I still need W1B, W1C, W1G, W1J, W1L and KE6UEU. Checking https://www.pskreporter.info/ and I'm not even seeing some of the stations. Are they on air?
Need W1C for FT8 sweep. Thought I worked him early last week but can't find him in my log. Getting blurry eyeballs watching for him.
Here's the QRZ llink. https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/air-force-mars-76th-special-event.934645/
Spent the last week chasing all the special event stations. Got all 10 stations plus the 4 extra stations for a clean sweep. Thanks to all the stations that participated and made this contest a lot of fun. See you next year ! 73 Norm - K7NWF
First of all, thank you for your service! Interestingly enough, the MARS mission is significantly different today. USAF MARS is currently an official Auxiliary of Air Combat Command (ACC) and supports the Cyber Capabilities Center (CCC). While I agree FT8 is not used by MARS, digital operations are required for the current mission and membership. It makes sense to spark interest in the organization from those using digital modes. MARSRADIO is a Special Operations Group within Air Force MARS that still performs HF phone patching similar to what you remember; however, is the only such group doing so. More information can be found in the Presentation and Trifold should you (or anyone else) be interested: https://community.apan.org/wg/afmars
I don't contest or generally participate in these kinds of activities. I wanted to support an organization about which I have fond memories. My result as of last night was 9x SSB Stations contacted. I appreciate those operators. From my perspective, the rest simply aren't worth the effort. Multiple operators have begged and pleaded for days on the DXSummit site to get the other stations to get off FT-8 long enough to give folks a chance at all stations using SSB. It appears that W1L and K4AF did that today, at least to a very minimal extent. I have not seen anything that suggests that B, C, or J and had any SSB activity. The reality is that FT-8 is the price of admission for this event. Given that, it would be nice if the organizers would just state from the beginning that certain stations are FT-8 only, so people don't waste their time unnecessarily. That might have been a good use of the "Bonus Station" opportunities. Next year, just call it the USAF MARS FT-8 Roundup.
Thanks for running the special event stations and a BIG thanks for your service. I'm having difficulties logging W1B, W1C, W1G and KE6UEU and the event is almost up.
