[CALV-ARES] Fwd: NTS and FEMA forms

[Eric H. Christensen]

This message was sent on a different list, this morning.  Thought it was timely since our training last night was on handling traffic.

-Eric

-------- Original message --------
From: "Steve shansen at belljar.net [NTS-OPS]" <NTS-OPS at yahoogroups.com> 
Date: 08/19/2015  8:13 AM  (GMT-05:00) 
To: NTS-OPS at yahoogroups.com 
Subject: Re: [NTS-OPS] NTS and FEMA forms 
 

We use W1HKJ's Flmsg to pass ICS forms. There are about 2 dozen forms in Flmsg along with a spreadsheet maker and the provision for custom forms. The program is very lightweight and we can put it on anyone's computer or tablet. 

There are four ways we do it. 

First is via Fldigi which is the original intent of Flmsg since it's the form maker for NBEMS. 

The second is to attach the Flmsg file to a program that accepts attachments. These include regular email clients, RMS Express, etc. The Flmsg native output for an ICS-213 is *.213. A radiogram is *.m2s, etc. Here the receiving station has to have Flmsg installed to read the file. Either of these two methods will produce an output that can be opened as a HTML file that shows the "proper" form and is printable.

The third way is to take the text output of Flmsg and simply paste it into the message composition window. It's not the form per se but it has the fields e.g. Incident, From, Position, etc. 

The fourth way is to send the HTML file that Flmsg produces. This can be displayed in the recipient's browser.

As for file sizes, the text content of a typical ICS might be 2k. If the entire HTML file has to be sent, that adds about 2-3k making a total of 4-5k. However, the HTML overhead is pretty constant so a form with more content will still have 2-3k overhead. When sending via RMS Express, the compression will shrink the file considerably. 

We generally use NBEMS to send a form from a field location. Packet can also be used. If it has to go further, we take the file and attach it to RMS Express and send via the Winlink system.

For radiograms, the Flmsg text output is compatible with the NTSD format and can be used with the NTSD Parser software. There's an     explanation in the training docs file area.

As Pactor for transmission times, that can be estimated from the file sizes. P3 might be about a minute not including the time to negotiate the connection. VHF NBEMS is generally 15-30 secs, HF NBEMS is a minute or two for typical forms. We tend not to use HF NBEMS because the error rate tends to be non-negligible with the faster modes. ARQ is much more satisfactory. 

73, Steve KB1TCE










On 08/19/2015 05:38 AM, Larry Buck k1hej.buck at gmail.com [NTS-OPS] wrote:
 

Question, Has any throughput tests actually been performed using  the ICS Blank forms and a filled out form to determine actually times of how long it will take to pass such documents using Pactor 3?



__._,_.___
Posted by: Steve <shansen at belljar.net>
Reply via web post	•	 Reply to sender	•	 Reply to group	•	Start a New Topic           	•	Messages in this topic (5)
VISIT YOUR GROUP New Members 70
• Privacy • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use 
.
 

__,_._,___
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/calv-ares/attachments/20150819/2f2fcf9e/attachment-0001.html>