Tell My Friends & Family
When disasters happen, we can become disconnected from friends and family. For those in the disaster, how do you let your loved ones know if you’re ok and where you’re at?
The ARRL National Traffic System supports sending these types of messages, which we refer to as welfare traffic, so that you can update your friends and family when cell phones, internet, and other communications services are not available.
With over 100 years of experience in relaying messages, we are here to keep you connected with those that matter to you most when all other communication methods fail.
How it works
While all messages sent via the National Traffic System utilize the radiogram form, we have a special form that you can use to help you quickly prepare your message so that we can send it to your friends or family members. We don’t expect you to know how the NTS works – we want you to be able to reach those you care about with ease.
Given we will very likely be sending many welfare messages at a time, the form has predefined messages you can choose from so that we can send your and other messages as quickly as possible. Once you complete the form, you provide it to the volunteer assisting you and we’ll take it from there.
Amateur radio operators volunteering their time will help move your message across town, across the state, or across the country and deliver your message to your friend or family member.
In today’s world of text messages and emails, we know that it can be comforting to have a voice on the other end of the phone, a person that is there to tell your friend or family member your message and to explain how we were able to get your message to them. But if we cannot reach them by phone, we can try emailing or texting, too, so that we can try as best as possible to let them know.
