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Author Topic: AF Times Article of AF MARS Phone Patch  (Read 82002 times)

AE7VA

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AF Times Article of AF MARS Phone Patch
« on: October 10, 2013, 06:12:06 PM »

An October 3, 2013 article on the AF MARS Phone Patch Net in the Air Force Times.

Although, I have a disagreement with the picture they used....an Army MARS picture copied from Wikipedia. 

http://www.airforcetimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013310030008
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AA7RX

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RE: AF Times Article of AF MARS Phone Patch
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2014, 10:15:27 AM »

I know that this is an old thread, but I appreciate the link to the article. My husband used the phone patch network several times during his flights, and I'm planning on getting involved in it in the future.
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W3JKS

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RE: AF Times Article of AF MARS Phone Patch
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2014, 12:03:08 PM »

That picture was taken in the back of my old e-comm trailer while participating in the Grecian Firebolt exercise at Ft Meade. 

The trailer and the operator are long gone and the unit (311th Signal Command) has up and moved to Hawaii!

Those exercises were a lot of fun (and a lot of work - I got involved in a lot more than HF communications as it turned out).

73,
john W3JKS
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AA7RX

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RE: AF Times Article of AF MARS Phone Patch
« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2014, 02:06:47 PM »

I can think of worse places to be sent. Hawaii is beautiful, although I can imagine it would get claustrophobic after a while.

In my experience, exercises often morph into something completely different than what everyone previously expected.
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W3JKS

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RE: AF Times Article of AF MARS Phone Patch
« Reply #4 on: May 20, 2014, 09:29:24 AM »

Hawaii can be a pretty expensive place to live, even compared to the Baltimore-Washington area (but not as bad as Alaska, I don't think).

Grecian Firebolt was a great deal of fun, especially working with the Guard and Reserve signal units. 
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WB4TJH

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RE: AF Times Article of AF MARS Phone Patch
« Reply #5 on: June 27, 2014, 05:41:19 PM »

I spent a few years in MARS in the late 70s, but finally gave up on it. It was a total farce and a joke. It was the single biggest waste of my amateur radio time in the past 45 years. Operating under my regular ham call, I did phone patches and passed many messages for crewmen on U.S. Navy ships at sea by staying up until the wee hours of the morning. Not once did my MARS affiliation come into play while doing that.
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