[MRCA] MARS CW Ops

[wf2u at ws19ops.com]

I know that in the beginning of the NNN0xxx usage it was awkward,  
rather silly sounding especially on SSB, with the full phonetics.
Nowadays, on NAVMARCORMARS nets the 3 N's don't have to be  
phonetically spelled - you just say "En En En Zero" and only the 3  
last letters used phonetically. After the net is established and the  
check-ins are recognized, NCS announces that abbreviated call signs  
are authorized, and then only the 3 letter individual call signs are  
used - except the NCS call sign has to be used in full.

73, Meir WF2U / NNN0AAF
Landrum, SC

Quoting Mike Morrow <kk5f at earthlink.net>:

> Robert wrote:
>
>> I never understood why all of the calls were N0xyz, unless it was   
>> to differentiate
>> them from calls issued to the various Naval District and Reserve   
>> Center stations.
>
> I believe that is exactly the reason that all NMC MARS calls were   
> "0" designated.  The military (non-MARS) stations at the various   
> Naval Reserve Centers were assigned a number associated with the   
> Naval District in which they were located.  In the old eighth naval   
> district, such stations would have N8xyz calls.  I don't know what   
> they did for naval districts whose number consisted of two digits,   
> nor do I know what these USN 1x3 call signs transformed into after   
> they were released for ham use.
>
>> I was active in Navy MARS from almost the beginning through Vietnam  
>>  and into the
>> mid 70's as N0WSJ.
>
> Oddly, when Navy MARS was created in 1963, issuance of individual   
> member calls began with N0Rxy, not N0Axy, and proceeded to the end   
> of the alphabet before starting with N0AAA.  The longest-term   
> members had these N0Rxy, N0Sxy, N0Txy, etc. calls.  Joining Navy   
> Marine Corps MARS in 1968 was the only real motivation for me to   
> finally get my ham license.  Initially I was Novice class, so I had   
> to check in to the SSB nets by using CW.  NMC MARS also ran its   
> surplus equipment program a lot tighter than the other services who   
> had suffered from some minor scandals.  Normally, any issued gear   
> remained NMC MARS property and had to be returned upon membership   
> termination unless cannabalization had been authorized.  But in the   
> mid-1970s I received official notice that the USN had dropped   
> accountability on the gear that I had been issued years earlier.  I   
> don't know if there is a surplus gear issue program in the MARS   
> programs today, but in the late 1960s Eight District NMC MARS issued  
>  stuff like RT-68/GRC, AN/PRC-6, -34, -36, BC-348, AN/ARR-15,   
> AN/SRR-13, and an occasional TCS.  It was mostly older stuff (or   
> oddball units like the PRC-34/36).  But some of the late AN/SRR-13A   
> units were only about 10 years old.
>
>> I would have been N0Ayz had NAV8 not lost my initial application.
>
> I worked Eight Naval District MARS HQ station NAV8 in New Orleans   
> many times when I was a member of Arkansas NMC MARS, especially when  
>  I was a district net NCS.
>
>> I hated the change to NNN0...  It wasn't the major reason I went inactive
>> but it didn't help any.
>
> I know a number of members who left because of the NNN0xyz calls.    
> It just sounded silly.  Previous to that, NMC MARS calls were the   
> best format call of any MARS system.  I was on active duty in the   
> Navy and a bit out of the MARS loop when the change was made.  When   
> I started receiving MARS mail addressed to NNN0LTD instead of N0LTD,  
>  I thought someone had a typewriter with some sort of problem.
>
> Mike / KK5F
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