The Armed Forces Day Military/Amateur Radio Cross-Band Communications Test, sponsored by the US Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard, will take place on Saturday, May 14. The event gets under way at 1200 UTC, with activity continuing throughout the day. Some military stations may not operate for the entire period.
“New for Armed Forces Day this year, military stations and Amateur Radio operators are authorized to directly communicate on the 60 meter interoperability channels,” US Army MARS Program Manager Paul English, WD8DBY, pointed out.
This year marks the 66th Armed Forces Day (AFD), observed on May 21. The Military/Amateur Radio Cross-Band Communications Test is held earlier, in order to avoid conflicting with Dayton Hamvention®.
The annual exercise is an opportunity to test two-way communication between amateur and military communicators. It features traditional military-to-amateur cross-band SSB and CW communication and offers an opportunity for radio amateurs to utilize modern military communication modes such as MIL-STD serial PSK and automatic link establishment (ALE). These tests challenge Amateur Radio operators and shortwave listeners (SWLs) to demonstrate individual technical skills and to receive recognition from military radio stations. The complete announcement — subject to change — is available on the US Army MARS website.
Participating military stations will transmit on selected military frequencies and listen for Amateur Radio stations on selected amateur frequencies, which the military station operator will announce. Read more.
