Annual Armed Forces Day Crossband Test Scheduled for May

[joe.pirkle@earthlink.net]

The Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast 
Guard are co-sponsoring the annual 
Military/Amateur Radio Crossband Communications 
Test in celebration of the 58th anniversary of 
Armed Forces Day 
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Forces_Day>AFD). 
Although the actual Armed Forces Day is 
celebrated on the third Saturday in May -- May 17 
in 2008 -- the AFD Military/Amateur Crossband 
Communications Test will be conducted on May 10 
to prevent conflict with the 
<http://www.hamvention.org>Dayton Hamvention®, scheduled for May 16-18.

The annual celebration features traditional 
military to amateur crossband communications SSB 
voice tests and copying the Secretary of Defense 
message via digital modes. These tests give 
Amateur Radio operators and short wave listeners 
an opportunity to demonstrate their individual 
technical skills and to receive recognition from 
the Secretary of Defense and/or the appropriate 
military radio station for their proven 
expertise. QSL cards will be provided to those 
stations making contact with the military 
stations. Special commemorative certificates will 
be awarded to anyone who receives and copies the 
digital Armed Forces Day message from the Secretary of Defense.

Military-to-Amateur crossband operations will 
take place on the dates and time in UTC on the 
frequencies listed for each station on the Army 
MARS Web site. Voice contacts will include 
operations in single sideband voice (SSB). Some 
stations, depending on propagation and manning, 
may not operate the entire period. Participating 
military stations will transmit on selected 
Military MARS frequencies and listen for Amateur 
Radio stations in the Amateur bands. The military 
station operator will announce the specific 
amateur band frequency being monitored. Duration 
of each voice contact should be limited to 1-2 minutes.

Look for 
<http://www.netcom.army.mil/MARS>schedules and 
frequencies of participating military stations to 
be published in May on the Army MARS Web site.



joe.pirkle at earthlink.net
EarthLink Revolves Around You.
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