COM-11 Message Formats

COM-11: Message Formats

Getting a report onto the net — correctly, every time

Course Overview, One Page

A single printable page covering what COM-11 teaches, the 5 lessons, what you need before starting, and the doctrinal sources behind the method. Useful for deciding whether the course is for you, or for handing to somebody in your group who is weighing it up.

Why This Course

BLUF: The ARRL Radiogram is the format that lets any trained NTS operator, anywhere, handle your traffic correctly without asking a follow-up question — this course teaches you to build one from scratch, convert an incident report into one, and recognize the message formats used by MARS and AmRRON when traffic crosses systems.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:

  • Correctly complete every field of the ARRL Radiogram preamble, including precedence and HX handling instructions
  • Select and correctly transmit ARL Numbered Messages for relief/emergency and routine traffic
  • Convert an ICS-213 General Message into Radiogram form, field by field
  • Recognize and decode Military and AmRRON date-time group conventions when traffic crosses from another system
  • Convert a SALUTE, ACE/LACE, MEDEVAC, CASREP, or Community SITREP report into a Radiogram ready to pass on a net

Lessons

Lesson 01

The ARRL Radiogram: Anatomy & Fields

Preamble fields, precedence categories, and HX handling instructions.

Lesson 02

ARL Numbered Radiograms

Group One (relief/emergency) and Group Two (routine) predesignated messages, and why they’re always spelled out.

Lesson 03

Originating, Relaying, and the ICS-213 Conversion

Net-level mechanics and a full field-by-field ICS-213-to-Radiogram conversion, worked example included.

Lesson 04

Reading Other Formats: MARS, SHARES, and Military DTG

Recognizing and decoding Military and AmRRON date-time groups when traffic crosses systems.

Lesson 05

Capstone: Getting Reports Onto the Net

Converting SALUTE, ACE/LACE, MEDEVAC, CASREP, and Community SITREP into Radiogram form.

How This Course Works

Format Five self-paced online lessons with knowledge checks. Progress is saved to this device/browser.
Prerequisites COM-02 (Net Procedures & Prowords) is recommended first — this course assumes you can already work a net.
Certificate Unlocks automatically after all five lessons are completed.

Start the Course →

Free tool · practise it

Lesson 5 carries SALUTE, SITREP, MEDEVAC and CASREP reports as formal traffic. The free Message Formatter & Traffic Log builds the report and drops it into a Radiogram or ICS-213 with the precedence suggested. See Field Report Formats.

Fortune Favors the Prepared · Semper Paratus, Semper Gumby · fortunefavorstheprepared.com