MARS Members to Work with Radio Amateurs during SET and DOD COMEX 19-4

During October and corresponding with the ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET), Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) members will be reaching out to the amateur radio community to continue building working relationships and improving interoperability. As part of this effort, MARS will be promoting the use of a serial phase-shift keying protocol, Military Standard 188-110 (M110), on the 60-meter interoperability channels. Radio amateurs are authorized to use this digital mode on the five 60-meter interop channels, although M110 exceeds the allowable symbol rate that radio amateurs may use on all other HF bands.

Starting on November 2 and continuing until November 17, the MARS community will be executing Department of Defense (DOD) Communications Exercise (COMEX) 19-4. MARS members will use the exercise to continue training and refining their operator skills to provide situational awareness information, such as county status reports and weather observations.

To announce the kickoff of the exercise, WWV and WWVH will broadcast voice announcements starting on or about October 31. WWV will transmit the announcements at 10 minutes past the hour, while WWVH will transmit them at 10 minutes before the hour.

The communication exercise will culminate on the evening of November 16 with military stations sending M110 messages to the amateur community on 60-meter channel 1 (5330.5 kHz USB). All DOD communication exercises simulate scenarios and do not affect any public or private communication

Source:ARRL