the highest level in the system. Nets at these upper levels usually take place on HF band modes for their distance capabilities (e.g. 20 or 10 metres) and can be passed by voice, CW, digital, and even packet modes. As traffic trickles back down through the area, region, section, and local nets, messages are typically delivered via a local telephone call, depending on handling instructions. Messages can also be delivered by hand or via message carrier, including the postal service, however Part 97 dictates that ham radio operators cannot receive financial restitution for their service. If a message is undeliverable, handling instructions may dictate that a service message be originated back to the sending station. Traffic passing This process is best explained by an example. Let's say that someone in Wisconsin wants to send a birthday greeting to Aunt Mary in California. They telephone their local ham friend and give him the message. At 6:30 local time, the Wisconsin ham attends ("checks into") the Wisconsin Section net. One station there has been designated to accept all outgoing messages, and Aunt Mary's message is sent to that station. At 7:45, the station who received the message checks into the Region net. This net consists of representatives from all the section nets in the region, and one station has been designated to accept all traffic that flows out of the region. Aunt Mary's greeting will be sent to this station. At 8:30, the station from the region checks into the Area net and sends Aunt Mary's greeting to the designated representative from the Pacific area. At 8:30 Pacific Time, the Pacific Area net meets. (All the area nets meet at 8:30 local time; since they are in different time zones there is no overlap.) At this point the process is repeated in the opposite order The area representative sends the message to the appropriate region representative, The region representative meets a later session of the region net and sends the message to the appropriate section representative, The section representative meets a later section net and sends the message to the closest operator to Aunt Mary's home The final recipient calls Aunt Mary on the telephone and delivers the greeting. Perhaps this sounds rather complex, but it really isn't. Each net uses the same procedure and operating techniques, so as novice operators gain experience they can "graduate" from section to region to area