[SFDXA] National Traffic System Developer George Hart, W1NJM (SK)

[Bill]

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        National Traffic System Developer George Hart, W1NJM (SK)

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    03/26/2013
    George Hart, W1NJM -- the chief developer of the National Traffic
    System (*NTS* <http://www.arrl.org/nts>) -- passed away Sunday,
    March 24. He was 99. An ARRL Charter Life Member, Hart spent more
    than four decades as a member of the ARRL Headquarters staff and
    continued to be an active amateur and regular participant in Field
    Day. In 1984, the ARRL Board of Directors named Hart as an ARRL
    Honorary Vice President.
    First licensed in 1929 as W3AMR in Pennsylvania, Hart began his ARRL
    career in August 1938 as a second operator at the W1AW Maxim
    Memorial Station, which was new at the time. He took over as Acting
    Communications Manager in 1942 when then-Acting Communications
    Manager John Huntoon, W1LVQ, left the ARRL for active duty in the US
    Coast Guard during World War II. Beginning with the December 1942
    issue, Hart contributed almost 1000 articles to /QST/, with topics
    ranging from public service to simulated emergency tests to traffic
    handling pointers; he also penned the monthly columns “Operating
    News” and “Amateur Radio Public Service.” Hart served in the Army
    Air Force from 1944-1946, returning to his job as a Communications
    Assistant at ARRL Headquarters under Ed Handy, W1BDI, after the war.
    During his tenure at the League, Hart served as Communications
    Assistant, National Emergency Coordinator and ultimately as
    Communications Manager from 1967 until his retirement in 1978.
    “George Hart exemplified the finest of the ‘old school’ radio
    amateurs for whom operating skill and public service were
    paramount,” said ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ.
    “For many years -- as a private endeavor from his own station -- he
    offered high-speed Morse code practice at up to 65 words per minute.
    George set and met high standards in everything he did, inspiring
    generations of radio amateurs to do the same.”
    Hart first announced the National Traffic System in the September
    1949 issue of /QST/. In his article “*New National Traffic Plan:
    ARRL Maps New Traffic Organization for All Amateurs*
    <http://p1k.arrl.org/pubs_archive/29053>,” he outlined the new
    national system [/Editor’s note: You must be an ARRL member and
    logged in to the ARRL website to access this article./]:
    “During 1948, practically every section in the ARRL field
    organization had a net of some kind going, and 47 sections had nets
    devoted exclusively to traffic handling. If, in each section net, a
    certain station (or stations) was designated to take all traffic
    going outside the section, this station then to report to a later
    net having greater coverage, and the same procedure repeated
    funneling into still greater coverage areas, we would have a traffic
    organization of national scope capable of handling traffic to (and
    from) any point in the entire field organization, which includes the
    entire United States, most of its Possessions and most of Canada.
    “This in briefest outline, is the essence of the ARRL National
    Traffic Plan. It takes the already-existing section net as a unit
    and makes two larger unit categories which are called ‘regional’ and
    ‘area’ nets. Each regional net covers a certain number of section
    nets (normally those within a certain call area), and each area net
    covers a certain number of regional nets (normally those within a
    time zone). The area nets, of which there are four (one for each
    time zone), pass traffic around among themselves, and it then comes
    back down through regional and section nets again /in the same
    evening/. This requires organization and teamwork of no small
    dimensions, but it will work if we get together on it and push.”
    In 2009, the ARRL Board of Directors created the George Hart
    Distinguished Service Award. This annual award is conferred upon an
    ARRL member whose service to the League’s Field Organization is of
    the most exemplary nature. Selection criteria include the nominee’s
    operating record with the National Traffic System, participation
    within the Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®) or station
    appointments and/or leadership positions held within the ARRL Field
    Organization.
    Ellen White, W1YL, remembered Hart fondly: "George was my 'boss' for
    a number of years in the ARRL's Communication Department. His
    devotion to the National Traffic System and all forms of emergency
    communication were legendary, as well as was his even-handed
    management of /all /operating phases. I will miss Geo, and that's no
    joking matter."
    Hart was a member of the ARRL A-1 Operator Club, the Quarter Century
    Wireless Association and the Newington Amateur Radio League, which
    he helped create in 1946 and for which he served as its first
    president. He was inducted into the /CQ/ Hall of Fame in 2010 for
    his contributions to the NTS.
    A memorial service is being planned for April.