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Military Auxiliary Radio System National Training Manual

1. eu pecu ee IAS oen Edasi 137 12 10 CALESIGNICHANGE M DEL 137 12 11 CHAIN OF GOMMAN Dii 555 as 137 12 12 FREQUENCY DESIGNATORS c assia 137 12 13 SECURITY SSS PLE 138 kA NNEPIG CAR E maqan 138 1213 2 LA ecpnhiircm 139 12 14 ASSESSMENT 22 55 5 5 00 2 OE GTI EAE D FER EROR REO TERR exis 139 A 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 4 Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Frequency Allocation and USB dial frequency 80 Figure 2 Fldigi Waterfall setup 92 Figure 3 WWV at 1000ppm 5x scale 95 Figure 4 WWV at 20ppm 5x 95 Figure 5 WWV at 700 5x scale enne ases 95 Figure 6 Fldigi setting of
2. 16 BT ENJOYING NEW ASSIGNMENT WILL WRITE LONG LETTER EXPLAINING NEW DUTIES HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON BILL BT OP NOTE DO NOT ATTEMPT DELIVERY BEFORE 5 PM CHICAGO TIME 48 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System ve odo Training Manua 42 Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD NNNN 6 3 6 Messages via Voice It can be seen that the digital format is the best way to write out a message prior to sending via voice as well as it has all the relevant pieces and it is relatively simple to read out the digital form for transmission by voice Note however that passing a message by voice is usually faster requiring less repeats if the transmission is slowed down to a natural cadence but at about 12 14wpm and never above 20wpm This means speaking slowly with pauses at the right points and occasionally spelling words using the proword SPELL when introducing unusual or complicated words e g YOU NEED TO ALTER YOUR CADENCE SPELL CHARLIE ALPHA DELTA ECHO NOVMBER CHARL ECHO CADENCE APPROPRIATELY OVER I 6 4 Assessment Answer these questions and submit your answers to your Training Officer or mentor and answer additional questions that may be given to you 1 Whatare the three parts of a plaindress m
3. 81 9 5 2 iririio 81 9 5 3 AMTOR Amateur Teletype Over Radioc 82 9 5 4 PACTO R maytusqa kanaa aoaaa quy aaah 82 9 5 5 PSkK 31 1 AAAA Ra A a 83 9 5 6 edna ae en en aed 84 9 5 7 MFSK16 MESK 84 9 5 8 JM T63 86 9 5 9 o1 87 DEI MEET c E 88 9 6 DIGITAL MODE SOFTWARE RECOMMENDATIONS n nete sten eter tern nine nennen 89 9 7 EQUIPMENT SETUP INSTRUCTIONS esses sis on suns ior ds ar pn on ana id in a s i in id on dad id nn nb id on bang dow ten 90 9 7 1 Acoustically coupled connection through microphone and speaqakers 90 9 7 2 Computer control of PTT and frequency 92 9 7 3 Direct connection of computer to radio using computer soundcard 93
4. 22 2 5 5 State Nets S MM 23 2 6 ASSESSMENT 23 LEE DilggiesdiiidmR X 24 3 1 INTRODUCTION I 24 3 2 pas uS 24 3 3 22 24 3 4 ENDING OF TRANSMISSIONS 25 3 4 1 The Prowotd OVER tra A Ie Rd A A bee aaah Qamman 25 3 4 2 Proword OUT mE 25 A 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System pde Training Manua 4 Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 3 4 3 Prowords WAIT and WAIT OUIT U 25 3 4 4 TRE PrOWord ROGER E 25 3 4 5 The Proword WILCO E M 26 3 4 6 INE ProwOrd BREAK ja uuu 26 3 4 7 The Proword WORDS TWICE 22 2 000000 0000000000999 26 3 5 MARS COMMUNICATIONS 5 5 52 2 teh e are nee eae enun HERE ee ue e Ne nenne Fue vae Ea pn Re Ee ue ieaiao ie
5. It will be noted that this efficient form is the one that all USAF MARS nets should strive to achieve 124 7 Military Auxiliary Radio System U S Air Force T Training Manual 42 Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 10 14 3 When to do a Net Radio Check Roll Call 10 15 Roll Calls are held at the discretion of the NCS but usually not more than once an hour On traffic nets of two hour duration roll is called approximately 5 minutes into the second hour If the NCS for a one hour net chooses to make a Roll Call this Roll Call will usually be at the half hour Closing Down the Net At the appointed time for a net to end and NCS is satisfied that all traffic has been handled NCS will close the net as follows e g A1B2 THIS IS NCS CLOSE DOWN OUT Note1 ACP 125 uses the words CLOSE DOWN NOW while common USA practice is to say CLOSE DOWN Either method is acceptable Note2 Do not confuse the proword CLOSING DOWN with CLOSE DOWN E g 1 2 THIS IS NCS CLOSING DOWN OUT The above simply means that the NCS for whatever abrupt reason has closed his own station down The netis still running As all USAF MARS nets have to be directed if the NCS did not previously ask another station to assume the role then one of two things can happen Ina continuous net there may be a pre assigned NCS to take over the direction of the net at a prescribed time
6. 33 Table 7 Readability description 33 Table 8 Time Objective for Precedence Category 56 Table 9 Approved Punctuation 57 Table 10 MFSK Characteristics esee eene 85 Table 11 MT63 Characteristics re cie L etae save aen tane t e ca e FEY e carted cdam 86 Table 12 Olivia 41 4 44 eene 88 Table 13 Prosigns for CW usage u aa nenne nnn 107 Table 14 Signal Strengths 122 Table 15 Readability er RET ERE 122 Table 16 ATU Entries for Frequencies Wet and Dry 129 Table 17 Antenna Variation with Height 132 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 4 Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 R
7. 67 8 4 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF INFORMATION 68 8 4 1 E P 68 8 4 2 How to Draft and Send an Message 69 8 4 3 Essential Elements of Information EEI Event Identifiers esses sienne 71 8 4 4 Message Form for EEI Reports Voice esses eee enne a nnne satanas etnia 72 8 4 5 Sample Message Exercise i iie e eet tasse a ed aeta d d caesa kaqqa qas 73 8 4 6 Example Digital EEI Exercise Messqge 74 8 5 ASSESSMENT kaa ORT 75 9 DIGITAL 77 9 1 INTRODUCTION m a 77 9 2 ANALOG 77 9 3 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND PR 78 9 4 DIGITAL BANDWIDTH AND PLACEMENT OF SIGNAL sescceceeeeeeseaececececeeseauceecececeseeaucaececeeeseeuaaeceseeeseeseaaeeeeeeeeeenes 79 9 5 lure 81 9 5 1 RATT Radio Automatic TeleType or RTTY Radio TeleType
8. not authorized for MARS use The DTG is composed of the six digit origination time 2 digit day 2 digit hour and 2 digit minutes the zone indicator always Z spoken as ZULU the month and the 4 digit year eg R 0122152 JUNE 2012 Spoken as ROUTINE TIME ZERO ONE TWO TWO ONE FIVE ZULU JUNE TWO ZERO ONE TWO The first two numbers indicate the day of the month the next two the hour and the last two the minutes The letter Z for ZULU at the end of the numbers indicates Universal Time Coordinated All official time keeping is done in UTC on the basis of the 24 hour clock The Date Time group is used as the reference identifier for all messages and is assigned by the Originating MARS Station at the time the message is introduced into the system This is the complete address of both the Originator and the Addressee The Address starts with the proword FROM followed by the originator s name and address Some confuse the terms originator and originating station The Originator is the person or entity for which the message is being sent The originating station is the MARS station entering the message into the MARS system The originator and the originating station are the same when a MARS operator is sending a message on his her own behalf but they are different when a MARS operator sends a message from a third party If the Originator and the Originating Sta
9. de S HEX QUE 31 4 8 ASSESSMENT ots FEE 34 5 5 uku een voee ea sena au sae us neo syn cov v Nav eas a dna v aadis a suse nun uno seen es T aus 35 5 1 JAUTHORIZED INETS sss ass 35 5 1 1 Nets Authorized While in TrQ amp IBInQ s u an nn aaa as asi sa aa Ia aa aa aaa DEMO Ras sa 35 5 1 2 Nets Authorized Upon Completion of Training 35 5 1 3 Nets Not Authorized Unless Specially Appointed 35 5 2 PHONE PATCH PPN e 35 5 2 1 Phone Patch ettPHEDOSe uuu sm u et ee est eoe bed B NR a Erbe RE ende 35 5 2 2 Phone Patch Net is a Closed Net U U 35 5 2 3 Special Requirements u u ERE a S uu saa 36 5 2 4 Phone Patch DISCUSSIOnS a 36 5 2 5 F rther Details 5 36 5 3 MISSION SUPPORT NET MSN ccsscccceescececsssseceessececsessececsssseceesaeeecesssece
10. lt gt This way there is never any confusion that the member of the public might be a MARS operator Although it is generally recommended not to use addresses on messages between MARS stations if the message needs to be relayed across several states then an address can at least help the NCS work out which stations on a net are best to handle the message The via AFAH lt xx gt approach nicely distinguishes the fact that the message was originated via a MARS station and this makes it easy to route the service message back to the originating station e g here is a message formatted with the via AFA lt xx gt method of identifying the originating station Jg E AFA9HR NR 105 1000587 APRIL 2009 FR Lt Col Jasmine Donnelley J Farallon Lighthouse South Fast Farallon Island CA via AFA9HR TO Simon Donnelley 2368 Central Avenue Reno NV 89501 Tel 775 555 0123 GP 24 BT UNCLAS Arrived at Farallon Research Station by seaplane All fine Bleak but beautiful Taking photos for you Give my love to the kids Jasmine BT NNNN The service message for the above message can easily be routed back to the originating station even if the original message passed through multiple relay stations because the originating station is shown at the end of the FROM part of the heading It is the originating station s responsibility to list their call sign in the FROM line Once a message is entered in
11. non nnn FALLING ICE 3 3 88 1918 RE ROLLING THUNDER FLOOD Em TALL WATER FOREST GROUND FIRE SCORCHED GROUND GAS LEAK EXPLOSION MAJOR HOT AIR HEAVY WINDS ONLY sese MIGHTY WIND HURRICANES uu trono nette suena a EN e nina HOWLING WIND ICY ROADS INTERSTATE FREEWAYS BLACK ICE INTERSTATE BLOCKED DAMAGED MAJOR BLOCKED LANE MAJOR COMMUNICATIONS LINK DOWN LOST COMM NUCLEAR Em NUCLEAR GRAYSTONE OIL SPILL WATER iieri re DARK WATER POWER OUTAGE MAJOR essere DARK DAY SEARCH RESCUE ur eren te ee e TR ER EYE ke ee De SECURE HAVEN SEISMIC SEA TSUNAMI SHIP WRECK INCIDENT DEEP SEA TERRORIST THREAT aiite uenit n te unn n HIDDEN SHADOW TORNADO e EE VIOLENT TWISTER TRAIN 20 BROKEN TRACKS BRAZEN BRIMSTONE WATER DAM BREAK DAMAGED FAST WATER WINTER SNOW STORMS esses eene nne WHITE BLANKET COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT ROLE S IDENTIFIERS add gpree IDENTIFIER 94 FEDERAL RESPONSE de
12. And the NCS response would be ALPHA FOXTROT ALPHA ONE X RAY X RAY SLANT TANGO THIS IS ALPHA FOXTROT ALPHA ONE ALPHA ALPHA ROGER OUT Note the use of phonetics for your own call sign when initially checking into a net If you feel it E P y is necessary to prevent confusion that conditions are poor may elect to use full phonetics for the Net Control s call sign as well as for your call sign A word is necessary here on when to use alphanumeric call signs and when not Initially when calling into a net full phonetics for the station should be used Alphanumeric call signs e g for AFA1AA saying the letters like a child says their ABC s Ay Eff Ay One Ay Ay are authorized when the NCS has declared that Alphanumeric call signs may be used 4 4 Mixing alphanumerics and phonetics in a callsign with exception for Navy Marine Corps callsigns Is it allowed to mix alphanumeric and phonetic call signs Within the same call sign definitely not with the exception of Navy Marine Corps MARS call signs The following would not be correct AFA2AB saying Ay Eff Ay Two ALPHA BRAVO Either full phonetics for the full call sign or full alphanumeric for the full call sign should be used never a mixture of both within the same call sign Now in the February MOI of section 14 13 C it is mentioned that the correct method to pronounce Navy Marine Corps MARS call signs which always begin wit
13. THIS IS AFA7BB ROGER OVER If AFA7BB did not copy the message completely or missed it he she will ask for repeats using the proword SAY AGAIN and ALL BEFORE ALL AFTER etc or other identifiers within the message e g THIS AFA7BB SAY AGAIN ALL AFTER TO AND BEFORE BREAK OVER Note that this is different from the use of VERIFY SAY AGAIN indicates that you missed something and want it repeated whereas VERIFY indicates that you have the copy but are asking for a verification of the data to make sure you have it word for word accurate In actual message passing the use of these terms will often be confused If you have the message fully copied down then requesting VERIFY is appropriate If you have completely missing words or sections of the message or the entire message then SAY AGAIN is the appropriate choice of proword 7 7 Delivering Messages MARS messages are relayed through the system with the intention of getting them close enough to their destination for a local telephone call Since this is not always possible a few guidelines for delivery should be mentioned Generally if you are the closest station to the destination you are expected to accept traffic Members are never asked to have out of pocket expense for delivery i e using your own postage or paying for long distance telephone However if you feel generous you may deliver t
14. s so P Use Farnsworth timing 18 F WPM Restore defaults Save Close 4 Figure 9 Farnsworth timing for learners In the figure it will be seen that the Use Farnsworth timing has been enabled with a F WPM setting of 18 shown at left of lowest slider bar in the figure The TX WPM setting is just 10 shown at left of the slider bar higher in the figure So with the setting in the above figure the characters are sent at 18 wpm but the overall speed of transmission has been scaled down to a steady 10 wpm Naturally you do not want to use Farnsworth setting for transmitting messages on actual CW traffic or admin nets Farnsworth timing should only be used for CW training nets to improve operator speeds Another area of important consideration when using a soundcard for CW is that the prosigns and operating signals need to be sent specially The BT prosing is normally written with a macron a line over the letters such as BT This means that a single character is sent with no letter space between the B and the T Similarly the unknown station symbol AA is sent as and not as AA which means All After So what does this mean for the prospective soundcard user It means that you must use the appropriate prosign symbols when transmitting the text In Fldigi the BT prosign representing Break Transmission is actually un transmitted by typing the character On reception because modern s
15. 1 4 Training on USAF MARS Procedures Training on USAF MARS procedures is necessary even though you may be an experienced operator since MARS procedures are based on military procedures rather than amateur radio procedures These MARS procedures have been developed over the years to facilitate rapid communications while emphasizing accuracy All three MARS services have agreed to use a common procedure in order to allow for interoperability among the services WITH A FEW EXCEPTIONS trained USAF MARS operators are welcome to participate in Army or Navy Marine Corps MARS nets If you choose to participate in nets of the other MARS services be certain to observe and follow any unique policies and or procedures you may observe 1 5 Training Nets In most Regions and Divisions training nets are held on the Division frequency at regularly scheduled times The schedule for training nets should have been provided to you along with the AF Form 3661 which assigned you to training You may contact your Region or Division Training Director with any questions about the scheduled training nets Other opportunities to receive training in a classroom situation may be made available to you Information on these opportunities is provided by your Region or Division Training Director 1 6 Participation Time Requirements As a MARS volunteer operating on USAF frequencies you have essentially agreed to donate your time and equipment in support of the USAF MARS
16. Now when examining NVIS propagation or cloud burner antennas in radio amateur parlance one needs to consider what height is effective For an NVIS antenna the pattern does not badly degenerate if the antenna is lowered well below half a wavelength In fact it is possible to have good NVIS communications with an antenna mounted only 2ft above the ground This technique is often used in forest valleys to quickly put up an antenna just eight feet off the ground which can communicate out of the valley with ease on HF provided the operating frequency is below the foF2 value at that time of day If the frequency is too low then absorption by the D layer will hinder communications so as close to but below the foF2 value is desirable The following table extracted from the Hughes USAF MARS lecture of 2009 shows the effects of antenna impedance with varying height The antenna in all cases is simply a half wavelength dipole and the variation in height is shown in terms of wavelengths In the table the antenna is trimmed to a resonant length where resonance is when the antenna impedance has a negligible imaginary component and the reduction in resonant length is shown 131 amp 7 Military Auxiliary Radio System Ue kO k 2 Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Height of Effective Resonant Reduction Impedance at Antenna Length Length perleg Resonance Z 68 62 j 0 45 Q 0510 3 0 49
