May 13th Crossband Military/Amateur Radio Communicat

[ke5nub]

Armed Forces Day Crossband Military/Amateur Radio Communications Test is May 13
( from arrl.org )

The US Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard will sponsor the traditional military/amateur radio communication tests on Saturday, May 13 to mark the 66th annual Armed Forces Day (AFD). Armed Forces Day is May 20, but the AFD Crossband Military-Amateur Radio event will take place a week earlier in order to avoid schedule conflicts with those attending Hamvention.

Complete information, including military stations, modes, and frequencies, is available on the US Army MARS website.

The annual celebration is a unique opportunity to test two-way communication between radio amateurs and military stations (authorized under §97.111 of the Amateur Service rules). It features traditional military-to-amateur crossband SSB voice, CW, practice using legacy interoperability waveforms, and the opportunity for participating hams to utilize more modern military modes, such as MIL-STD Serial PSK and Automatic Link Establishment (ALE). Military stations and Amateur Radio stations are authorized to communicate directly on certain 60-meter interoperability channels — 5,330.5, 5346.5, and 5,371.5 kHz.

These tests give Amateur Radio operators and shortwave listeners (SWLs) a chance and a challenge to demonstrate individual technical skills and to receive recognition from the appropriate military radio station. QSL cards will be available for stations successfully contacting participating military stations.