Introduction

We are adopting a format for making formal requests for information along with the associated responses that was developed by Army MARS.Request for Information (RI) message strips are fairly simple and easy to decode. The format is very compact and leave minimal room for misinterpretation. The general form of a strip is a slant delimited string. Given this, it is a straight forward process to compile a collection of strip responses into a spreadsheet.

The Strip

Unlike the csv output Winlink forms, the message strips can be quickly customized to gather any set of specific information - weather, road status, operational capabilities, etc. An example RI strip is shown here:

HAMSTAT/DATE TIME (DDHHMM [Z])/COUNTY (X)/CITY (X)/STATE (AA)/HAM CALLSIGN (X)/HF CAPABLE (Y,N)/AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY (Y,N)/AVAILABLE HOURS PER DAY (NN)//

The various characters such as DDHHMM, the brackets around the time zone, Z, etc, are called masks. A mask is basically the edit criterion that is applied to a given field in a computer record. We will primarily be using a custom flmsg form for strips and the instructions are conveniently included with the form.

In the above RI strip, HAMSTAT (Ham Status) is the name of the strip. This is followed by a separator, the slant. The second field is the date time group. The text in the parentheses defines the parameters of the response. The third field is the county name. The X in parentheses just states that any number of characters are permitted. In the case of the next field, the state, this must be in the form of the two letter (AA) state name e.g. ME. After the call sign are a series of two fields with Yes/No answers. These will be responded to with a Y or N as appropriate. The last field asks for the number of hours in a day the operator is available. Since there are 24 hours in a day, NN is used for up to two figures. The strip is concluded with a double slant.

An example response, what the ham would send back to the requester, is shown here:

HAMSTAT/042332 Z/KNOX/OWLS HEAD/ME/KB1TCE/Y/Y/6//

Important Note: Neither the Request nor Reply strips can have any line feeds (LF) or carriage return (CR) commands. It is recommended that you use a text editor such as Notepad++ (free). Never hit the Enter key when composing the strip. While this doesn't render the strip useless, it adds more steps for the operator who is tasked with compiling the strips into a spreadsheet.

The Request for Information Strip Reader and Response Creator

This tool was developed in cooperation with the Winlink Development Team and is included in the Winlink Express Standard Templates. It may be used on any computer with a browser. The latest update is available on the Documents and Downloads page. The download is a zip file that contains an html file and a txt file. Directions are in the Help. More information is on the Standardized RI Strips page.

Example RI in Custom Flmsg Form

The example below shows a simple RI requesting available beds information from local hospitals. The request includes the MGRS location of the hospital.

The image below shows the coding instructions for RI strips as developed by Army MARS. As noted this is included as part of the custom flmsg form so it's always there when you create or respond to a strip.