17. Z 88 07 j 1 32 Q 0 375 3 8 0 489 X Zos 9423 j 37 12 Z 85 09 j1 79Q Zos 61 86 j 71 25 Table 17 Antenna Variation with Height It can be seen from the table that the length is slightly shorter for resonance as height is reduced from a nice half wavelength to a low one eighth of a wavelength The antenna remains good from an impedance matching standpoint but what about the antenna pattern Total Field 2 Total Field EZNEC H 0 5 28 deg 7 7dBi 0 375 Pk 38 deg 6 4dBi 2 Total Field Total Field 0 25 Pk 62 deg 6 1dBi 0 125 Pk 90 deg 5 7 Figure 10 Variations in Antenna Pattern with Height 132 wa 2 Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Training Manual e Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD EZNEC EZNEC Figure 11 Variations in 3D Antenna Pattern with Height It will be noted that as the height is reduced to one eighth of a wavelength that the pattern loses its traditional gain but becomes more of a ball that radiates equally well in all directions but predominantly upward As such an antenna that is mounted low loses its typical broadside radiation pattern and effectively becomes omnidirectional for elevation angles above 60 degrees This makes it perfect for NVIS operations So unless your antenna is mounted high the specific orientation of the antenna in your yard is not
18. 5 ARMED FORCES AS MARS IS AN ORGANIZED MILITARY AUXILIARY such harm could potentially be directed at MARS members WHO MIGHT be thought of as low risk targets by a terrorist organization wishing to satisfy some power struggle agenda OR SOMEONE WITH AN AXE TO GRIND AGAINST THE MILITARY The bottom line here is Be Vigilant Certain documents in MARS are labeled as FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY FOUO There are strict guidelines for handling FOUO information and these are detailed in Department of Defense Manual DoDM 5200 01 V4 February 24 2012 Enclosure 3 section 2 INFORMATION The manual is available for download at http www dtic mil whs directives corres pdf 520001 vol4 pdf AF MARS members need to fully understand the definition of FOUO as defined in the above manual and the guidelines for handling such information 12 13 1 Addresses For this reason when giving sending messages over the air the message should not contain the address and name of the MARS operator If messages are between MARS operators just the MARS call sign will be sufficient If a message is to or from a third party and may need hand delivery then yes an address can and should be used but if the addressee is a MARS station then a delivery address should not be used The objective here is to ensure that full names and addresses of MARS members are not released to enemy stations that may be monitoring the 138 N Z Mili
19. Only in the absence of a third party document number should the MARS date time group reference be used in this location 67 e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 8 4 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF INFORMATION EEI 8 4 1 Background The MARS EEI concept is a product following the 1994 earthquake in Northridge CA Several government and military entities were subscribed to EEI reports generated by MARS members This forwarding was handled by Army MARS for all MARS services All government and military entities have cancelled their subscription to these reports Part of the reason for this was that over reporting of the traditional MARS EEI report resulted in previous subscribers canceling their subscription to that product In Army MARS NET OP ATD of 31 October 2012 it was documented that the MARS Governance Executive Board MGEB of US Army MARS had decided the following Discontinue the legacy MARS report and use of the term EEI in Army MARS Discontinue the use of event identifier codes Discontinue AAN3EEI Q Winlink org forwarding Implement USMTF Request for Information and Request for Information Response message types Implement USMTF SPOT Intelligence Report SPIREP message type SPIREP will be directed to State or Region leadership and only forwarded appropriately and if relevant Origination of SPIREP shall be limited to exercises an
20. TO AFA9AY CA GRNC ALMOST COMPLETED THE MANUAL WILL SEND DRAFT VIA EMAIL K NNNN Note that the default character in Fldigi for the prosign AS is the character When the above un is received by Fldigi the Separative Sign II will still be printed as II but the will be printed as lt BT gt and the lt as lt AS gt By observing these conventions it is possible for a modern soundcard operator to work with experienced CW operators without breaking protocols that have been carefully established over the years 9 9 Assessment Note that you should by now have your laptop set up with appropriate soundcard software and have an interface to your radio to enable you to participate in digital traffic passing which is an essential requirement of MARS participation Answer these questions and submit your answers to your Training Officer or mentor and answer additional questions that may be given to you 1 Why are digital modes so useful in MARS 2 Whatis the cheapest and quickest way to interface a laptop computer to a radio in an emergency What are the disadvantages of this technique What is the bandwidth of MT63 1K Where in the MARS channel should digital transmissions including CW be placed 5 Which of the modes MT63 500 MT63 1K MT63 2K MFSK16 has the best signal to noise ratio When would you choose to use that mode
21. Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 2 MARS OVERVIEW 2 1 A Brief MARS History The current MARS program is a result of development and evolution It has been different things at different times The first volunteer Amateur Radio operators to serve the United States military formed the Army Amateur Radio System AARS in November 1925 That operation continued until the start of World War II when Amateur Radio operations were ordered suspended Army Amateur Radio was reauthorized in 1946 The U S Army and U S Air Force formed the Military Amateur Radio System in 1948 It was later renamed to Military Auxiliary Radio System MARS In 1962 the Navy and Marine Corps MARS program was started 2 2 MARS Mission 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 The Mission of the MARS program is as per section 1 1 of the MOI of February 2013 defined as per DoD Instruction 4650 02 Military Auxiliary Radio System MARS it is Department of Defense DoD policy that MARS shall provide Department of Defense Provide contingency radio communications support to U S Government operations through the utilization of organized volunteer radio operators and operating facilities under the appropriate authorities as directed by and coordinated within the DoD MARS is to provide contingency radio communications support to civil authorities at all levels in fulfillment of DoD responsibilities under DoD Directives 5111 13 see http www dtic mil whs d
22. 58 wpm 16 316Hz 13 5dB Table 10 MFSK Characteristics In the MFSK table of characteristics you will note that there are two speeds listed The higher speed is for sending the word paris with a following space 100 times and seeing how many of this standard word are transmitted in a minute The figures of 36 wpm for MFSK8 and 58 wpm for MFSK16 are thus noted But these are unrealistic in terms of typical English transmissions MFSK uses a varicode in a similar way that Morse uses a varicode so some characters are quicker to transmit than others The varicode used favors lower case transmission For typical random words the more conservative average typing speed is also shown in the table which is 26 wpm for MFSK8 and 42 wpm for MFSK16 It will be noted that both MFSK8 and MFSK16 occupy the same bandwidth of 316Hz MFSK can also be used to transfer small images Not that there would probably be much need for this in MARS but confirming a building with earthquake damage via a picture could be a valuable asset when internet links may be severed in an earthquake But again time to transmit needs to be considered No single transmission should be over a few minutes in length An MFSK transmission changes from one tone to the next smoothly with no sudden change in phase and no change in amplitude Because tones are sent in a continuous phase CPFSK manner at constant amplitude the transmission system does not require lineari
23. 9 Training Manual TO MR amp MRS JOSEPH SMITH 11512 S STATE 60691 TEL 302 921 0078 Prefix GROUPS ONE SIX BREAK Text ENJOYING NEW ASSIGNMENT WILL WRITE NEW DUTIES HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON BILL BREAK Ending OP NOTE DO NOT ATTEMPT DELIVERY BEFORE OVER 5 PM CHICAGO T NG 46 2 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System ve raining Manua 4 Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 6 3 3 Digital Format Here is the same message as sent by digital means AMTOR PACTOR Packet MFSK MT63 or Sound Card etc this time on a regular traffic net Beginning Procedure DE AFA3BB NR 001 Preamble R 041930Z JUNE 2013 Address FM SGT WILLIAM SMITH 4TH INF BTN FT SILL OK 73503 AFA6XX OK TO MR AND MRS JOSEPH SMITH 1512 S STATE DRIVE CHICAGO IL 60691 TEL 302 921 0078 Prefix GR 16 BT Text ENJOYING NEW ASSIGNMENT WILL WRITE LONG LETTER EXPLAINING NEW DUTIES HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON BILL BT Ending OP NOTE DO NOT ATTEMPT DELIVERY BEFORE 5 PM CHICAGO TIME K NNNN 47 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 42 Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 6 3 4 Digital Format without explanation of sec
24. Conducting a radio check callup 10 6 1 At the designated time the Net Control Station NCS will call the net as follows Initial call in good conditions NCS starts the net with a call up by transmitting 1 2 A1B2 THIS IS NCS OVER Note The net designator is stated twice only in the first call up This call up serves multiple functions It announces the net puts the net in directed net mode and authorizes stations to transmit for such purposes as checking in and listing traffic Note that NCS in the above will be replaced by the call sign of the station acting as NCS You don t need to tell people that you are the NCS unless there is confusion Subsequent call ups are made as follows A1B2 THIS IS NCS OVER 113 v e 429 10 6 2 10 6 3 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Initial call in poor conditions When conditions are poor NCS will transmit the call up using words twice without use of the proword WORDS TWICE e g 1 2 1 2 THIS IS NCS NCS OVER Subsequent call ups are made as follows 1 2 1 2 THIS IS NCS NCS OVER Note It is good practice to give the NCS call sign and net designator in full phonetics on all net calls Acknowledging check ins NCS must acknowledge all check ins This should be done in the order stations ch
25. Digital Format without explanation of sections Messages via Voice Letters and Figures Mixed Caution on Counting of Mixed Groups Other Prowords MESSAGE RECEPTION All Received OK Lettering The Text TRANSMISSION INSTRUCTIONS ARRL Numbered Radiograms Assigning Precedence PASSING TRAFFIC DELIVERING MESSAGES SERVICE MESSAGES U S Air Force Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD amp 7 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 4 Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 7 9 REFE MARS TO AMATEUR iore tee tet y l e bere exe eta rue da ete pae t eve uve 61 7 10 REFILE AMATEUR TO MARS L sisi S nsn 62 711 ASSESSMENT 63 8 EMERGENCY COMIMIUNICATIONS 64 8 1 BACKGROUND 25225 gu 64 8 2 OVERVIEW O 64 8 3 SITUATION POSITION OBSERVATION TASK SPOT a 65 8 3 1 SPOT Message BOY 65 8 3 2 Example Plaindress Message SPOT report filed by a MARS station 66 8 3 3 Example Plaindress Message SPOT report originated via a third party
26. MORGAN You would send JULIET PER SPELL MIKE OSCAR ROMEO GOLF ALPHA ex4 ACP You would send Figures The proword F GURES precedes all numerals with some exceptions Numerals are always GURES ONE SEVEN not Figures Seventeen You would write down the numerals 17 and count it as one group If a number is to be sent as a word expressed in single digits e g F like Seventeen it would be spelled phonetically to insure that no misunderstanding will result 51 N Z e 7 2 4 7 2 5 Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD The exceptions all appear in the message heading The message number is preceded by the proword NUMBER not FIGURES The DATE TIME Group is preceded by the proword TIME not FIGURES and the Group Count is preceded by the proword GROUPS not FIGURES proword FIGURES is never used in conjunction with those three prowords NUMBER TIME and GROUPS Letters and Figures Mixed If letters and figures appear together in the same group you use the proword that reflects the first element of the group If ita numeral then use FIGURES even though there are letters in the group If the first element is a letter then use I SPELL e g If itis
27. NUMBER 1 ROUTINE KOUER CHECK 15 OKLAHOMA VIA MARS TIME 17302 28 June 2013 TO MR AND MRS JOHN JONES 11615 STATE RD CHICAGO IL 60691 302 921 0078 BT ENJOYING NEW HUMVEE X WILL WRITE LONG LETTER EXPLAINING NEW DUTIES X HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON BT SIGNED NED Optional SGT EDWARD JONES 4th INF BTN FT SILL OK 73530 NOTE The ARRL Amateur system uses an XRAY in the text for all punctuation It is not counted in the check or group count 7 10 Refile Amateur to MARS Ur qoc Since the MARS message format is really more precise and you are trained in drafting MARS messages this should be easier than the above procedure Here are a few important things you should ask the sending station if you are asked to take traffic from the Amateur band and refile it into MARS Is there a complete FROM Address with telephone number If the message cannot be delivered will you be able to reach the sender for notification Is the text a subject that is acceptable on the MARS circuits See 7 5 Originating Messages Re number to fit your MARS sequence Assign a proper MARS precedence New date time group should reflect the Time originated into MARS Complete From and To Address Move any signature up into the Text and eliminate any XRAYS from the Amateur message to arrive at
28. Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 1 All comments must in some way relate to MARS business or the mission of MARS 2 Comments need to be brief consistent with clarity 3 Stations must pause releasing the Push To Talk PTT switch between turnovers in transmission to allow for another station to break in It is a good idea to release the PTT during any pause in transmission so that the sender can become aware of a station that may need to be heard 4 NCS may interrupt an exchange at any time and stop the exchange by calling a directed net Note again that all nets in MARS are directed in the sense of having an NCS When the NCS calls the net directed all stations wishing to communicate must seek approval from the NCS first 3 4 Ending of Transmissions 3 4 1 3 4 2 3 4 3 3 4 4 IMPORTANT Every transmission whether formal or informal ends with either of the two prowords OVER or OUT but never both The Proword OVER OVER means that you are expecting a reply and is the signal to the other station indicating that he may transmit without interference The Proword OUT OUT means that this is the last transmission of an exchange and no reply is necessary When one station says OUT that is the end of an exchange and the other station should not add another OUT If there is more to be transmitted you must re establish contact by the calling method explained in the next section of this guide The Prow
29. When you have completed training almost all MARS nets will be open to you While you are in training your primary assignment is Training The training assignment is temporary When you complete training you will receive a permanent assignment and the time requirement will then apply to that assignment Station Requirements As noted in section 2 3 4 of the MOI of February 2013 there are certain station requirements that must be met These are a Applicants and or current members must have an operational HF radio station prior to acceptance into the MARS program b HFstations must be capable of operating on a minimum of two MARS frequencies assigned by Division and Region MARS officials c HFstations must have the capability of operating voice and one or more of the digital modes Digital mode is defined as any computer generated signal other than continuous wave CW d Unless specifically exempted from this requirement all HF radio equipment must have a frequency stability and tolerance of 20 Hz as set by the NTIA National Telecommunications amp Information Administration Digital Training It should be noted from paragraph c of section 1 2 that digital operation via computer generated signal from a computer sound card or an external sound card is an essential part of the requirements of being a MARS member The reason for this is that digital message passing of traffic is far less error prone especially with broadcast forwar
30. but there is a need to keep things general to enhance 1 to many interoperability required in MARS circuits Flarq 1 10nly RX station is also a TX station needs computer TCVR control RX station must have Flarq FLwrap e 1 to many e All RX stations must have Flwrap or message is unintelligible FLmsg e 1 to many e All RX stations must have Flmsg and Fldigi or control characters seen e Donotuseif stations on the net are using other soundcard software 103 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 4 Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 9 8 Morse nets and soundcard usage In fact the original operating mode CW is a digital mode Morse code uses binary symbols dots and dashes and it uses variable length character encoding like PSK31 Although nowadays thought of as a fuzzy mode because it really needs the human ear brain combination to decode signals that are sent by hand it is certainly very easy for a computer to decode the Morse signals albeit without any forward error correction that are sent by a computer as these signals would be perfectly timed with a dash being three times the length of a dot the space between dots and dashes of the same letter being one dot the space between letters of the same word equaling one dash and the space between two words being seven dots in duration which was raised from five which was used in very early Morse transmissions One would think
