were developed by a Canadian Sir Sanford Fleming for the railroad
system. Standard time zones were adopted world-wide in 1884. Previous to the
advent of Standard Time, every centre of importance had it’s own time system,
very confusing indeed, for travel and the movement of trains.
The concept of the N.T.S. was that traffic could be moved easily in each
time zone, if the nets operated during a certain hour when most amateurs would
be home and could operate their stations to receive and send traffic during a
certain hour. This seemed to indicate between 6.00 pm to 7.00 pm for local
nets and 7.00 pm for the sections. With a liaison between the different
sections and time zones. Long haul traffic across the continent is handled
3.
by a select few, really dedicated morse operators who keep liaison to the nets
and maintain skeds with each other.
I understand that Reuben VE3ATR took the Beaver Net and made it into
more or less a club net of the Grey and Bruce counties as a training net,
eventually being run by Reg. Gibbs VE3DPO in Hanover. Instead of routing
their outgoing traffic to the N.T.S. they routed it to either the 8th area net
8RN in the U.S.A. or the Michigan Section Net QMN.
Reg Gibbs VE3DPO had a stroke in 1989 and became a Silent Key May 5th
1992. After Reg’s stroke the net was managed by VE3BDM George Neeson, till he
wanted to return to University and change his career. Both GBSSN and GBN, now
the OBSSN and OBN have been under my care since 1991. We retained the names
GBSSN and GBN for one year, the anniversary of Reg. becoming a Silent Key as
respect for Reg. who as far as those in the net could remember was the net’s
founder.
Because of the wide area represented by those who check in and keep the
net going we felt the name Ontario should be included when renaming. Ontario
Beaver revives two net names in use back in 1938. We are now into the start
of the next century 2001. This year will mark my 10th year of managing the
Ontario Beaver Nets. It has been a privilege to serve Ham Radio in this
capacity, and it has certainly helped with my enjoyment of now over 20 years
of retirement. You can guess the rest. I was first licensed in 1935 with the
call sign ve3pi, there are still one or two hams still around who were my
contacts that first year. Sadly though many have been Silent Keys for many
years.
A note of co-incidence, news correspondents used to sign 30 at the end
of their despatches to their news papers, carried over the old land line
telegraph system by operators using American Morse. If you compare the
4.
American Morse figures 3 and 0, with S and K of International Morse, you will
see a similarity. SK with the International Morse meant end of work. On H.F.
Phone, you may have heard some of the operators, who probably haven’t used
their key or bug for many years will sign off and say it like didididahdit
daah, dragging out the final dah at the end, without realizing they were
saying 30, instead of SK.
30 SK End of Work
Al Taylor, ve3wv
EX pre WW II ve3pi, On restoration of privileges
following WW II, ve2rz, ve3cfa, ve3aey