UK Air Cadets 5MHz Radio Exercise Air Cadets on the Air - Exercise Blue Ham 2016 On 18 and 19 June 2016, the ACO (Air Cadet Organisation) will be organising and running a military style national radio exercise named ‘Exercise Blue Ham’, this will be one of the many events the organisation is holding to mark its 75th Anniversary of Formation during 2016-17. To make this successful we would like to invite Amateur Radio Operators to take part with us and make this the biggest radio exercise that the organisation has been involved in. The exercise will take place on the MOD 5MHz (60 Meters) Band and a significant part of the exercise will be on the section of the band that amateurs are authorised to use. The Cadet stations will operate from noon 17 June until noon 18 June on specific frequencies within the band. These frequencies will be published live on the internet as the exercise is in progress and amateurs are welcome to check the exercise web site and call in on the advertised frequencies ( www.alphacharlie.org.uk/blueham). The web site will be going live at the start of the exercise and before that time it may be running test software where all data will be simulated. Each Cadet station will have its own allocated frequency to use, they will call ‘Alpha Charlie’ which is the equivalent of CQ, and amateur stations are welcome to reply. The information exchange to score the contact will be your Callsign, signal report, your Location, Transmitter Power, Antenna type and Direction. The location should be either OS Grid Reference or the Maidenhead Square and can be a location near you if you prefer to not give a precise one over the air. As Cadet stations change frequency in the latter part of the exercise contacting them again on a different frequency will score as an additional contact, these frequency changes will be reported on the exercise web site as they happen. The contacts will get plotted live on the exercise web server, so please let the operator know if you prefer your location to not be shown. We will issue Anniversary Certificates for amateur stations that contact 50 or 75 Cadet stations during our period of operation using your callsign contact details on QRZ.com. we will also issue to Squadrons and Wings a 'Certificate of Operation'. This exercise does not give amateur stations permission to operate outside of their normal licensing conditions. The ACO looks forward to operating as many of you that we can during the period of the Exercise and it will give our young operators an ideal opportunity for them to utilise their radio operating training on HF equipment to a different audience. Flt Lt D J Webb RAFVR(T) Radio Communication Officer Central & East Region. http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2016/may/uk_air_cadets_5mhz_radio_exercise.htm
I expect the cadets will be using military callsigns. The following small relevant extract is from the "Notes to Schedule 1" in the U.K. amateur licence terms document: (g) Where Radio Equipment is being used in the 5 MHz band, the following specific terms and conditions will also apply: (v) Communication may be established with military or military cadet organisations by transmitting and receiving only in the 5 MHz band;
Exercise Blue Ham is once again running. Cadet units across the UK will be operating this weekend, 16th & 17th October. https://alphacharlie.org.uk/exercise-blue-ham/