31. send I SPELL ALPHA ONE CHARLIE lfitis1st send FIGURE ONE SIERRA TANGO Caution on Counting of Mixed Groups Mixed groups can be sent different ways If sent incorrectly in the text of a message it will affect the group count If a proword appears between the figures and the letter it will be counted as another group e g IfO9lis sent FIGURES ZERO NINER INDIA itis correctly sent as one group but if it issentas FIGURES ZERO NINER SPELL INDIA atrained operator would count it as two groups because of the extra proword SPELL Other Prowords The other prowords can be found in Annex A to Chapter 3 of ACP125 F starting at p 42 in http jcs dtic mil j6 cceb acps acp125 ACP125F pdf Further discussion of other prowords may be covered on the training nets 7 3 Message Reception 7 3 1 All Received OK If you are receiving a message and you have heard everything perfectly you can simply ROGER the message e g if alphanumeric call signs are allowed on the net and wants to ROGER the message THIS IS 6 ROGER OUT e g if the net is operating with full phonetic call signs THIS IS ALPHA FOXTROT ALPHA SIX ALPHA BRAVO ROGER OUT If the message was numbered then the acknowledgement would include the number e g suppose the message had num
32. 1 Balanced Antennas a iid eei n deae PN Taba aude 129 11 2 2 Transmission lines and Impedance 130 11 3 HOW HIGH SHOULD AN ANTENNA BF 130 11 4 FURTHER STUDY err 133 1175 ASSESSMEN Makanan 134 12 MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION 135 12 1 uqaqa E E rs 135 PFEERUIdqicH H 135 123 BROADCASTS AND BULLETINS tre Un 135 12 4 FREQUENCY TOLERANCE CEREREM 135 12 4 1 u 136 12 5 SURPLIUSEQUIPMENT 136 12 6 RETURN ADDRESS FOR MARS 136 12 75 DRIBEIMESSAGESS on diretto ec trei tom hut h usta sa II Ei SE 136 12 8 TRAINING FINAL EXAM I 136 12 9 PARTICIPATION TIME
33. 7 2 Use of Common Prowords 7 2 1 7 2 2 I Spell Use the proword SPELL for all proper names unusual words words that sound like other words but are spelled differently plural past tense words i e Words ending with s or ed all abbreviations all initials and some acronyms Sometimes poor propagation dictates the practice of spelling every word This will be a judgment call by the sending operator who will always consider the need for accuracy even though this will slow the speed of transmission The technique for using I SPELL is to pronounce the word if pronounceable then say SPELL spell the word phonetically then pronounce the word again if pronounceable eg JIM SPELL JULIET NDIA MIKE JIM When spelling two or more words in sequence always treat each word individually e g TOM SPELL TANGO OSCAR MIKE TOM SMITH SPELL SIERRA MIKE NDIA TANGO HOTEL SMITH Some additional examples e g MR AND MRS You would send SPELL MIKE ROMEO AND SPELL MIKE ROMEO SIERRA e g MARS You would send I SPELL MIKE ALPHA ROMEO SIERRA OD PAPA PER NOVEMBER MORGAN SPELL ALPHA CHARLIE PAPA OD MORGAN I e g J P
34. 9 7 4 Direct connection of computer to radio using external soundcard 93 9 7 5 Frequency alignment for RX ppm TX ppm and TX 94 A 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System pde Training Manua 4 Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 9 7 6 Level adjustment of the audio signal 98 9 7 7 Transmitting with Fldigi 99 9 7 8 Fldigi auxilidry s ftW 0re uuu anu nama ees dede ee a RARE HEY GR ATE RARE ER aaa ERAS 100 9 8 MORSE NETS AND SOUNDCARD USAGE No Eye ee ee S 104 9 9 ASSESSMENTa eheu edet esee teet eec ec 109 10 NCS OPERATIONS cE 110 INTRODUCTION EXE NUES RE REC EUER EAM 110 10 2 TERMINOLOGY USED ete rore epa o e tena en Pa Fan noe RE o EE e RE ne Ra Cea Es Ee S 110 10 3 GENERAEOPERATING PRINCIPLES seiten eh ope 110 10 3 1 Directed c mE E waqa 11
35. AD Most people think that an antenna needs to be as high as possible or at least at a minimum height of half a wavelength for the frequency of operation Although this is true for achieving a very low take off angle which can result in long distance communication cherished by radio amateurs this is not the main requirement for military communications In most regional nets communications are over relatively short distances of a few hundred miles not several thousand In these regional nets the use of NVIS Near Vertical Incidence Skywave is the primary mode of communication to stations on the net That is the signal is typically going up to the ionosphere and refracting back down where the take off angle from the station is 45 degrees or higher often close to 80 degrees In these circumstances understanding the value of the hourly foF2 the 90 degree incident highest frequency that can be reflected back down to earth by the F2 layer of the ionosphere is of great importance The Australian Government Radio and Space Weather Services site at http www ips gov au provides a page specifically showing an hourly map of the foF2 values for the world real time but delayed by an hour or two to allow them to compute the data which is available at http www ips gov au HF Systems 6 5 which is part of their extremely extensive HF Systems page at http www ips gov au HF Systems The HF Systems page has a lot of useful propagation information also
36. Ean 26 3 6 Wide 26 4 CALLING AND ANSWERING PROCEDURES 28 4 1 PRELIMINARY CALLS CE 28 4 1 1 5 01 Call 28 4 1 2 Collective Call or Net Call or Group Call 28 4 1 3 Multiple Call M 28 4 2 ANSWERING A PRELIMINARY CALI u a oe true be on 28 4 2 1 u ul 28 4 2 2 Abbreviated Procedure o RR ERR balas QU DIE 28 4 3 CHECKING INTO NETS REQUIRES FULL PROCEDURE e eese een nennen oerte nhan inset sen resa ke dote she neas so nine ar 29 4 4 MIXING ALPHANUMERICS AND PHONETICS IN A CALLSIGN WITH EXCEPTION FOR NAVY MARINE CORPS CALLSIGNS 29 4 5 AFTER COMMUNICATIONS ARE ESTABLISHED USE ABBREVIATED 1 21 1 1 1 nennen nennen nnn 31 4 6 ABBREVIATED PROCEDURE IS NOT THE SAME AS ABBREVIATED CALL SIGNS eene enne 31 4 7 SIGNALE STRENGTHS QU EN
37. For those unfamiliar with each of these programs a short description will be provided for each e Flarq Automatic repeat request program FLwrap compress wrap and unwrap files e Fimsg forms management editor 9 7 8 1 Flarq Automatic repeat request program Benefits e Allows two stations to be sure that data is transferred accurately between them works nicely with MT63 e 1 to 1 communications so although not encrypted slightly more secure e Special codes are inserted into the transmission to allow the software to determine when data needs to be retransmitted Limitations e Can t be used on a broadcast net it is 1 to 1 usage only e Special codes will appear as additional characters in a message not intended for the receiving station e Recommended to be used by MARS members who both have the software and arrange appropriately for the passing of the traffic 9 7 8 2 FLwrap compress wrap and unwrap files Benefits e Ensures exact transmission and informs if there is an error e Works with multiple stations but every time a stations receives in error a new transmission would be needed e Totally manual This is a benefit for stations that do not have a transceiver under software control e Ona broadcast net stations that do not get a correct copy will be informed by the software and will need to ask for a retransmission 101 N 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System U S Air Force Train
38. Multiple Calls A net control station may direct stations to USE FULL PROCEDURE if he she feels it necessary or desirable In such case of course stations will follow the directive of the NCS and use full procedure If communications conditions are difficult a station answering a single call may find it desirable to use full procedure to answer as a way of confirming his her 28 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System pde Training Manua 4 Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD understanding of who was calling However because of the extra airtime involved this use of full procedure should be limited 4 3 Checking Into Nets Requires Full Procedure Full procedure with phonetics will be used when checking into nets unless directed otherwise by the Net Control Station Example for the Collective call by the NCS STERRA CHARLIE SIERRA ONE SIERRA CHARLIE SIERRA ONE THIS IS ALPHA FOXTROT ALPHA ONE ALPHA ALPHA OVER On initial check in to a net do not say NO TRAFFIC when you have no traffic It is to be assumed by NCS that you have no traffic to list if you do not list the traffic See the following example of an answer to the above response The answer using full procedure would be ALPHA FOXTROT ALPHA ONE ALPHA ALPHA pause THIS IS ALPHA FOXTROT ALPHA ONE X RAY X RAY SLANT TANGO OVER
39. Or if no station announces that it has assumed control then one of the stations already on the net must assume control and act as NCS If a CLOSE DOWN instruction is given it means that the net is closed down It is imperative that NCS be aware whether a net is authorized to continue on past the designated end time If it is not NCS must arrange with stations holding traffic to dispose of that traffic on another net This must be done well enough in advance of net end time to adequately take care of this business In some cases NCS may be authorized to close down a net before the designated end time For example suppose R2D2 net is assigned a one hour slot but is authorized to close down after 30 minutes of operation if there is no further traffic or business to handle The NCS can close the net early Optionally the NCS may desire all stations respond to the direction to close down This is important when there is a need for accountability of personnel to be certain all stations have the message the net is closed In this case the NCS transmits R2D2 THIS IS NCS CLOSE DOWN OVER Because a call to the net was made with the proword OVER all stations in the net are required to respond in net order Example THIS IS Station Call sign ROGER OUT 125 N Z e e 10 16 10 17 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD MARS s
40. RX ppm TX ppm and TX offset 96 Figure 7 Tuning TX at 15002 97 Figure 8 Fldigi with MFSK16 idle 99 Figure 9 Farnsworth timing for learners 105 Figure 10 Variations in Antenna Pattern with Height 132 Figure 11 Variations in 3D Antenna Pattern with Height 133 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 4 2 2013 10 31 Rev AD LIST TABLES Table 1 USAF Divisions and Regions by State comparing FEMA Regions 17 Table 2 National Billet Call Sigrnis ceavacsdeat ee 20 Table 3 National gU 21 Table 4 Phonetic and Alphanumeric Call Signs by Service 30 Table 5 Circuit Merit system and natural language equivalent 32 Table 6 Signal Strength description
41. SAY AGAIN is used with ALL AFTER ALL BEFORE WORD AFTER WORD BEFORE Requests for fills may use combinations of these to clarify your request e g SAY AGAIN ALL AFTER Birthday and BEFORE New York Never say ROGER for a message if the number of words or groups in the text do not agree with the number in the GROUP COUNT Our system makes it quite easy for a receiving station 50 XZ 42 0 5 Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Military Auxiliary Radio System Training Manual to confirm all the necessary information while still in contact with the sending station If the group count is wrong a fast way to work out what is wrong is to ask the originating station to LETTER THE TEXT this means stating the first letter of each word phonetically for all the text Itis then fairly easy for the receiving station to work out where there are missing word s and ask for a fill on the relevant section Corrections are more difficult to obtain after contact has been terminated If a ROGER has been received for a message and an error is discovered originate another formal message stating the mistake and its correction This is the way to correct the mistake In the same manner if a cancellation of a message is required a new message stating cancellation is the correct method to follow
42. below should be appropriately selected When drafting an EEI message for voice transmission put a regular MARS heading on it E g Number Precedence Date Time Group FROM your Name Station and State TO Someone who can handle the message appropriately INFO AFDAEC SC Your Region or Division Emergency Coordinator Your SMD Other INFO Addressees Note The historical note of Actual EEl s are addressed to AAN3EEI VA Exercise EEI s addressed to AFN2EC is purely historical These stations should no longer be destination station of messages as they are no longer relayed by Army MARS This entire section is written here more as a historical reference to EEI reporting You should contact your state or region emergency coordinator and read your ECOM Training manual which will have updated procedures Use the following format for your text BT MARS EXERCISE or ACTUAL EVENT SUBJ EEI REPORT 1 REF EVENT IDENTIFIER Use applicable event identifier from page 8 3 or plain language if not on Identifier List A INCIDENT LOCATION TIME Specify Town City County or State wide area B EMERGENCY MEDICAL Operational Damaged Destroyed or Field Facilities available etc C LOCAL TRANSPORTATION Indicate whether roads bridges local airports railroads are affected and status open restricted closed damaged destroyed Provide enough information to disaster relief officials to aid in deciding how to get as
43. bits in the Varicode stream It is effective under poor propagation conditions Complaints for this mode not working as well are usually owing to difficulties in correctly tuning Tuning is twice as critical with QPSK as it is with BPSK To be effective you must tune the received signal to an accuracy of 4Hz Clearly both transmit and receive stations must have very stable transceivers to achieve this Clever sound card interface software such as Digipan somewhat removes the need for accurate tuning because it can identify where the signals are located and correctly decode them keeping track of frequency changes using Automatic Frequency Control AFC within the software This mode requires linearity in the same way as BPSK 31 MFSK16 MFSK MFSK Multi Frequency Shift Keying more specifically MFSK16 is a multi tone FSK mode with Forward Error Correction FEC consisting of 16 tones 15 625 baud 16 FSK tones at 15 625Hz spacing It is loosely based on the old British Piccolo system using relatively narrow tone spacing The French military had a similar system called Coquelet MFSK16 has an effective 42 wpm data rate and uses about a 316 Hz bandwidth It has proven to be a good weak signal long distance mode The mode was created by Nino Porcino IZ8BLY and Murray Greenman ZL1BPU The DSP algorithm uses Fast Fourier Transform technology to decode the ASCII characters and Constant Phase Frequency Shift Keying to send the coded signal Continuou
44. gt BT Message Type text of message in SPOT or EEI format Message Type BT Optional operator remarks NNNN In the above the Message Type is one of ACTUAL EVENT or MARS EXERCISE depending on if it is an actual event of a MARS exercise It will be noted that the Message Type is used both as the first part of the text body and as the final part of the text body That is if the message begins with MARS EXERCISE it 64 2 429 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD must also end with MARS similarly if it begins with ACTUAL EVENT it will end with ACTUAL EVENT this means the type of message content is indicated clearly to the receiving station so that the textual body of the message will be interpreted correctly and false alarms will not be generated The precedence given to the message will always be ROUTINE prosign R for MARS EXERCISE The precedence for ACTUAL EVENT situations will be either PRIORITY prosign P or IMMEDIATE prosign O depending on the scale of the emergency Typically PRIORITY will be used for ACTUAL EVENT situations with IMMEDIATE being reserved for large scale disaster situations necessitating special action e g call out of the National Guard Augmenting the MARS EXERCISE or ACTUAL EVENT with the type of report included in the body may also be done if itis felt
45. home computers of the 1980 s Eventually USA amateurs were permitted to use codes other than Baudot over the air Packet radio based on the AX 25 protocol derived from the landline packet switching protocol X 25 was enabled With this development error correcting digital transmission was made available to amateur operators and MARS members Packet radio required a hardware device known as a Terminal Node Controller TNC or Data Controllers to interface the radio and the user s computer The development during the 1990 s in complexity and speed of personal computers and the evolution of more sophisticated sound cards containing a digital to analog converter an analog to digital converter and a sophisticated digital signal processor together with open public domain access to control the soundcards enabled the digital sound card revolution PSK31 developed by Peter Martinez G3PLX was the first of these modes to achieve popularity This was followed by many new modes such as QPSK 31 MFSK16 and MT63 Nino Porcino IZ8BLY and Murray Greenman ZL1BPU contributed greatly to the development of both MFSK and MT63 In addition older modes such at RATT ASCII and AMTOR were implemented in sound cards This eliminated the need for expensive modulators demodulators modems and TNCs except for PACTOR transmission because of licensing issues 9 4 Digital Bandwidth and Placement of Signal The emission bandwidth of any MARS digital transmission must not
