[MRCA] Noble Skywaves last thoughts

Tue Oct 6 19:13:07 EDT 2020

 Quote from AD3F:" All MARS activities are under the DHS umbrella now.  That should tell you a lot about their ultimate role and why interoperability with gummint assets is required.  FYI:  Security in MARS comms is more important these days than in earlier decades.  MARS members are not permitted to identify themselves by name or location or even to describe their station equipment on air.  Plus encryption of MARS traffic using the -110 waveform is commonplace on their nets."
Well hell! You might as well work for DHS and get paid for it!ARES/RACES requires DHS approval too. 
Like someone already said, "If things are such that they need my help, I'll do what I can." I don't need all this government BS in my life. The RACES form even says something about you agreeing to be "deployed" where and when required.No thanks .

    On Tuesday, October 6, 2020, 5:45:13 PM EDT, Gene Smar via MRCA <mrca at mailman.qth.net> wrote:  

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All:

     All MARS activities are under the DHS umbrella now.  That should tell you a lot about their ultimate role and why interoperability with gummint assets is required.  FYI:  Security in MARS comms is more important these days than in earlier decades.  MARS members are not permitted to identify themselves by name or location or even to describe their station equipment on air.  Plus encryption of MARS traffic using the -110 waveform is commonplace on their nets. 

73 de

Gene Smar  AD3F

From: mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Alex J Rokowetz via MRCA
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2020 2:38 PM
To: Military Radio Collectors Association <mrca at mailman.qth.net>; Ray Fantini <RAFANTINI at salisbury.edu>
Subject: Re: [MRCA] Noble Skywaves last thoughts

Ray and ALCON,

Great convos so far.  I like this thread.  Responses to a couple of Ray's queries:

   - MARS indeed does cross band testing often (more than once a year if I recall correctly) with MARS operators soliciting licensed amateur radio operators to collect and report local information that might be relevant during a disaster.
   - 60M is a shared band not just by gov't agencies and hams but also by for profit commercial power companies and for profit telecommunication providers, and ham radio operators.  Telco and Elco providers are granted 5.0 to 5.45 MHZ spectrum (among many other specific freqs and freq ranges across the 1.8 to 30, MHz spread if I recall correctly.  I just looked up the NY license for Verizon in the ULS.  Interested parties click here:   https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=1877349
   - Air Force MARS Mission from its webpage:  "MISSION - The United States Air Force Military Auxiliary Radio System provides contingency communications support on behalf of the men and women of the Department of Defense and other U.S. Government users in support of their important and diverse national security missions whenever, however and  wherever required."
   - Army MARS Mission Statement from its webpage:

   - Provide communications support to civil authorities in accordance with DSCA policy specified in DODD 3025.18.
   - Assist in effecting normal communications under emergency conditions as directed or requested.
   - Establish programs to create civilian interest, recruit the best qualified amateur radio volunteers, and provide training in military communications, techniques, and procedures.
   - Improve HF and very high frequency (VHF) radio operating techniques and technology through training, experimentation, and testing.
   - Plan and conduct relevant exercises and competitions for Regular Army, U.S. Army Reserve, and Army National Guard, as well as the amateur radio community including the RACES.
   - Develop highly skilled volunteer personnel trained in radio communication techniques and procedures in order to support military training, real-world missions, and DSCA as directed.

   - What does either of those mission statements actually mean?  I personally know of or have seen Army MARS operators be dispatched to facilities such as airports, telecommunication carrier emergency operation centers, state emergency operation centers and operate radios, pass traffic and support emergency communications during exercises and real life disasters such as hurricanes.  I guess you can say simply the mission is to train and maintain a population of experienced radio operators that can support DOD mission requirements.
   - From what I have heard about MARS in the past your assessment about the moral welfare purpose may be accurate.  Perhaps someone older than me can chime in.  I think the purpose now is much different as I know the MARS operators I referred to that were dispatched during exercises and disasters actually did generate, relay, and receive emergency communications that support mission critical infrastructure. 
   - Yes, I have run a phone patch in the past decade and MARS does today.  Excellent tool and much of it is automated with no operator required.

Keep the convo going fellas.  I like this thread.

Alex

K2AJR

Alexander J Rokowetz

(516) 551-2498

belarok at yahoo.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderrokowetz/  

On Tuesday, October 6, 2020, 02:01:04 PM EDT, Ray Fantini <rafantini at salisbury.edu> wrote: 

Would be fun to do a cross band thing between Ham and Military, did try once or twice but maybe it’s because I did not understand the concept or the clock was never successful. Think there is an annual event that concedes with Aberdeen MVPA and may have tried there once or twice with no love.

Thought sixty meters was a shared band between government and Ham with Ham on a secondary bias? Wonder why existing government agencies cannot do simple simplex type operations on those channels? 

I obviously don’t know or understand what it is that MARS has accomplishes or has as a mission today, maybe as an auxiliary or something to support the government but would have thought that there is a value in keeping active duty assets skilled in networking with NGO types.

I do remember the old days when as a kid would head over to the MARS station on base and listen to the phone patches they would run and the other service men who used the facilities as a club station and somehow always thought of the MARS function falling more under Moral and Welfare then anything mission critical.

This was back in the seventies before the days of phone cards and text messaging, wonder if anyone has run a phone patch in the past decade?

Too bad about Noble Skywave only being open to quasi professional or superior Ham operators, but if nothing else keeps people like me from getting involved.

Ray F/KA3EKH

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