A new chief for the other Air Force auxiliary: USAF MARS.
http://www.arrl.org/news/air-force-mars-gets-new-leadership
Some of the links in the article include some great background info on MARS, for those who may not already be familiar with it.
This is news to me.
I've never heard of this organisation.
It sounds like they're more closely integrated with the AF operationally than we are. :-\
Interesting, time for me to put my nose to the grindstone and get my general rating.
DN
Quote from: Chief2009 on November 13, 2010, 03:54:15 PM
Interesting, time for me to put my nose to the grindstone and get my general rating.
DN
Good luck to you. I am on a two week vacation in So Cal right now and brought my general class study guide with me :).
I joined CAP, in part, to learn more about HF. Turns out we don't use it much in my neck of the woods so training opportunities have been non-existent. I am in a comm training role now so perhaps I can help do something about that! In the meantime MARS sounds interesting. I often wonder how CAP and MARS can work together.
The Military Affiliate Radio System was renamed the Military Auxiliary Radio System earlier this year. I have been a member of USAF MARS since the 70s when I was stationed at Richards-Gebaur AFB near KC. Each service still runs their own program, although there is some interoperability now.
Apart from the USAF MARS director, the program is almost all administered by volunteer members holding various leadership positions.
Operations are almost entirely HF voice and digital (MFSK16 and some other sound card modes), usually the lowest level of net is either the area net covering a group of states, or, once you have some experience, there are some national nets. There is some VHF operations in areas where there may be a number of members, but not much anymore. There are some Pactor/Winlink operations. Most training is geared toward long haul HF backup comm. There is also an active Phone Patch network.
12hours participation per quarter required once you complete on the air training.
A good website for more information is the one for the area I am in, the North Central Area- - MI, WI, IN, OH, IL, MO, NE, KS, IA, MN, the operational info only applies to persons living in those states. There is a map showing how the US is divided into different areas on the website. www.usafmars.tripod.com