46. in Ay Ef Ay Six Cee Cee etc 7 4 Transmission Instructions 7 4 1 7 4 2 7 4 3 7 4 4 There several procedures like READBACK RELAY RELAY and VERIFY which are used occasionally You should make the effort to understand them in the event of necessity Transmission instructions occur after the message number if used and before the precedence of the message Readback READ BACK is used in the beginning procedure and thus may be added by any sending operator who may wish to hear the message read back to insure accuracy Once the message is correctly read back to the sender no ROGER is necessary The sender upon hearing the message read back correctly responds with CORRECT OUT If incorrect he will respond with WRONG and correct the appropriate words Relay RELAY is an understood instruction and is usually not stated All messages going through one or more intermediate stations is a relay The prosign RR is sometimes seen on data nets and indicates RELAY ROUTINE Relay To RELAY TO is followed by a call sign or call signs and gives a specific order to the receiving station to relay to a specific station Do Not Answer DO NOT ANSWER is used by the sender to indicate that acknowledgements are not to be sent for receipt of the message Stations called are not to answer this call receipt for this message or otherwise transmit in connection wit
47. is followed by the BT b To separate each element of the Address component i e preceding the prosigns FM TO INFO and XMT See ACP 124 D for a fuller description Firstly examine the following digital message and then see what is changed AFA9AY DE AFA9HR AS after a few seconds delay DE AFA9HR NR 423 R 22133072 JULY 2013 FM AFA9HR CA TO AFA9AY CA G B A RNC BT LMOST COMPLETED THE MANUAL WILL SEND DRAFT VIA EMAIL BT K NNNN When compiled for transmission via Morse the following would typically be written down AFA9AY DE AFA9HR AS after a few seconds delay DE AFA9HR NR 423 R 2213302 JULY 2013 FM AFA9HR CA TO AFA9AY CA GRNC BT ALMOST COMPLETED THE MANUAL WILL SEND DRAFT VIA EMAIL lt K N BT NNN 108 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Note the use of the Separative Sign before the precedence and before the DTG as well as before the FM and TO parts of the address In the above the prosign for Break is written as BT and the prosign for WAIT is written as AS to save needing to write the macron above the letters in this document In Fldigi the above would be typed as AFA9AY DE AFA9HR after a few seconds delay DE AFA9HR NR 423 R 2213302 JULY 2013 FM AFA9HR CA
48. is strictly no check ins permitted of non members to the net If you not a registered member do not attempt to check in The exception to this is during the weekly Admin net for MSN which takes place on Saturdays at 0801 PST 00017 during winter hours any MARS member may check in during the Admin portion of the Mission Support Net 2 5 3 2 Division Traffic Nets Network Call Signs for Division Traffic nets are of the format lt AA gt lt m gt lt gt where AA denotes the Division NE SE NC SC NW or SW m denotes the mode S for SSB M 21 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD for Mixed D for Digital or F for FM and denotes the net number EXAMPLES NEM1 Northeast Division Multi Mode Traffic Net 1 NCD1 North Central Digital Keyboard to Keyboard Traffic Net 1 NWS1 Northwest Division SSB Voice Traffic Net 1 2 5 3 3 Other Division Nets 2 5 4 Network Call Signs for other Division Traffic nets are of the format lt AA gt lt TT gt lt m gt lt gt where AA denotes the Division NE SE NC SC NW or SW TT denotes the net type AD for Administrative Nets EC for ECOM Net TD for Training Net TS for Technical Service Net or XC for exercise Net m denotes the mode S designating single side band SSB voice M designating mixed mode i e digital and v
49. may wish to obtain a radio check from every station in the net to check propagation conditions or determine if communications still exist If conditions are poor or stations called into the net over such a long period of time that individuals do not know where they are placed in the roster then the NCS may proceed by calling each station by their call sign only Stations called will answer with an abbreviated call and a Radio Check e g Good Form of Call NCS says A1C2 THIS IS NCS RADIO CHECK FOLLOWS AAA OVER waits for AAA who responds with THIS IS AAA ROGER OVER NCS responds with ROGER OUT and then calls BBB BBB OVER and BBB responds with THIS IS BBB LOUD DISTORTED OVER and NCS responds with GOOD READABLE OUT and then calls CCC CCC OVER Incorrect Form of Call 123 XZ 429 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa 5 Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD The very long form of roll call radio check call with the NCS stating for each station e g AAA ROLL CALL RADIO CHECK OVER waits for response from AAA then says GOOD READABLE OUT BBB ROLL CALL RADIO CHECK OVER waits for response from BBB then says GOOD WITH INTERFERENCE OUT CCC ROLL CALL RADIO CHECK OVER and so on The above I
50. message spoken once as BREAK or written as the prosign BT and again following the end of the message text e During voice message relay between two stations BREAK spoken once tells the sending station to stop transmitting and allow the receiving station to request repetitions Do not use the proword BREAK to conclude communication with one station and immediately establish it with another The Proword WORDS TWICE The proword WORDS TWICE is used when communication is difficult It means transmit each phrase twice If sent by the NCS to all stations it indicates to all stations to transmit each phrase twice 3 5 MARS Communications Protocols MARS Communications are generally Point to Point or one station communicating with another one at atime Authorized exceptions to this rule are Net Control Stations when making net calls and stations sending bulletins Round table discussions are not allowed on the MARS circuits If you must communicate with more than one station you must say OUT when you have completed with one and then establish contact with the next station After you have had a chance to monitor a few nets you will see that this is not as complicated as it sounds For years the above procedures have proved to contribute to effective and efficient communications Procedures are not intended to be restrictive AF MARS continues to utilize formal procedures as mandated in t
51. message as well as the sender and addressee of the message as well as the count of words in the message The TEXT is the body of the message containing the information from the original sender to the addressee The ENDING although not always used is provided for any additional information dealing with relay instructions or delivery information needed to help move the message through the system Heading The HEADING is divided into 4 components The Beginning Procedure The Preamble The Address Both From and To The Prefix Group Count pv Ge RN 6 1 1 1 The Beginning Procedure Sometimes called the Procedure consists of a Preliminary Call and the message serial number Serial numbers begin with 1 and the count restarts each month Typically three digits are used as a minimum with preceding zeros when starting with 1 e g 001 002 999 1000 1001 However there is no fixed standard for numbering across all MARS networks When a very long message needs to be split into component parts then the message number is augmented with a letter For example a message which is too long to send in one transmission by be split into component parts each with the same precedence and date time group and the message number would be 112A 112B 112C so that when message number 112 gets to the destination the component parts can be assembled in the right order Splitting of messages is rare on voice networks but was historically often requ
52. mission and to participate for a minimum time each calendar quarter To successfully operate on the Air Force networks you will need to learn the prowords net procedures message format and message handling techniques that are unique to MARS The goal of our training is to develop a system of skilled and active radio operators who can provide expertise in achieving our Primary Mission 1 7 Arranging Prolonged Period of Inactivity NOTE Directives regarding prolonged periods of inactivity are quite clear If at any time you find that you cannot meet minimum participation requirements notify your State MARS Director or Net Manager of the duration and reason for your inactivity Arrangements for extensions of time are easy to make if those arrangements are made before your membership is in jeopardy but the responsibility for notifying the proper officials rests with you 13 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 4 Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 1 8 Assessment At the end of each chapter there will be a small set of assessment questions three to seven questions that you will be expected to review with your Training Officer and or mentor These questions may be answered open book but you will be evaluated on your understanding and application of the basic concepts provided here The objective of these questions is to help you focus on the key concepts that should have been learnt from readi
53. more stations operating on the same frequency given a group of frequencies customarily in different bands therefore accommodating changes 88 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 4 Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD in day night and solar cycle propagation and other propagation anomalies Stations can communicate automatically or manually with each other with digital data being the primary mode and SSB voice being the secondary mode It is important to the MARS mission as it is the method of HF digital communications used by several of our served agencies such as DoD SHARES and FEMA Until recently this system was only available to MARS member willing to purchase the expensive commercial hardware implementations as there are few ALE devices that have moved to the surplus property inventory It is an implementation of Mil Std 188 141B now revised to Mil Std 188 141C and FED STD 1045A Charles Brain G4GUO wrote a computer soundcard implemented version of ALE nicknamed PC ALE that opened this system up to MARS members at relatively low cost Mr Brain released his source code to a MARS development team that has continued to be developed and the current software is now nicknamed MARS ALE The ability of the sound card version of ALE to connect with a military hardware was demonstrated during Grecian Firebolt 2004 and 2005 Because of the requirement for military users of ALE to be registered with
54. official documentation It is only these particular signal strengths and these particular readability descriptions that can be used in MARS communications Any other terms are not permitted on MARS circuits Of course if you are providing communications operator support at some other federal facility on a non MARS network you must use terms that are appropriate for that network For MARS networks only use the following terms 32 7 Military Auxiliary Radio System U S Air Force T Training Manual 45 Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Report of Signal Strength Unofficial Meaning LOUD Your signal is very strong GOOD Your signal strength is good WEAK Your signal strength is weak VERY WEAK Your signal strength is very weak Your signal strength fades to such an extent that continuous FADING reception cannot be relied upon Table 6 Signal Strength description Report of Readability Unofficial Meaning CLEAR Your signal has excellent quality READABLE Your signal quality is satisfactory UNREADABLE Your signal quality is so bad that cannot understand you DISTORTED Your signal is distorted or is suffering bad distortion WITH INTERFERENCE Your signal has interference could be man made or natural INTERMITTENT Your signal is intermittent Table 7 Readability description It will be noted that FAIR is not a signal strength classification a
55. organization that seeks to do harm to the USA and detonates some device to compound a natural disaster such as a hurricane or earthquake then they might also arrange to impede assistance on MARS frequencies as well So voice color becomes important on those occasions and another reason 115 N Z e e 10 6 5 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD why regularly checking into your local regional nets frequently during condition normal is important Limiting Check ins It may be desirable on larger nets to limit check ins by type or geographic area This must be approved for each net or series of nets e g all Region ECOM nets by the respective director or Chief MARS authority to approve may be delegated if authorized by the respective Chief MARS These check in limiters shall not be used except where a large number of check ins is anticipated and their use serves to help reduce doubling save air time and minimize confusion Their use when authorized is not mandatory unless so prescribed by competent authority They exist as a tool to aid NCS in maintaining net control and discipline Only authorized phrases shall be used to modify the call up process Each subsequent call up may use a different limiter such as calling for stations one state at a time Use of a limiter does not require that NCS always use limiters on every call up This should be based on a lo
56. she shall wait for a pause in the current transmission He or she will then transmit the precedence of his her traffic three times e g PRIORITY PRIORITY PRIORITY pause NCS THIS IS AAA OVER The pause is to see that the other station has heard and is not continuing his or her transmission Note that AAA is directing attention to the NCS station NCS will transmit AAA THIS IS NCS OVER AAA will then list his or her traffic or reason for breaking the net If it is evident that NCS does not hear the breaking station any station on the net may relay by calling NCS and advising him or her of the breaking station This should normally be one of the stations being interrupted If NCS hears the breaking station but it appears the station currently engaged in communications did not NCS will acknowledge the breaking station by transmitting AAA THIS IS NCS WAIT OUT NCS will then take steps to regain control of the net Net Continuity Check Roll Call Radio Check On most nets with a duration of longer than one hour the NCS may hold a Net Continuity Check The purpose of the Net Continuity Check is to ascertain propagation conditions between the NCS and those stations checked into the net This consists of a roll call of the stations checked in Stations response will be a Radio Check MARS term for signal report 10 14 1 Signal Strength and Reada
57. shorter value to allow for the slower speed of propagation of radio waves in a feedline the velocity varies by type of feedline o Results in same value of impedance at end of feedline e g Za 75 30jO and Zo 3000 then impedance at end of 0 54 electrical length feedline is 75 30jO o Really good because antenna impedance is not changed provided feedline length is exactly 0 54 o Pragmatic difficulty in that length with change with frequency e Feedline is 0 252 allow for velocity in transmission line again Short circuit at antenna becomes open circuit at input of feedline Open circuit at antenna becomes short circuit at input of feedline o Bigimpedance transformations result for other frequencies o Avoid odd multiples of 0 257 as the same problems will occur In general transmissions lines can be any length provided they are not an odd multiple of quarter of a wavelength for any frequency that you wish to operate on It is best to consider the frequencies that you typically operate on and then choose the transmission line length accordingly Naturally there are some practical limitations in view of the fact that the line must be long enough to physically reach the antenna but sometimes adding a little extra length can make a difficult to tune antenna more readily tunable 11 3 How high should an antenna be 130 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev
58. some members only having older software However MixW and the much newer Fldigi software both allow the transmissions to be placed anywhere within the audio bandwidth so if all members on a net are using these it is strongly recommended that the digital transmissions be centered on 1 500Hz audio so as to keep the transmissions correctly in the center of the channel regardless of the digital mode being used 9 5 Digital Modes 9 5 1 9 5 2 RATT Radio Automatic TeleType or RTTY Radio TeleType RATT was the Military name known in commercial and amateur usage as RTTY This is the original radio teletype mode using the 5 level Baudot code It is affectionately known as the 2d digital mode after CW instead of switching a single carrier on and off it switched between two carriers one representing mark the other space It is transmitted using either Frequency Shift Keying FSK or Audio Frequency Shift Keying AFSK modulation with a mark space frequency of 2 125 2 295Hz and 170Hz shift The five level code limits this mode to 32 characters but the use of Letters Figures shift allows 61 characters This limits text to uppercase characters numerals and a few punctuation marks This is the reason most official messages in MARS are written in uppercase characters Modern digital software is changing that concept and maintaining uppercase in some modern modes is problematic There is no error detection or error correction with this mode Thi
