Test is May 13: Armed Forces Day Crossband Military/Amateur Radio Communications The US Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard will sponsor the traditional military/amateur radio communication tests on Saturday, May 13 to mark the 66th annual Armed Forces Day (AFD). Armed Forces Day is May 20, but the AFD Crossband Military-Amateur Radio event will take place a week earlier in order to avoid schedule conflicts with those attending Hamvention. Complete information, including military stations, modes, and frequencies, is available on the US Army MARS website. The annual celebration is a unique opportunity to test two-way communication between radio amateurs and military stations (authorized under §97.111 of the Amateur Service rules). It features traditional military-to-amateur crossband SSB voice, CW, practice using legacy interoperability waveforms, and the opportunity for participating hams to utilize more modern military modes, such as MIL-STD Serial PSK and Automatic Link Establishment (ALE). Military stations and Amateur Radio stations are authorized to communicate directly on certain 60-meter interoperability channels — 5,330.5, 5346.5, and 5,371.5 kHz. These tests give Amateur Radio operators and shortwave listeners (SWLs) a chance and a challenge to demonstrate individual technical skills and to receive recognition from the appropriate military radio station. QSL cards will be available on request for stations successfully contacting participating military stations. AFD Message The Armed Forces Day message will be transmitted via Military Standard radioteletype modes (MIL-STD 188-110A/B). Software is available to demodulate the military serial PSK waveform, and detailed instructions can be downloaded. Utilizing this mode with soundcard equipment can be challenging; review the instructions carefully. A short practice transmission will be sent at 1930 and 2330 on May 6, 7, 10, and 12 on 13.506.5 MHz USB and 17.443.0 MHz USB. Military FSK is Baudot at 850 Hz, 75 baud, low mark, and 2000 Hz center. Most RTTY programs can be set to decode this mode. To achieve low mark while receiving in USB, select reverse shift. QSL cards are available for individuals that receive the Armed Forces Day test message. To receive a card, copy the printed text of the test message as received from the military station, and include it in your report. No attempt should be made to correct possible errors. Stations copying Armed Forces Day messages transmitted from US Army and US Navy stations and requesting a QSL card, can complete the QSL report form online. Stations copying the Armed Forces Day message transmitted from US Air Force stations and seeking a QSL card should send a request to Armed Forces Day Celebration, Chief, Air Force MARS, 203 W. Losey St, Scott AFB, IL 62225. Include a transcript of the received text, time observed, frequency observed, military station call sign, your full name and Amateur Radio call sign (if applicable), full mailing address (including ZIP code). Automatic Link Establishment Stations with Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) capability can contact a military station on specific half duplex crossband channels established for this purpose. ALE is a selective calling and linking method utilized by government, military, and amateur radio communications. Military stations will scan and receive certain amateur HFLINK ALE frequencies and transmit on the corresponding military ALE frequency. Military stations will also transmit ALE station identification (soundings) on each military frequency at 30- to 90-minute intervals. Amateur stations may scan military frequencies and monitor the soundings to build the LQA database or select the channel manually. Amateur stations will call military stations using ALE selective calling on one of the paired cross band channels. Source:ARRL 73 de IW2BSF - Rudy
13 May 2017. CLICK HERE FOR OFFICIAL ANNUAL ARMED FORCES DAY CROSSBAND MILITARY/AMATEUR RADIO COMMUNICATIONS TEST ANNOUNCEMENT ALE OPERATORS: Information about USA Military-Ham ALE Interoperability for AFD Celebration Event USA ham radio ALE operators, please note the change of 2 Armed Forces Day ALE channel frequencies since last year. The 20 meter band AFD military ALE transmit channel frequency has changed to 14383.5 The 12 meter band AFD military ALE channel has been completely deleted. CHANGES: CHANNEL NAME / HAM TX FREQ / MIL TX FREQ Changed: X20INT / 14346.0 USB / 14383.5 USB Deleted: X12INT / 24932.0 USB / 24858.5 USB MORE INFO http://hflink.com/afd/ BACKGROUND This is the third year that ALE, Automatic Link Establishment, will be in use for the annual celebration of US Armed Forces Day Cross-Band Communications Test on 13 May 2017. Hams will call up military stations to initiate voice SSB QSOs using the HF selective calling feature of ALE on the air. Although the military has been using ALE for over 35 years, and hams have been actively using ALE for about 16 years, this is only the 3rd year of direct ALE HF Interoperability between US Amateur Radio Service and US Military stations. INVITATION USA Ham operators are invited to participate during this free and open event. Operators get real-world experience and become proficient in HF Interoperability communications. They initiate and respond to ALE calls, and communicate with military radio operators with SSB voice QSOs on HF. The experience gained by operator participation in this readiness exercise is also useful for HF Emergency/Disaster Relief communications. EQUIPMENT AND SET UP US Amateur Stations with Automatic Link Establishment capability can literally dial up a military station directly on specific split frequency duplex channels set up for this purpose. The Federal/Military 2G-ALE standard (FED-1045 and MIL STD 188-141B) is used in this event. Amateur Radio utilizes this same standard for ALE. Amateur stations transmit on specific Amateur HFLINK ALE frequencies, and receive split on the corresponding military ALE frequency. Military stations will also transmit ALE station identification (soundings) on each military frequency at regular intervals. Amateur stations may scan the AFD military ALE frequencies or select the ALE channel manually. Hams may use HF Radios with an embedded ALE feature (commercial HF radio such as Harris, Rockwell-Collins, Micom, Codan, Barrett, Icom, or Kenwood, etc) Hams may use conventional HF ham radios with computer-based PC-ALE or MULTIPSK. All ALE ham stations will be using the Non-Automatic (NALE) features of ALE for participation in this event. ON THE AIR SUPPORT Join the growing thousands of amateur radio operators with ALE-capable stations. Put your station on the ALE Map. Discuss, learn, and ask questions using the HFLINK.NET chat room, for real-time support with other ALE operators. EMAIL AND WEB FORUM The HFLINK forum provides information exchange via email and web forum, help with ALE equipment setup, and advice for ALE operators.
You're right, it is more fun mobile! On Saturday afternoon, 9 May 2015 , I was was mobile in motion on I-80 near Cheyenne Wyoming... it was snowing like crazy... on my way to the Dayton Hamvention. It was also the weekend of the Armed Forces Day Cross Band Test. I punched in the callsign AAZ on the ALE radio front panel and hit the CALL button. The Ft. Huachuca station linked on the ALE 14 MHz split channel, in less than 30 seconds! Very strong signal, wow... A perfect military-precision-procedure SSB voice QSO with the Radio Operator, Juanita. My ALE radio: IC-F8101 (built-in ALE) 125 Watts Antenna: Super Antenna MP1C on the roof rack of the vehicle The following weekend, several of the AFD Ft. Huachuca radio operators were in attendance at Hamvention. It was a pleasure to make an eyeball QSO with them, including Juanita, who I had the AFD QSO with! I received the paper QSL card and a confirmation memorandum letter from the Army by snail mail later on that year.
