[Milsurplus] Q and Z signals

[wf2u at starband.net]

Mike,

On the weekly Wireless Set 19 Net we use a modified for ham use WW2
British CW radio procedure and we use Z signals...

And it's true that the MARS mission changed from what it was before. The
emphasis now is on emergency readiness, interoperability between the
services (checking into different services nets is encouraged - in the
very near future there will be a common operating procedure for all the
services)and government agencies. There is heavy emphasis on ECOM
exercises. ALE communications are also used and implemented by software/PC
interface with the radio.

73, Meir WF2U (Navy-Marine Corps MARS NNN0AAF)
Landrum, SC


>>Z sigs were dropped at some point either right before or during
>>>the war to facilitate joint communications.
>
>>We were still using Z signals on the AFMARS CW traffic nets as
>>late as '83. They were required.
>
> All of the US MARS circuits used Z-codes to various extents.  I joined
> Navy-Marine Corps MARS in 1968, and Z-code use was always encouraged on
> Morse and RATT.  I joined Army MARS in 1982, and I observed no Z-code
> use.  Then a message was issued in Ohio Army MARS that encouraged Z-code
> use.  But when I subsequently checked in to an Army MARS Morse net using
> "ZKE QRU" (ZKE-checking into net, QRU-no traffic) as I'd used in the
> Navy, the net control had a fit over the unfamiliar (to him) "ZKE."  I
> was told that Army MARS didn't use "ZKE."  Go figure.
>
> I considered rejoining MARS several years ago until I learned that
> almost all traffic is internally-generated administrative traffic, very
> much unlike the real serviceman traffic that was carried during Vietnam
> and earlier eras.  Next, about ten years ago all MARS organizations
> totally *banned* Morse use in any form, even on training nets or for
> repeater IDs!  Next, there was a push to require use of NTIA-compliant
> equipment on MARS circuits.  Almost no amateur gear, even the most
> modern, is NTIA-compliant, so that effort was repulsed...but for how
> long?  Next, in the post-911 era, some MARS folks in charge of something
> for the first time in their lives decided that knowledge of MARS
> frequencies was to be guarded and not released to non-members.  Silly!
> During the 20 years that I spent in Navy or Army MARS, we freely gave
> out our frequencies in order to encourage non-member listening,
> interest, and future membership.  MARS has definitely become something
> much much different than it had traditionally been.
>
> BTW, the Z-codes are only for military use, never commercial or amateur
> use.
>
> Mike / KK5F
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