59. that confusion could arise in interpretation of the report received Some means of doing this are to use the phrases MARS EXERCISE SPOT REPORT or MARS EXERCSE EEI REPORT or ACTUAL EVENT SPOT REPORT or ACTUAL EVENT EEI REPORT When augmenting with additional words the phrase at the beginning and the end of the message body the part between the BT prosigns must be the same phrase 8 3 Situation Position Observation Task SPOT 8 3 1 The text within the message body for a SPOT report is listed as a set of 10 items If sending by voice each of the ten items would be spoken as FIGURE ONE FIGURE TWO etc When sent by digital means then the numbers will simply be sent SPOT Message Body A SPOT message body consists of the following 1 Originator name and function or call sign 2 Originator s Location 3 Originator s Contact E mail Phone Radio Net 4 Date Time Group of Report 5 Type of Report Telecommunications Outage Damage Report _ Weather _ Other 6 Specific Details of Report who what when where 7 Person Filing This Report name and call sign 8 Email Phone Radio Net of Person Filing this Report 9 Organization Tracking Number i e organization date time group 65 8 3 2 7 Military Auxiliary Radio System Training Manual Example MARS 131600ZJAN2013 10 Other Information as required U S Air Force Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Now it may ap
60. the NCS for a one hour net chooses to make a Roll Call this Roll Call will usually be at the half hour but may commence at 10 minutes prior to closure of the net The NCS can choose the time to conduct a roll call 39 XZ 42 5 4 4 5 4 5 Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD When the NCS has completed Roll Call the NCS may at his her option attempt to contact any stations who did not respond during the Roll Call Stations who do not respond to the Roll Call will be shown as closed on the NCS log and unresponsive stations will no longer be considered to be checked into the net Directed Net under Free or Directed Status All MARS nets are Directed Nets in the sense that they always have an NCS station who is in charge of maintaining net discipline and control There must always be an NCS for the net The NCS can change during the course of a net but there must be an NCS Any suitably trained MARS member can become an NCS and it is this dynamic capability to respond to changing conditions in terms of losing a control station that makes MARS nets strong In general terms a free net is one without any control MARS nets are never Free Nets in this sense An NCS may declare a net to be under Free or Directed status When the Directed Net is under Free status you may transmit without the permission of the NCS as long as you are already checked in to t
61. their parent service MARS members must obtain permission to operate ALE and be assigned an ALE Identifier prior to transmitting on the ALE nets 9 6 Digital mode software recommendations It is difficult to recommend different software for different people but the following are known to be good Digipan http www digipan net DigiPan stands for Digital Panoramic Tuning and brings the ease and simplicity of PANORAMIC reception and transmission to BPSK31 QPSK31 and other PSK variants DigiPan provides a panoramic display of the frequency spectrum in the form of an active dial scale extending the full width of the computer screen It is possible to decode 20 or more PSK31 stations at one time It is very popular and extremely easy to use Freeware FLdigi http www wd1hkj com FldigiHelp 3 21 index html Fldigi is a complete digital multi mode program with many advanced features including rig control It works on Windows Mac OS X and Linux operating systems It is very easy to use and quite modern in its algorithmic processing for digital modes It is currently the most highly recommended system for MARS usage because of the a similar look and feel interface regardless of operating system of the computer on which it is running This common look and feel means that new software does not have to be learned if called to a deployment to other stations Includes support for CW Feld Hell BPSK31 QPSK31 MT63 all types MFSK all types
62. tuned for receive tell you if your transmit frequency is slightly high or slightly low He will need a radio than can display down to the nearest single digit in Hz i e three decimal places when the main display is in kHz He will also need to set all his CW filters to the narrowest bandwidth so as to carefully determine the exact frequency of your transmitted carrier For you to adjust your transmit frequency there is usually a small transmit offset alignment screw on most transceivers Small adjustments of this screw will allow you to get the signal to the right frequency 9 7 5 2 Frequency alignment of the soundcard software Now that your radio is properly aligned let s now check your soundcard software for frequency alignment Typically most soundcard software will recommend tuning to some time signal station such as WWV or WWVH Tuning is typically done using some SSTV mode MixW or a WWV mode Fldigi A pictorial display of a line representing the WWV signal will show and the line will slowly develop as you listen to the signal Several minutes of listening in this mode is required in order to calibrate the soundcard RX ppm change The objective in high magnification mode is to get the line as vertical as possible Figure 3 WWV Figure 4 WWV Figure 5 WWV at at 1000ppm 5x scale at 20ppm 5x scale 700ppm 5x scale If the line is almost horizontal even at a 1x scale then a severe correction is required Typically the
63. when at IMMEDIATE precedence 3 What does event identifier ROLLING THUNDER mean What is the difference between report and a SPOT report 75 A Z 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 5 Where should the text MARS EXERCISE SPOT appear in an emergency communciations message for a SPOT report sent during an exercise 76 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 4 Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 9 DIGITAL MODES 9 1 Introduction This chapter is not intended to be a substitute for the TNC user s manual or the software user s manual and help files available for the many software packages and equipment that are used by MARS members For the most part this is a personal choice Members are encouraged to choose software in common use in their state or region and learn the operation of the software by experience and consultation with other MARS members Some recommendations will be made for common soundcard software that is typically used by MARS members at the time of writing this manual Recommendations of preferred modes will also be made in the text HF stations must have the capability of operating one or more of the digital modes where digital mode is defined as any computer generated signal other than continuous wave CW As part of training there is no requirement to learn or use Morse code CW i
64. written for RATT the military abbreviation for RTTY It is not the intent of this guide to cover all the material in these governing documents It is the intent of this guide to cover the most salient and important aspects of those documents NOTE Documents are not attached to this training guide but rather links to the original documents This reduces the paper burden of printing out this document if desired and also allows the user to always reference the most up to date copy of the documentation Note also that this document is a living document and will be updated and augmented during the year 10 e Z Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 1 TRAINING REQUIREMENTS 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 Introduction When you received your MARS station license and call sign assignment you became a licensed MARS operator You will be operating your amateur station on military frequencies so a brief period of training is required to help you become familiar with MARS procedures As a MARS volunteer you are essentially agreeing to operate your station for a minimum of 12 hours each calendar quarter on the established MARS networks Nine of these hours must be on your Primary Assignment The additional hours may be accrued on any Region or Division or State net You should participate in i e check in to your State Administrative and the Region and Division Administrative Nets
65. your present call sign will be dropped to form your permanent call sign e g AFA3AA T becomes AFA3AA etc If a member is appointed to an official position he will receive an additional call sign that will remain with the member for the duration of the appointment The numeral in a call sign indicates the Region of residence licensing If you should hear any Military Base MARS stations they are assigned the prefix AGA the Region numeral and a suffix that reflects the abbreviation of the base e g AGA6TI Tinker AFB OK AGA9TR Travis AFB CA etc The 18 N Z Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD exception to this is AGASHQ which is the call sign assigned to the USAF MARS Headquarters station Partial List of Official Call Signs and Duties Here is a partial list of representative Official Call signs and duties The following call signs follow a template usage where the will be a single numeral indicating the MARS Region of residence O through 9 The aa indicates the Division NE SE NC SC NW or SW The ss is the 2 character US Postal Service State abbreviation 2 5 2 1 Division Officials AFNH lt aa gt Division MARS Director AFD lt aa gt Deputy Division MARS Director AFE DM Division Digital Networks Manager AFE EC Division Emergency Coordinator AFE RM Division Records Manager AFE XC Division Exercise Coordinator AFF VF Di
66. 1 10 3 2 Stations must check in before conducting business 111 10 3 3 Constant watch reguited 12 v e rra Rae ER niaaa IRR ERAN ER ER REM RA STAR 111 10 3 4 Brevity 112 10 3 5 Proword 112 10 3 6 Call signs only while net is formal no personal names 112 10 3 7 iei 112 10 4 PRIOR TO OPENING THE NET CHECK IN OF 5 112 10 5 M 113 10 6 CONDUCTING A RADIO cons ene eon haeo Sut Rusa 113 10 6 1 Initial call in good conditions n eese YR Y REA ee Ya oaa nin 113 10 6 2 Initial call in poor conditions iiir 114 10 6 3 Acknowledging check ins 114 10 6 4 Use of Voice Color for Station Identification esses eene enn nnne nnne 115 10 6 5 Limiting Chek INS u aa aha OERE ORE EEE EEE IREE E 116 10 7 FREE AND DIRECTEDINET STATUS E ner R 116 10 8 ABBREVIATED S
67. 3 10 31 Rev AD Member assignment to this network shall be made by the National Phone Patch Net Manager in response to a member s phone patch net application forwarded from the member s SMD The member s SMD shall coordinate the member s acceptance to the net with NPPNM During regular net operations there is strictly no check ins permitted of non members to the net If you are not a registered member do not attempt to check in Special Requirements If you are interested in becoming a Phone Patch Net operator you should note that there are Special Equipment Requirements in order to be granted Phone Patch Network assignment on your AF Form 3661 These requirements include a Capability to operate on assigned network frequencies b RFoutput power and antennas capable of phone patch operations Normally a one kilowatt 1 kW amplifier and a full size rotatable directional antenna are desired The reason for this requirement is that good signal strength is required and reduced size antennas do not have sufficient gain The ability to rotate the beam is essential because the aircraft are moving and the beam heading will need to be continually adjusted in most communications to maintain contact Technically beam rotation could be via an antenna rotator or by an electrically steerable beam via a complex phased array The simplest of these is a full size Yagi with a rotator and is the recommended route for most MARS members c Phone Patch equipme
68. 4 2 wa e 42 U S AIR FORCE Military Auxiliary Radio System National Training Manual Compiled and written by Roger B Hughes AFA9HR 9 5 AFN9TM National Training Manager Reviewed by Dennis McCord AFA9AY AFN9OO National Operations Officer David J Stapchuk Chief US Air Force MARS Authorized by 33CYRS SCM MARS for Training Purposes Only Revised 31 October 2013 supersedes all previous editions amp 2 2 42 Military Auxiliary Radio System U S Air Force Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD REVISION PAGE REVISION DATE DESCRIPTION Rev A 2012 03 12 Initial Revision as per new MOI of January 2012 Rev B 2012 03 17 Major corrections to errors found in Rev A currently DRAFT will remove DRAFT status after review Rev 2013 07 14 Major revision to Reference Manual as per new MOI of February 2013 Rev X 2013 07 26 Need to make some additional updates then will introduce as new with no revision letters the above sections to then be removed Rev Y 2013 08 09 A new chapter on being an NCS added Rev Y2 2013 08 20 New simple antenna chapter lots of edits RevZ 2013 08 23 Final revision of content features Rev AA 2013 09 23 Review by Chief of US Air Force MARS Rev AB 2013 10 10 Additional edits and final review Rev AC 2013 10 18 Section on pronouncing Navy call signs final minor corrections and color changes Rev AD 2013 10 31 Edits fro
69. A was monitoring the entire time and have all the information This does not confirm to AAA that CCC in fact does have all the information Loss of NCS It may happen that NCS suddenly and without warning disappears from the net This could be due to equipment failure power outage sudden change in propagation or any number of reasons If an ANCS has been assigned in advance and he or she suspects something has happened to NCS that station will first attempt to contact NCS If no contact is made the ANCS will ASSUME CONTROL make a call up and proceed as outlined above If no ANCS has been designated any station who hears the net well shall assume NCS duties Passing Traffic When ready the NCS will call stations to pass their traffic based on the precedence of each message and the availability of addressee s or another station to relay that traffic NCS will then direct the holding station on how to proceed Example A assumes that station CCC is not reachable directly from AAA and the NCS station already knows this and has chosen to route the traffic through BBB Example A AAA THIS IS NCS CALL BBB PASS ONE PRIORITY CCC OUT BBB THIS IS AAA ONE PRIORITY CCC OVER Assuming BBB copies AAA well he she sends AAA THIS IS BBB OVER AAA on hearing that BBB is ready then responds with the message THIS IS AAA MESSAGE RE
70. ANCS station at the start of the net The NCS could suddenly and without warning be gone from the net The primary duties of the ANCS are e Serve as a backup to the NCS by logging check ins e Assume NCS duties if the NCS is gone from the net e Other duties assigned by the NCS 117 N Z e Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD The NCS may appoint any station checked into the net as an ANCS Usually this appointment should be made fairly early in the net to maximize the availability of the ANCS To appoint BBB for example as an ANCS the NCS would transmit e g BBB THIS IS NCS ASSUME ALTERNATE NET CONTROL OVER To which BBB would respond e g THIS IS BBB WILCO OVER And NCS will confirm with e g ROGER OUT Note The appointment as an ANCS is a directive of the NCS rather than a request Stations refusing to accept appointment as an ANCS must provide justification why he she cannot accept the appointment 10 10 Changing Net Control Station Occasionally it may be necessary or desirable to transfer net control to another station This could be for a brief period or for the duration of the net Note that when the NCS is changed it is normally good practice to perform a call up of all the stations to ensure that the new NCS has an understanding of the propagation between hi
71. Automatic Repeat reQuest uses a short three character burst Errors can be detected at the individual character level This is a connected mode in which the sending station transmits the bursts and receiving station sends ACK or NAK short burst in between sending bursts Mode B or FEC Forward Error Correction is a broadcast mode Each character is sent twice but the transmission of the second character is delayed by three characters to take advantage of the short burst nature of radio static The receiving station software compares the two copies of each character If either or both are valid characters that character is printed If neither character is valid then an error un character is printed Most AMTOR software uses the underscore as the error character The 7 level Murray code supports only the uppercase character set of the Baudot code ARQ speeds are up to 100 wpm while the FEC mode is a fixed 50 wpm AMTOR Mode B is available as the SITORB mode in Fldigi under Navtex SitorB in the Op Mode menu PACTOR PACTOR is a proprietary mode developed by Special Communications Systems SCS GMBH from Germany They have developed three Levels or Modes Level has been licensed by other manufacturers for use with their terminal mode controllers Levels Il and III are still proprietary and can only be operated using one of the SCS TNCs such as the SCS PTC lle Ilex or SCS II Professional Most modern amateur HF TNCs are licensed to transmit PA
