Armed Forces Day Cross-Band Communications Test Set for May 14:
Created by The ARRL Letter on 2016-04-28The Armed Forces Day Military/Amateur Radio Cross-Band CommunicationsTest, sponsored by the US Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard, willtake place on Saturday, May 14. The event gets under way at 1200 UTC,with activity continuing throughout the day. Some military stations maynot operate for the entire period.
"New for Armed Forces Day this year, military stations and AmateurRadio operators are authorized to directly communicate on the 60 meterinteroperability channels," US Army MARS Program Manager Paul English,WD8DBY, pointed out.
This year marks the 66th Armed Forces Day (AFD http://afd.defense.gov/), observed on May 21. The Military/AmateurRadio Cross-Band Communications Test is held earlier, in order to avoidconflicting with Dayton Hamvention http://www.hamvention.org.
The annual exercise is an opportunity to test two-way communicationbetween amateur and military communicators. It features traditionalmilitary-to-amateur cross-band SSB and CW communication and offers anopportunity for radio amateurs to utilize modern military communicationmodes such as MIL-STD serial PSK and automatic link establishment(ALE). These tests challenge Amateur Radio operators and shortwavelisteners (SWLs) to demonstrate individual technical skills and toreceive recognition from military radio stations. The completeannouncement http://www.usarmymars.org/home/announcements -- subjectto change -- is available on the US Army MARS website.
Participating military stations will transmit on selected militaryfrequencies and listen for Amateur Radio stations on selected amateurfrequencies, which the military station operator will announce. Readmore http://www.arrl.org/news/annual-armed-forces-day-cross-band-communications-test-set-for-may-14.
Source:
The ARRL Letter
| NQ3M | 2016-05-03 | |
|---|---|---|
| Armed Forces Day Cross-Band Communications Test Set for May | ||
| I used to be all about the test but, when MARS operators have simple issues like in the past 3 years, the thrill starts to subside. I still enjoy the History ships, an wish the USS INTREPID (CV-11) an USS Alabama (BB-60) were added. Be interesting to see how 60 meters works this year, as that will even the playing field somewhat. | ||
| JOHNZ | 2016-04-30 | |
|---|---|---|
| Armed Forces Day Cross-Band Communications Test Set for May | ||
| Essentially, this is just another legacy event. Old men reliving the radio days of yesteryear, an event which serves no legitimate purpose. | ||
| W6EM | 2016-04-29 | |
|---|---|---|
| Armed Forces Day Cross-Band Communications Test Set for May | ||
| In its earlier years, the annual crossband test served an important purpose: The training of military personnel in how to communicate with amateur operators. Invaluable in those emergency situations if an interface between military and civilian operators were to become necessary. However, today’s annual exercise has instead become a MARS-amateur crossband affair. Staffed on the MARS side not by enlisted military operators, but by amateurs wearing their MARS caps. And mostly using their own amateur equipment on MARS frequencies instead of on the ham bands. Armed Forces Day is supposed to be a day to recognize, respect and most importantly, thank military personnel for their service and sacrifice. Something we can’t do if we are talking to just another ham on the other end. To get back to MARS, I recall that not too long ago MARS completed some sort of crossband MARS to ARES exercise. So, why are we about to do the same thing all over again? If I don’t hear WAR or AIR or NAV on the air with service personnel operating, I won’t bother to participate. Without actual military personnel manning the radios, it’s not fulfilling its original purpose and not worth my time. And, with the end of Navy-Marine Corps MARS this last year, will there be any operators for N-MC stations at bases staffed by enlisted personnel from those services (and not by AF or AR MARS)? | ||
