Check out the Army MARS FaceBook page.  They are quite active and post pictures of their HQ station and operating activities.

Thank you to everyone who worked AF MARS station AFS9AZ in the military to amateur crossband test today.  This was Arizona's return to this event in many years.  We operated from our newly forming AF MARS station in the State of Arizona's Emergency Operations Center on the National Guard/Papago Military Reservation in Phoenix.  

Full-color QSL cards will be ordered through UX5UO Print later this week. Since the AF isn't covering the cost of these, I waited to place the order in order to get an accurate count to reduce costs.  Please allow me 4 weeks to receive the cards.  Stations need to include a SASE as I can't personally cover the postage for the high number of stations we worked.  Send QSL card requests to AE7VA - address on QRZ.com and the FCC database.

Thank you again and see you next year!

73s
Paul Swietek AE7VA / AFF9AZ
Arizona State MARS Director

Email me your application and I'll forward to the appropriate Region/State for you.

Email:  afa9ps@mediacombb.net

Email also availble on QRZ.com under AE7VA.

73s
Paul Swietek AFF9AZ
Arizona State MARS Director

Museum Ships On The Air and the Route 66 group were my faves.

Which service did you apply to and how long ago?

Everyone has pretty much covered the current status of MARS correctly. 

In answer to your question on benefits, we are authorized access to Class C Morale Welfare and Recreation facilities.  With my MARS identification I've regularly in the last year used the Luke AFB recreation facility in Flagstaff Arizona.  To learn more about the facility visit www.lukeevents.com and follow the links for Fort Tuthill rec. site.  They have some awesome cheap cabins. 

We can use any rec. facility that is classified as "off post" and where authorization is classified as "DoD Civilian".  You can find the sites in military travel guide books online.  I'm currently looking forward to using the Fourth Cliff (Hanscom AFB) site in Massachusetts for a summer on the beach.  So I think this is a pretty awesome benefit for us as volunteers and I'm very grateful that we are provided this by DoD Instruction.

I am the State Director for Arizona USAF MARS (AFF9AZ).  You can find our new site online.

I assume that hot key means keying the transceiver before the amp.  My foot switch is designed to key the amp prior to the transceiver so I should be okay.

I just got a sb-200 without the soft key modification.  My foot pedal has a separate line to key the amp first before keying the transceiver.  If the alc is the only connection to transceiver in my case, do I even need the modification if tx/rx activation isn't coming from the transmitter?

1. The blue wire is supposed to solder to the capacitor ar the antenna relay jack.  What side of the cap?  Center pin of the connector or the ground side?  2.  The green wire goes to the filament choke.  That's the core with the green wire wrapped around it correct? Amp is a Heathkit SB-200.

The Icom has a dedicated SM-6 desk mike.

The Kenwood has a Heil Pro Set Elite with the HC6 element and the stock mike that came from the factory.

I'm not switching mikes between radios.

Upgraded to firmware 1.07 dated September 2012 had no effect on output power.  It did however cause problems with trying to adjust for ALC.  With the processor off and the mike gain all the way down to 10, the ALC meter jumps off the scale and I can't seem to get it under control even with the stock mike.  

I'll send a message to Kenwood, but I'm still interested if any other 590S owners have experienced similar issues.  

By the way, I have also conducted the same tests into a dummy load.

Kenwood TS-590S less than a year old and infrequently used.  No digital or cw operations.  Have only used voice at 100 watts for a few contests this year.  

Internal meter shows full power out (realizing that it is an average reading).  On SSB voice about 50 watts average.  Power out for FM, AM, and CW are showing 100, 25, 100 respectively.

I connected it to an external Daiwa cross-needle meter set for PEP 150W.
When speaking normally, forward power needle displays 15 to 20 watts SSB at the peak.  If I whistle very slightly into it, forward power needle jumps without labor to 100 watts.  When I check just a carrier for FM and AM, and a CW tone, power same as internal meter.

I'm concerned about the forward SSB voice power being up to only 20 watts.  I connected my Icom 718 to the same system.  Forward power on the Daiwa for the IC-718 read 80 watts peak SSB.  

I've conducted a full CPU reset to all default settings.  I've used the stock hand mike and a Heil headset.  I've adjusted mike gain to appropriate ALC settings.  I'm not using any transmit audio equalizer settings.

I can't figure out why a slight whistle on SSB gives 100 watts while my voice only genrates 20 watts on the Kenwood compaired to the Icom's 80 watts?  With all else being equal, the meter readings for both should be similar right?  Has anyone else experienced the similar situation?  

That might be it.  That wouldn't explain the same performance into the dummy load.

I'm going to pickup the adapter for my Kenwood TS-590S and see what results I get there.

**UPDATED**
The difference is that the 718 is irregular in its power output compared to the 735 which gave solid, reliable meter readings.  When I connect the 718 to the same tuner and G5RV, 10 watts is all she'll give in PSK-31 and no more than 2 watts in MT-63.  I've altered the sound card output, RF power level, and mic gain (which should have no effect since I"m not using the mic connector.) SWR checked for 1:1 match.

I've scoured the manual for the initial and quick settings but haven't found any settings that I need to change.

It seems like it isn't getting driven from the sound card, but when I adjust the soundcard's output I can watch the ALC meter on the 718 go from zero to full scale....obviously being driven.

Maybe I'm not understanding how the 718 indicates power out.  The manual doesn't specify if the RF Power is % of 100 or some other relational number.

Here are some numbers running PSK-31 based on a stand alone Daiwa meter (PEP reading) and dummy load which also match the radio's internal RF power meter:

Set      Out (watts)
20        5
43        20
50        35
75        55
100      120 (not sure how I'm getting more than 100 here)

When running voice and doing the same check by providing a tone to the microphone, the Daiwa meter and internal meters match exactly throughout the same range however at the 100 setting the meter says that the output is 150 watts. 

I'm starting to wonder if the manual tuner is bad, maybe the electronics for the meter are bad and its throwing everything off??  Although the radio's internal meter also shows only 10 watts out regardless of RF power setting....which shouldn't be correct even if the manual tuner's meter was malfunctioning.  Tuner is showing 1:1 SWR which matches the radio's internal tuner. 

I've switched from using my old Icom 735 to a Icom 718 for PSK-31 and MT-63.  I'm using a Rig Blaster Plug and Play connected to the ACC jack (in the same manner as my 735).  The microphone is disconnected from the microphone jack. 

The difference is that the 718 only puts out a maximum of 10 watts regardless of sound card output/increase in ALC or increase in RF power level or mic gain. 

I've checked the USB voice transmitter with a separate Daiwa meter and it will supply 100 watts no problem.  So the transmitter doesn't appear to be the problem. 

I've scoured the manual for the initial and quick settings but haven't found any settings that I need to change.

It seems like it isn't getting driven from the sound card, but when I adjust the soundcard's output I can watch the ALC meter on the 718 go from zero to full scale....obviously being driven.

Anyone else have this problem or a suggestion?