72. CTOR At least one Linux based soundcard software package is capable of sending and receiving PACTOR l Several software packages claim PACTOR receive capability PACTOR combines features of both Packet and AMTOR and the ASCII code is used for the characters PACTOR I also uses the 170 or 200 frequency shift keying tone shift similar to Packet and AMTOR Modulation of PACTOR II signals is based on differential phase shift keying DPSK PACTOR III uses a voice channel of 2 4kHz and with an optimal link is 4 to 5 times faster than PACTOR II mode PACTOR III utilizes up to 6 speed levels and up to 18 tones spaced at 120 Hz Maximum bandwidth is 2 2 kHz and a center frequency of 1 5 kHz In the ARQ mode there is a dynamic adjustment to speed If repeated NAKs are sent by the receiving station the sending station will slow the speed of transmission When several slow speed packets are received without error 82 N Z e e 9 5 5 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD the sending station will attempt to raise the speed In addition to the basic signaling rates of 100 and 200 wpm additional message speed can be had by using optional Huffman compression The PACTOR FEC mode is similar to the AMTOR FEC mode except the sending operator can specify the number of times that a character is repeated The number of repeats can be increased from the default value of 2 up to a valu
73. GO IL 60691 TEL 302 921 0078 Prefix GROUPS ONE SIX BREAK Text ENJOYING NEW ASSIGNMENT WILL WRITE LONG LETTER EXPLAINING NEW DUTIES HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON BILL BREAK Ending OP NOTE DO NOT ATTEMPT DELIVERY BEFORE 5 PM CHICAGO TIME OVER N ERO ZULU JUNE Voice Format for a message sent on a tactical or reporting net Note the only difference here is the presence of the MESSAGE proword Beginning Procedure THIS IS AFA3BB MESSAGE NUMBER ZERO ZERO ONE Preamble ROUTINE TIME ZERO FOUR ONE NINER THREE ZERO ZULU JUNE WUN NINER NINER FIVE Address FROM SGT VILLIAM SMITH 4TH INFANTRY BTN SILL 73503 AFA4XX OK 45 Z Military Auxiliary Radio System U S Air Force Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD DRIVE CHICAGO LONG LETTER EXPLAIN
74. HIEF USAF MARS OR THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY COORDINATOR AFN2EC Example Digital EEI Exercise Message 74 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Below is an example of an EXERCISE EEI message as it would be formatted for transmission by digital means DE AFA5JR NR 010 R 0714107 SEP 2007 FM LEO LIBERIO AFA9LL CA TO AFN2EC NY INFO AFDAEC SC AFN3NC NE WI AFF3WI WI BT REF MARS EXERCISE SUBJ EEI REPORT 1 REF EVENT IDENTIFIER LOST SUPPORT A INCIDENT LOCATION TIME POLK COUNTY WI AND WASHINGTON AND CHISAGO COUNTIES MN B EMERGENCY MEDICAL OPERATIONAL C LOCAL TRANSPORTATION US HIGHWAY 8 BRIDGE BETWEEN ST CROIX FALLS WI AND TAYLORS FALLS MN CLOSED D GENERAL DAMAGE DESCRITION STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO US HIGHWAY 8 BRIDGE E UTILITY STATUS NOT AFFECTED F COMMUNICATIONS STATUS NOT AFFECTED G SOURCE OF INFO REPORTED BY LOCAL RADIO STATION WPCA H REMARKS TANKER TRUCK ACCIDENT ON BRIDGE CAUSED EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO BRIDGE CAUSING BRIDGE CLOSURE TRAFFIC REROUTED TO OTHER ROUTES NO ESTIMATED TIME TO REPAIR MARS EXERCISE BT NNNN 8 5 Assessment Answer these questions and submit your answers to your Training Officer or mentor and answer additional questions that may be given to you 1 What is report 2 When should and report be sent as ROUTINE precedence when at PRIORITY precedence and
75. IGNS cere eere een aa e ra Eee EEEE 117 10 9 ALTERNATE NET CONTROL STATION ANCS n 117 10 10 CHANGING NET CONTROL STATION 118 10 11 LOSS OF ec 119 10 12 beni dos 119 10 13 BREAKING TH ze 120 10 14 NET CONTINUITY CHECK ROLL CALL RADIO CHECK eene enne nnne eher nnns 121 10 14 1 Signal Strength and Readability s unuqa nuan asan ua uu 121 10 14 2 Making a Roll Call and or Radio Check 123 10 14 3 When to do a Net Radio Check Roll Call 125 10 15 CLOSING DOWN THE sies e or eee Seated PERDERE TOT TEE HER 125 10 16 hisgeiiicniagtelipp aus 126 10 17 ASSESSMENII c Ede ML ME ie 126 11 ANTENNAS d 127 11 1 BESTANTENNA FORMARS USE 256 06 127 141 2 EU 128 Z Military Auxiliary Radio System Training Manual 4 Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 11 2
76. IS speech EEEEEEEE Error F Do not answer FM From Originators designator follows G Repeat back 106 7 Military Auxiliary Radio System Training Manual GR numeral Group count GRNC Groups Not Counted HM HM HM Emergency silence I Separative sign Important Information IMI Repeat INFO Information addressee s INT Interrogative IX Execute to follow not typically used in MARS K Invitation to transmit OVER in speech NR Number Immediate Precedence P Priority precedence R Received ROGER in speech R Routine precedence T Transmit to TO Action addressee s WA Words After WB Words Before 7 Flash precedence Table 13 Prosigns for CW usage U S Air Force Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 107 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD In respect of transmitting messages by CW special note also needs to be made of the prosign The Separative Sign Prosign 1 written as a short dash is used to avoid mistakes in reception which might occur if letters or figures of adjacent groups are run together The separative sign is used in messages as follows a Before and after all prosigns in the procedure and preamble components of the heading except DE AA NR and IX The separative sign after a prosign is omitted when the prosign
77. It is tad more expensive than some but nice and flexible If you are not cranking out tons of power then Part 553 is good The super power stuff is Part 554 but that is a lot more expensive and unless you are 100 is typically not worth the cost Remember also weight The more power that ladder line can handle will result in thicker copper being used and hence more weight per unit length This weight will be added to the weight of the antenna 128 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD In the following table the ATU Antenna Tuning Unit entries are recorded for a particular antenna in order to bring it to resonance under Wet and Dry conditions The purpose of listing the numbers is to show that there is no simple correlation between the frequencies and the wet or dry conditions Frequency Wet Dry C1 C2 L C1 C2 L RP 40 13 232 79 40 256 RQ 39 40 186 80 80 202 RR 70 30 156 40 60 112 11 2 1 Table 16 ATU Entries for Frequencies Wet and Dry There are many possible mappings at which 1 1 SWR into the antenna system may be achieved for various combinations of C1 C2 and L Maintaining a table like this in a notebook enables the MARS operator to quickly switch frequency and bring his antenna system to a perfect match very quickly It takes time to make the adjustments under different conditions but maintainin
78. LAY PRIORITY CCC continue with the message header and text pausing while unkeying the microphone approximately every 20 seconds to allow for a station with higher precedence traffic to break in AAA ends his her transmission with either 119 XZ 42 10 13 Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD OVER or in the case where there are additional messages to send to this station MORE TO FOLLOW OVER It is unacceptable to end a message transmission with OUT as a receipt of the message is normally required The only exception to this is when the message uses the header modifier proword DO NOT RESPOND and the message is sent twice using I SAY AGAIN Inthis particular case the message may be terminated with OUT Assuming BBB copied the message completely and does not need repetitions he sends THIS IS BBB ROGER OUT Or to accept another message THIS IS BBB ROGER OVER Example B If BBB does not copy well he must notify AAA of the problem using correct radio check prowords AAA THIS IS BBB WEAK READABLE OVER Or AAA THIS IS BBB VERY WEAK UNREADABLE OVER BBB may request fills from AAA regarding missing words or sections of the transmission again using the a
79. M1 Region Six Multi Mode Training Net 1 22 N Z e 2 5 5 Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD State Nets Network Call Signs for State nets are of the format lt R gt lt ss gt lt m gt lt gt where R denotes the Region 1 through 0 ss denotes the two character US Postal Service State abbreviation m denotes the mode S for SSB M for Mixed D for Digital of for FM denotes the net number EXAMPLES 3VAS1 Virginia State SSB Net 1 2NYS1 New York State SSB Net 41 1VTF1 Vermont State FM Voice Net 1 4ALS1 Alabama State SSB Voice Net 1 5WIM1 Wisconsin State Multi Mode Net 1 6NMD1 New Mexico State Digital Net 1 This is a partial list of the various Networks and activities but should give you an idea of the system used for network call sign assignments 2 6 Assessment Answer these questions and submit your answers to your Training Officer or mentor and answer additional questions that may be given to you What is the purpose of MARS How many geographic regions are in MARS How many geographic divisions are in MARS To which regions do the following call signs belong AFA6TT AFA4XX AFE9TM The division training manager billet call sign for a division changes from AFEOTM to AFE8TM Which division is involved Why would the billet call sign change There are several potential reasons
80. N HF Operations NDTO AFD VN Deputy Director TRANSCON National Director Voice Net Operations TRANSCON HF Operations DDTVNO AFD DM Deputy Director TRANSCON National Director Digital Operations DDTDO TRANSCON HF Operations AFD LE Deputy Director Automatic National Director Link Establishment ALE TRANSCON HF Operations Operations DDALEO AFN EC National Emergency Chief USAF MARS Coordinator NEC AFD EC Deputy National Emergency National Emergency Coordinator DNEC Coordinator AFN ML National Military Liaison Chief USAF MARS NML AFN 00 National Operations Officer Chief USAF MARS NOO AFN PI National Public Information Chief USAF MARS Officer NPIO AFN PL National Planning Coordinator Chief USAF MARS NPC AFN PP National Phone Patch Net Chief USAF MARS Manager NPPNM AFD PP Deputy National Phone Patch National Phone Patch Net Net Manager DNPPNM Manager AFN RM National Records Manager Chief USAF MARS NRM AFN TM National Training Manager Chief USAF MARS NTM AFD TM Deputy National Training National Training Manager Manager DNTM AFN SN National Mission Support Chief USAF MARS Network Manager NMSNM AFD SN Deputy National Mission National Mission Support Support Network Manager Network Manager DNMSNM AFN TS National Technical Services Chief USAF MARS Manager NTSM Table 2 National Billet Call Signs 20 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isi
81. Olivia all types and many more In fact nearly all modes with the exception of PACTOR are supported There is an additional 89 N Z Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD software available called Flarq which allows Automatic Repeat Request to be used for achieving 10096 copy between two stations with the normal digital modes such as MT63 Freeware Hamscope http www qsl net hamscope PSK31 RTTY ASCII MFSK Packet and CW Freeware MixW http mixw net This is multi mode software and has been used a lot in the past The software has not been updated in a long time The software can be extended to handle Olivia with a downloadable add on It is Windows only software With the RigExpert interface it can also do rig control Shareware 50 MultiPSK http f6cte free fr index anglais htm This is a French developed multi mode program It is Windows only software The software has a complex non intuitive GUI but does boast support for a large number of modes including Packet and PACTOR I Freeware IZ8BLY software for MT63 is no longer recommended for MARS use as it is somewhat dated in operation with the last update back in 2004 It is Windows XP and DOS only It is mentioned here only to state that if you are using it you should update to one of the more modern pieces of software for MT63 There are many other software programs a
82. THIS IS AFA1BB OVER Collective Call or Net Call or Group Call One station such as a Net Control Station calls a groups of stations collectively A preliminary call to open a net is an example Example NEM1 THIS IS 1 NCS OVER Sometimes Limited Collective Calls may be used where the NCS may call for only part of the whole group Example NEM1 THIS IS AFA1AA STATIONS WITH TRAFFIC OVER In that case the NCS expects to hear only answers from stations with traffic Multiple Call One station calls a number of specified stations Example AFA1AA AFA1BB AND 1 THIS IS AFA1XX OVER In the case of Multiple Calls the stations answering should answer in the order in which they were called 4 2 Answering a Preliminary Call 4 2 1 4 2 2 When answering a preliminary call a MARS operator will use either Full Procedure or Abbreviated Procedure Full Procedure Full procedure means the transmission begins with the call sign of the station to whom the answer is directed Example THIS IS AFA1AA OVER Abbreviated Procedure Abbreviated procedure means the transmission begins with the proword THIS IS followed by the call sign of the station transmitting Example THIS IS AFA1AA OVER Usually abbreviated procedure is used to answer a Single Call including continuity checks and
83. TO CLOSE OVER Net Continuity Check Roll Call Radio Check On most nets of one hour or more in duration the NCS may hold a Net Continuity Check The purpose of the Net Continuity Check is to ascertain propagation conditions between the NCS and those stations checked into the net The net continuity check consists of a roll call of the stations checked in Your response will be a Radio Check MARS term for signal report The NCS will announce that a Roll Call will follow and then proceed calling each station by their call sign only Stations will answer with an abbreviated procedure this used to be known as an abbreviated call but was frequently confused with abbreviated call sign so the terminology has been changed and a Radio Check e g THIS IS AFA3AA LOUD CLEAR OVER Other Radio Check reports might be GOOD READABLE WEAK READABLE WEAK BARELY READABLE WEAK UNREADABLE Note Do not include phrases such as I have you You are Your signal is etc Do not say Loud and Clear just say Loud Clear Brevity saves time as the word and is superfluous in the above usage Roll Calls are held at the discretion of the NCS but usually not more than once an hour On traffic nets of two hour duration roll is called approximately 5 minutes into the second hour If
84. These two divisions only have a single number associated with their call signs whereas other divisions will have two or three numbers Each region has a unique number but some divisions have more than one number It is important to remember this when operating on nets between different divisions Routing of Traffic Traffic originating locally will be routed in the reverse order Traffic destined for a state in the same Region or Division as its origin will be passed on Division nets but traffic for another 17 N Z e e 2 4 6 Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Division must be routed into the TRANSCON network for relay into the Division of destination or the Division of the proper gateway station State Administrative Nets State Admin nets are conducted on the Division frequencies for administrative purposes so members may have contact with their State MARS Directors While these nets are open to all members in a Division the primary purpose is for state administrative business Traffic may be passed on the state nets when all state business has been completed Participation in Other MARS Networks You are encouraged to participate in all the MARS Networks but keep in mind that while you are in training you are restricted to State Region and Division traffic and administrative nets The Administrative nets the Division or Region Training nets and your ow
85. UPD UI EO RSS ELEC TER 15 2 2 MARS MISSION e 15 2 2 1 Department of Defense U 15 2 2 2 coca seta cate Vand oben 15 2 2 3 Morale 15 2 3 PROGRAMIEMPHASIS 15 2 4 STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION 2 rene trek Permet e 16 2 4 1 BOCK QIOUIG Rem 16 2 4 2 Geographic Organization z 16 2 4 3 Routing Of M S 17 2 4 4 State Administrative Nets U U 18 2 4 5 Participation in Other MARS Networks 18 2 4 6 U S Air Force MARS Program Administration 18 2 5 SIGN ASSIGNMENIS 2522525525 ea aa e MEE 18 2 5 1 Completion of TIGINING i iater 18 2 5 2 Partial List of Official Call Signs and Duties eee ener nnne santa 19 2 5 3 Network Call mE 21 2 5 4
