Amateurs Invited to Participate in 2003 Armed Forces Day On-Air Event

NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 28, 2003--The US Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard will cosponsor the annual military/Amateur Radio crossband communications tests the weekend of May 10-11. The event will mark the 53rd celebration of Armed Forces Day. Although Armed Forces Day actually is Saturday, May 17, the Armed Forces Day Amateur Radio event is held a week earlier to avoid conflicting with Hamvention. The event features a military-to-amateur crossband communications SSB voice test and the Secretary of Defense message receiving test.

"These tests give Amateur Radio operators and shortwave listeners an opportunity to demonstrate their individual technical skills and receive recognition from the Secretary of Defense and/or the appropriate military radio station for their proven expertise," the chiefs of the Army, Air Force and Navy-Marine Corps Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) said in announcing the event.

During the crossband test, 14 military stations in the continental US, Germany and Hawaii will listen on amateur frequencies in the 80, 40, 20, 15, 12 and 10-meter bands and transmit on selected MARS frequencies--a mode of operation similar to the split operation used by many DXers.

Participating military stations will announce their listening frequencies. Not all stations will be active on all amateur bands or at all times, depending on propagation and staffing. Most military stations will commence operation at 1200 UTC on May 10. Amateurs are asked to limit the duration of contacts to two minutes or less.

QSL cards will be provided to those 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.

Eight military stations will transmit the Secretary of Defense's Armed Forces Day message at stated intervals via digital modes, including RTTY, PACTOR, AMTOR, CLOVER and MT63. Amateurs submitting "as received" hard-copy evidence of successful reception will be awarded commemorative certificates.

A listing of stations, frequencies, anticipated hours of operation and operating instructions is available on the ARRL Web site.

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