86. Under what conditions would MT63 2K mode be most suitable 109 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 4 Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 10 NCS OPERATIONS 10 1 Introduction On 22 Nov 2007 the Chiefs of Air Force Army and Navy Marine Corps MARS promulgated a document entitled Standard Operating Procedure for Calling and Operating a Voice Net generally referred to as the Voice SOP setting forth the procedures that would be required to be used on MARS nets as of 01 Jan 2008 The Voice SOP superseded the previous procedures for all Air Force Army and Navy Marine Corps MARS voice nets The purpose of the Voice SOP is to provide a set of standard procedures that will serve to encourage and support interoperability among the various MARS services Having standardized procedures allows stations from one MARS service to participate in nets hosted by another MARS service without requiring additional training on the unique procedures of the host service Such interoperability is not only desirable but may be crucial when fulfilling the role of providing emergency communications support It is assumed that every MARS member who has completed training is capable of performing the duties of the Net Control Station NCS You may choose to volunteer to perform the NCS function or you may be assigned at any time to perform the duties of NCS Thus it is important that you are familiar with the pr
87. accordance with their proper meaning only Call signs only while net is formal no personal names Stations should not expect pleasantries or unnecessary explanations during a directed net The use of personal names is not authorized while a net is in a formal status The net status must be informal for personal names to be used If there is traffic still listed to be passed on the net the net is by definition still in formal status Record traffic Record traffic must first be listed with the NCS shall be passed to another station only at the direction of NCS and only when the net is in directed net status 10 4 Prior to Opening the Net Check in of ANCS If ANCS s are assigned for the upcoming net the NCS will call each in order to determine readability and traffic status e g BBB THIS IS AAA RADIO CHECK LIST YOUR TRAFFIC OVER BBB would respond to the Radio Check and traffic listing e g 1 THIS IS BBB GOOD READABLE NO TRAFFIC OVER or 2 THIS IS BBB ROGER OVER And AAA will acknowledge e g 1 THIS IS AAA GOOD READABLE ROGER OUT 2 THIS IS AAA ROGER OUT 112 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD And then proceed to call other assigned ANCS s Note that in the above AAA aske
88. al 2013 10 31 Rev AD 12 MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION 12 1 Logs You are required to keep a log of all of your MARS activities Any format of your choosing is acceptable if it shows the times that you enter nets closing times traffic activity and any other formal MARS activity Since the station log is a legal document entries should be made in ink with no erasures Errors should be marked out with a single line and the corrected notation initialed by the operator on duty As mentioned in section 3 8 of the MOI of February 2013 all logs are subject to be reviewed by the Chief USAF MARS upon request While many MARS Members keep their logs indefinitely logs must be retained for at least one year When an actual event has occurred the logs need to be kept for three years An Amateur Radio Log book when dedicated to MARS usage is a perfect format for recording logs Although ACP publications mention paper logs it is to be noted that electronic computer copy may at the discretion of the Chief of MARS now be deemed acceptable for MARS usage provided sufficient back up copies are made to preserve the records 12 2 Time Keeping All official time is kept in UTC Coordinated Universal Time on the basis of the 24 hour clock Formerly this was called GMT Greenwich Mean Time and is sometimes referred to as military time Since most of our HF nets are scheduled for convenient evening hours we will occasionally refer to Local Time but this must
89. amateur format the signature appears outside the text Place of Origin is City State or Country via MARS Time filed is the hours and minutes only from the MARS message Date is Month Day and Year The address is the TO address from the MARS message There s no provision for a FROM address The prosign BT pronounced BREAK separates the Text from the heading The Text will be the same except for any signature ie Signed John Love Bill etc and these will follow the text after the second BT Since there is no provision for a From address in the amateur message it is recommended that the from address from the MARS message be added with the signature as an ending since information is already available The following is a MARS message and then below that is the same message as refiled into the Amateur Band NTS DE AFA3XY NR 112 R 2817307 JUNE 2013 FROM SGT EDWARD JONES 4TH INF BTN FT SILL OK 73530 TO MR AND MRS JOHN JONES 11615 STATE RD CHICAGO IL 60691 TEL 302 921 0078 GR 16 ENJOYING NEW HUMVEE WILL WRITE LONG LETTER EXPLAINING NEW DUTIES 61 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD HOPE TO S BT OVER I YOU SOON NED Same message as filed into the NTS Amateur
90. an actual MARS Group Count and TEXT If the Amateur message has an HX these instructions can be written out in the ending of your MARS message In the MARS Heading there is no provision for HX instructions If you receive a message which uses one put it in plain language as an operators note at the end of your MARS message Make certain if you accept an amateur message with HX instructions that the sender knows that MARS will not allow a collect call for delivery 62 A 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 4 Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 7 11 Assessment Answer these questions and submit your answers to your Training Officer or mentor and answer additional questions that may be given to you 1 How do you letter the text in message to help verify what is wrong when the group counts do not match 2 Demonstrate how you would use the proword I SPELL to say the following message text in a way that it would be correctly transcribed by the receiving operator ADD THE LEMONS TO THE FOIE GRAS AND SERVE IMMEDIATELY There are several mechanisms by which this can be done discuss these with your Training Officer or mentor 3 What is a service message How can it be sent to the originating station 63 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 4 Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 8 EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS 8 1 Background Different systems have evol
91. answers to your Training Officer or mentor and answer additional questions that may be given to you Why do logs need to be kept and for how long should logs be kept What information should be kept in a log as a minimum for all MARS stations If you are acting as an NCS what additional information should be kept in the log Who is your primary contact for questions or issues relating to USAF MARS operation When you have passed your final training exam and satisfied the training requirements for running a net and passing digital traffic and have been told that you have passed by your Training Officer can you immediately operate on nets without using the T in your call sign 6 Whatis the form that details your primary and secondary assignment if applicable your call sign and the maximum power level that you can use 7 Referencing the relevant subsection of Department of Defense Manual DoDM 5200 01 V4 February 24 2012 Enclosure 3 section 2 FOUO INFORMATION how should printed FOUO information be stored in a building without Government or Government contract building security e g your home 139
92. ary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 500 if the fades and interference are deep and long circa 7 8s otherwise the short interleave on this mode gives the same temporal spacing as MT63 1K with long interleave This will permit fairly rapid turn around in the communications If conditions are good MT63 2K will give 200wpm message speed and is ideal for prewritten messages to be sent from file MT63 2K should not be used for directly typing a message unless you can type sufficiently fast to justify the bandwidth usage Most experienced typists will find MT63 1K more than fast enough to meet their needs with a 100wpm capability Even if you type faster the words will still be stored in a buffer and the added 3dB of S N capability means that your message is more than likely to get through In extensive Navy Marine Corps MARS testing under a variety of conditions MT63 1K showed an average error rate 0 04696 or 1 error every 2185 characters This is clearly ideal for passing pre written messages with high accuracy Basically if signal strength is good enough to obtain copy the copy will be close to perfect with very few errors Too weak a signal strength and errors slowly increase until suddenly zero copy is obtained rather than inaccurate copy MT63 will perform under conditions that would cripple either RTTY SITOR A B or Pactor 1 and similar FSK modes Because this mode if quite quiet in terms of th
93. ary communications with reliability ultimately the most important Reliability must never be diminished or sacrificed to meet the conflicting demands of security speed or convenience Modern digital communications provide a means of enhancing both the reliability and speed of communications within MARS There are some who claim that the first radio communications using Morse code or continuous wave CW were digital communications CW communications were the major method of communications in both the military and the Army Auxiliary Radio System AARS the precursor to MARS up to World War Il CW communications provided a nominal 25 words per minute wpm speed High speed nets operated up to 40 reliability was determined by operator fatigue Very few MARS members would be able to achieve these speeds in the 21 century although CW is an approved mode for use on MARS nets The author believes that CW can more accurately be thought of as a fuzzy mode similar to the way Hellscheiber is a fuzzy pictorial way of sending text since the well trained human brain can actual make sense of varying dot and dash lengths and still interpret what is intended It takes significant effort for software to achieve this with human sent CW For machine sent CW decoding is far simpler for a computer to achieve During WWII radioteletype digital communications using the 5 level Baudot code identified as RATT in military terms and later RTTY in the amate
94. ation before transmitting listen carefully to avoid doubling Key down state the NCS call sign let up momentarily to again be sure of no doubling and then complete the transmission if the frequency is clear 5 4 1 1 Answers to a Collective Call When you check in to a net you are answering a collective call made by the NCS Here are some examples of answers to that call AFA1BB lt pause gt THIS IS NO TRAFFIC OVER AFA2CC pause THIS IS AFA2PO ONE ROUTINE AFA4AA OVER AFA4DD lt pause gt THIS IS AFA4CC ONE PRIORITY AFA5CC ONE ROUTINE SEATTLE OVER 5 4 1 2 Initial Check In and Phonetics On your initial call to check in to a net always use full phonetics for the NCS call sign and your call sign unless the NCS has declared that alphanumeric call signs may be used for the net On subsequent calls after the NCS has you on his her roster phonetics are not necessary unless the NCS has declared that full phonetics must be used or as used the proword WORDS TWICE which indicates that conditions are so bad that full phonetics for the call sign is expected The use of phonetics is sometimes still advisable to prevent misunderstanding when propagation is poor or the frequency is noisy As a new member in training checking in to a training or admin net you would say NCS call sign pause THIS IS Your call sign tra
95. ave met all of the training requirements the Region or Division Training Director will notify your State MARS Director who will send you an AF Form 3661 giving you a permanent assignment and authorizing the change in your call sign by dropping the T suffix Sometime later you will receive a MARS license and ID card AF Form 3666 from USAF MARS Headquarters reflecting your modified call sign Chain of Command The primary contact point for questions comments or other issues relating to USAF MARS is your State MARS Director SMD If your SMD is unable to address a particular issue your request will be forwarded to the appropriate Region Official or the Region MARS Director RMD If the RMD is unable to resolve the issue it will be forwarded to the appropriate Division Official or the Division MARS Director DMD If the DMD still is unable to resolve the issue it will be forwarded to HQ USAF MARS for final resolution It is imperative that the chain of command be strictly adhered to without deviation Most USAF MARS officials are volunteers and already dedicate a significant amount of time to the USAF MARS program Failure to follow the chain of command can greatly increase the work load on these individuals and reflects poorly on the overall MARS program Frequency Designators USAF MARS frequencies are referenced using a frequency designator rather than by the specific numerical frequency These two or three character frequency designato
96. be converted to UTC for official purposes such as logs Message DTG etc When expressing time in UTC the figures are followed by the letter Z to indicate the system being used 12 3 Broadcasts and Bulletins Broadcasts are released from HQ MARS and other selected officials on an as needed basis The information in these broadcasts is addressed to all MARS members Some of the information is merely informative but much of it is directive All members are required to have current knowledge of the contents of these broadcasts The broadcasts and bulletins are read a number of times on various nets and posted on various bulletin boards and web pages 12 4 Frequency Tolerance The frequency tolerance for the HF Fixed and Mobile service is defined in chapter 5 2 1 in the May 2013 edition of the NTIA Manual of Regulations Red Book see http www ntia doc gov files ntia publications redbook 2013 May 2013 Edition of the NTI A Manual pdf The NCS is responsible for ensuring the net is operating within prescribed tolerance and for ensuring all members on the net are within tolerance It should be noted 135 N Z 12 4 1 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD that a frequency tolerance of 20Hz is typically only achieved with a radio equipped with an OCXO Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillator Bandwidth USAF MARS high frequency authorizations between 2 30 MHz are cu
97. before performance degrades appreciably The spreading of each character over time does lead to some delay in the display of text See Table 11 MT63 Characteristics Mode pne d nra SARUM Bandwidth Lowest S N MT63 500 5 baud 50 wpm 6 45 12 85 12 85 25 65 500Hz 8dB MT63 1K 10 baud 100 wpm 3 2s 6 4s 6 45 12 85 1 000Hz 5dB MT63 2K 20 baud 200 wpm 1 65 3 25 3 25 6 45 2 000Hz 2dB Table 11 MT63 Characteristics Interleave the amount of temporal spreading that the signal receives can either be short or long As mentioned earlier the default mode is MT63 1K long interleave Static crashes interference short fades are eliminated more effectively with long interleave However this does have an impact on overall latency of a transmission When one operator finishes typing the transmission will continue for another 6 4s If the remote operator immediately starts replying the original transmitting station won t see any reply for an additional 6 4s hence a round trip latency of 12 8s Even if the responding station is fast the minimum time that the transmitting station has to wait is 12 85 This makes short conversational QSOs difficult and can make net check in of several stations tedious If long interleave is used in MT63 500 the latency doubles to an incredible 25 6s So the recommendation is to only use long interleave on MT63 86 N 2 e 9 5 9 Military Auxili
98. ber 026 THIS IS ALPHA FOXTROT ALPHA SIX ALPHA BRAVO ROGER NUMBER ZERO TWO SIX OUT 52 XZ 429 7 3 2 7 3 3 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Lettering The Text If you are receiving a message and the GROUP COUNT does not agree with the actual number of words that you have copied you may ask the sending station to LETTER THE TEXT The sender will respond by saying phonetically the first letter or numeral of each group in the text When you determine where the error occurred you will then ask for fills using the SAY AGAIN procedure mentioned above Verify VERIFY is used by the addressee to Verify the content and accuracy of a message received before receipt of the message is acknowledged The addressee will originate a Verify message using the DTG Date Time Group and Station of Origin for identification The originator will send the identical message again for verification VERIFY may also be used with WORDS BEFORE and WORDS AFTER etc to ask for verification of a section of a message When a message to a number of addressees is queried by one station and found to be incorrect the corrected version must be sent to all addressees Example AFA6CC transmits prowords capitalized for emphasis here Alpha Foxtrot Alpha Niner Hot
99. bility A station wanting to inform another station of his signal strength and readability will do so by means of a short concise report of actual reception such as WEAK READABLE LOUD DISTORTED WEAK WITH INTERFERENCE etc Reports such as FIVE BY FIVE FOUR BY 121 N Z e Military Auxiliary Radio System U S Air Force Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD FOUR or LIMA CHARLIE will not be used to indicate strength and quality of reception See ACP 125 F section 611 Report of Signal Strength Meaning LOUD Your signal is very strong GOOD Your signal strength is good WEAK Your signal strength is weak VERY WEAK Your signal strength is very weak FADING Continuous reception is not possible due to fading Table 14 Signal Strengths Report of Readability Meaning CLEAR The quality of your transmission is excellent READABLE The quality of your transmission is satisfactory UNREADABLE cannot read you DISTORTED Your signal is distorted WITH INTERFERENCE Your signal has interference INTERMITTENT Your signal is intermittent Table 15 Readability Note Do not include phrases such as 1 have you You are Your signal is etc Any station may ask another station with a need for a signal report may at any point during the net after NCS approval to contact station when net is in Directed Status ask an
100. blet use the phrase doublet deliberately here as an antenna is only really a half wave dipole when it is tuned to be half a wavelength long The antenna needs to be as long as is needed for you to operate on the lowest frequency that you wish to operate on The typical regional HF MARS frequencies are 127 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System pde Training Manua 4 Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD usually a triplet of three frequencies from the low circa 3 2MHz to medium circa 4 5MHz to high circa 7 8MHz ranges Thus the lowest regional frequency is going to correspond to wavelength of over 90m Multi frequency amateur antennas are not typically going to do well on the MARS bands without some modification The simplest approach is to choose a doublet that is as long as possible so that it can operate on the lowest possible frequency and then center feed it so that it may be efficiently driven with a ladder line feed Attach the ladder line either directly to an ATU with a balanced input or feed it to a 1 1 current balun at the station and then use a short length of coax to connect that to the ATU The recommendation of a 1 1 balun is deliberate so as to avoid generated impedances becoming too low for the ATU to match A 4 1 balun will typically result in the impedances becoming too low for the ATU to match The ladder line as any transmission line including coax will act as an impedance transformer when the a
101. ch will automatically deactivate when changing to a different digital operating mode e g switching from MFSK16 to MT63 1K If the AFC has moved the receive frequency then the new transmit frequency center will be at whatever value the last receive frequency was This needs to be carefully borne in mind when changing mode to always recheck your center frequency 9 7 7 2 Tracking a drifting signal with AFC Below the Lk and Rv switches is one labeled AFC AFC stands for Automatic Frequency Control and when enabled will permit the receive frequency to attempt to follow the other station as their transmit frequency drifts to permit the digital software to always keep a 99 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD synchronized lock on the signal waveform This has great advantages in that a badly drifting signal can always be decoded quite efficiently The disadvantage is that the frequency shown in the display which may have started at 1 500Hz will now change to a different value e g 1 437Hz Assoonasthe transmission is complete and you now respond with a transmission yourself you will be centered on 1 437Hz instead of 1 500Hz Two problems can occur Firstly this can confuse the other station if they had not realized their TX drift and did not have any AFC activated When you transmit you would appear low on their waterfall The second problem is that
102. correction required on most modern soundcards will be small a couple of hundred ppm at 95 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD most If the slope is negative you will need to put a positive entry into the RX ppm field If the slope is positive like in Figure 5 then the number entered into the RX ppm box will be negative Hn Fldigi configuration Se or X Eb Right channel Capture Playback 2 RX ppm ex offset Restore defaults Figure 6 Fldigi setting of RX ppm TX ppm and TX offset The TX ppm adjustment needs to be considered next Now although the RX ppm has been properly aligned there are sometimes some difficulties in terms of getting the soundcard output at the right audio frequency there is a separate TX ppm adjustment to do this There are a variety of techniques in doing this One is to use another MARS colleague who can check if a tone you are transmitting on 1 500Hz audio is coming in on his waterfall at the same position Best done with the waterfall display magnified to the max of x4 of Fldigi while watching the tone come in and for the station doing the monitoring e g in Fldigi setting the mode to Freq Analysis or simply using CW mode using the Tune button on his radio and tuning in to the nearest single Hz The monitoring station can then tell the transmit
103. csseseceesaesecsesseceesssseceesaeeecseaseceeseesecees 37 5 3 1 Mission Support Net 37 5 3 2 Mission Support Net is a Closed Net 37 5 3 3 F rther DOCOUS c 37 5 4 DIRECTEDINETS anasu EAD waya FIDES ES hala FORE RT EE RES 38 5 4 1 Flow to Check M i sinnini 38 5 4 2 INCE ACLIVIDV 39 5 4 3 Net Continuity Check Roll Call Radio Check enne 39 5 4 4 Directed Net under Free or Directed Status 40 v e 42 5 4 5 5 5 6 MESSAGE FORMAT 6 1 6 1 1 6 1 2 6 1 3 6 2 6 2 1 6 3 6 3 1 6 3 2 6 3 3 6 3 4 6 3 5 6 3 6 6 4 7 MESSAGE HANDLING 7 1 7 2 7 2 1 7 2 2 7 2 3 7 2 4 7 2 5 7 3 7 3 1 7 3 2 7 3 3 7 4 7 4 1 7 4 2 7 4 3 7 4 4 7 5 7 5 1 7 5 2 7 5 3 7 6 7 7 7 8 Military Auxiliary Radio System Training Manual Free Time and Recorded Traffic PLAINDRESS MESSAGE FORMAT ABBREVIATED PLAINDRESS MESSAGE FORMAT Important Reminder SAMPLE MESSAGE Voice Format for message sent on a traffic net Voice Format for a message sent on tactical or reporting net Digital Format Digital Format without explanation of sections
104. ct connection of computer to radio using external soundcard The type of interface that fits in this category is the RigExpert as used with MixW software and more recently the Tigertronics SignalLink interface which works with all software There are several other external soundcard interfaces of this type In this type of connection the computer soundcard is not used to generate the tones Instead an external soundcard is used 93 N Z e 9 7 5 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD The connection is still direct so that silence can be observed in the operating station with immunity from environmental noises such as dogs barking just as with any direct connection The difference here is that because the external soundcard is driven by the digital software and nothing else only the digital software sounds are communicated to the radio and only the signals from the radio are communicated to the digital software Other computer sound effects such as arriving mail playing a CD having an incoming Skype call etc all go to the regular computer soundcard which is not connected to the radio Asa result this type of connection is the best for having an active computer usage and not needing to alter any computer settings prior to using the digital soundcard software There is an additional advantage of this type of connection The external soundcard is operating outsi
105. d BBB to LIST YOUR TRAFFIC and although correct for BBB to say NO TRAFFIC itis not required In the second example it will be seen that the Signal Report is LOUD CLEAR and NO TRAFFIC is listed because the ROGER means LOUD CLEAR and if traffic is not listed it is to be assumed that there is no traffic Again the prowords LOUD CLEAR could be used but are unnecessary because their meaning is encompassed with use of the ROGER proword If no ANCS is assigned for the net or the NCS is unable to contact assigned ANCS s the NCS will appoint ANCS s after opening the net See Appointing an ANCS on page 5 10 5 Opening a Net Every net has a net designator as determined by type administrative level and location of the net The net designator not only identifies a specific net it also serves as a special case of collective call sign representing all stations checked into a net or wishing to check in NCS will make sufficient call ups at the start of the net in an effort to capture all the stations wishing to check in NCS then proceeds with handling listed traffic then any other net business and comments between stations Training should be conducted as required or as directed by competent authority Typically training if not on a specialized training net will only occur after all other higher precedence net business such as passing of record traffic has been completed Training will always be done with the net in directed net status 10 6
106. d error correcting codes such as MT63 and MFSK Error correction is even more robust with request acknowledge protocols of point to point PACTOR communications Digital modes are an essential part of modern MARS communications and capability in operating at least one of the digital modes is mandatory Paragraph d of section 1 2 on NTIA requirements assists in digital operations because excellent frequency stability improves stations capabilities with digital modes 11 N Z e e 1 2 2 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Frequency Stability The NTIA requirement is mandatory unless specifically exempted for all MARS stations because they are operating on military frequencies that adhere to observation of the NTIA requirements These requirements are usually met with modern high end radios that have oven controlled crystal oscillator OCXO technology or temperature controlled crystal oscillator TCXO technology such as the ICOM IC 756PRO series Sometimes OCXOs be purchased as optional extras for some radios e g the CR 282 high stability crystal unit for the ICOM IC 706MKIIG In fact most modern amateur radios come from the factory as upgradeable to NTIA compliance Nearly all of the solid state amateur transmitters manufactured since the late 70 s or early 80 s claim a frequency stability and accuracy of plus or minus 10 ppm One would think that this shoul
107. d events that are not managed by or otherwise known to authorities In the event hazardous conditions criminal activity or other factors relating to public safety are observed when normal communications infrastructure is available the proper course of action is to contact the nearest Public Safety Answering Point PSAP by dialing 911 So what does this mean for message handling This manual will present the old form of handling in 1 1 with a table of the event identifier codes in 8 4 3 but it should be noted that event identifier codes are somewhat cryptic and a relic of cold war era terminology which is why they have been dropped in favor of plain language Nonetheless they are still shown here so that new members may understand them should they on occasion be used SPIREP SPOT Intelligence Report format is to be preferred going forward but members may use both EEI format and SPIREP format in messages at the time of writing of this manual July 2013 The SPIREP format will be discussed in this section also 68 N Z e 8 4 2 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD How to Draft and Send an EEI Message Have on hand a copy of MESSAGE FORM for EEI REPORTS and the ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS of INFORMATION Event Identifiers and use these as guides when drafting the message As Army MARS no longer relays EEI messages the TO address shown
108. d satisfy the NTIA requirement of 20Hz but if we examine 10ppm 10 ppm is ten parts per million equal to 10 Hz at 1 MHz or 100 Hz at 10 MHz 300 Hz at 30 MHz Clearly 10 ppm accuracy is inadequate to meet NTIA standards 20 Hz except below 2 MHz NTIA compliant HF radios typically have a frequency stability of less than 0 5 ppm thereby satisfying compliance across the entire HF spectrum As has been demonstrated older radios do not meet this requirement and can often not be upgraded with an OCXO If you have older equipment you will require a specific exemption from this requirement If you don t have an exemption then you must upgrade your equipment to be NTIA compliant in order to operate on MARS frequencies 1 3 Completion of Training You are encouraged to complete training as soon as possible There is no minimum time for training however you must complete your training within 180 days of the date on the AF Form 3661 which assigns you to training When you feel that you are familiar with on the air MARS procedures you may demonstrate this by sending at least two Drill messages to your trainer One of these messages must be an Exercise You are strongly encouraged to use a digital mode for one of these messages Upon successful completion of these drill messages you will be required to complete a final examination consisting of 50 questions A score of 8596 or better is required You will also need to complete NCS
109. de of the operating system of the computer and operating system bugs do not affect the frequency of tones generated by the soundcard Thus the Windows bug for using the computer soundcard does not affect things when using an external soundcard An initial TX offset of O ppm can be safely assumed Additionally level adjustment for an external soundcard is always fixed Rebooting of your computer will not result in the soundcard levels being reset Frequency alignment for RX ppm TX ppm and TX offset There are many steps involved in the setup These are outlined here to assist you in quickly resolving any problems you may experience in getting operational in digital Sometimes everything works out perfectly with zero effort and sometimes things just don t seem to make sense The steps in this section help resolve these difficulties or at least point you in the appropriate direction to consider possible solutions RIT should never be used in operating in digital modes RX ppm is an alignment adjustment to allow for the sound card sampling rate and the sampling rate in the software not being in perfect alignment TX ppm is the same but affects only the transmitted audio rather than the receive audio TX offset is a number of Hertz change in the transmitted signal These terms are from Fldigi but other software has similar terms 9 7 5 1 Frequency alignment of the transceiver In being able to communicate with other MARS members it is important to ens
110. dling messages will always be recorded While you may hear some friendly chatter from time to time the MARS nets should not be used for casual Rag Chewing MARS frequencies are Military Frequencies and are not Amateur Bands If you are in doubt as to whether or not a net is in progress use the regular check in procedure and a NCS should answer you if there is a net 5 5 Assessment Answer these questions and submit your answers to your Training Officer or mentor and answer additional questions that may be given to you What is the difference between an admin net and a traffic net Which nets are authorized during training Which nets are special purpose nets that are only authorized on special assignment What is the purpose of the Phone Patch net What is a directed net free net and a directed net free status Try to differentiate between MARS usage and general meaning 41 e Z Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 6 MESSAGE FORMAT 6 1 Plaindress Message Format 6 1 1 The Plaindress message format used in MARS is simply a plain language form which is not encrypted or coded This format contains three sections a HEADING a TEXT and an ENDING Each of the sections is separated from the others with the proword BREAK Many messages will have nothing in the Ending section The HEADING gives the precedence and time of the
111. dling slightly adjusts for the sending of messages from a third party Here the third party is not in any way a MARS member but has routed the traffic for passing through a MARS station This would be quite typical for certain types of ECOM traffic DE AFA9HR NR302 R 2701307 SEPTEMBER 2013 FR Captain Alana Forrest via AFA9HR TO AFA9HM CA BT MARS EXERCISE SPOT REPORT Captain Alana Forrest Lod Gatos Police Department Los Gatos California 408 354 8600 2701302 SEPTEMBER 2013 DAMAGE REPORT POWER OUTAGE All power lost in entire county at 0115 after massive power Noes W surge Local gas stations cannot pump gas owing to power outage none in town have generators Residents are not to drive to town gas stations 7 AFA9HR 8 Net 9 1 9 Los Gatos Monte Sereno Police Release LGMSPD 2013 064 10 Station running on battery power currently 2hrs left Will run car for additional power later Generator not working MARS EXERCISE SPOT REPORT BT NNNN The above example uses the augmentation of SPOT REPORT and as such the message type is identified as MARS EXERCISE SPOT REPORT Note that this phrase occurs at the beginning and end of the message body and is exactly the same text in both locations It will be noted that the reference number in item 9 is the reference number of the third party document
112. e and Organization 2 4 1 2 4 2 Background Air Force MARS is a communication system made up of amateur radio operators who are trained to provide an emergency back up COMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITY for the USAF Communications Command DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND U S GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS This is the primary mission Even though we engage in other activities these activities are all intended to support the primary mission either directly or indirectly Geographic Organization For administrative and communication purposes USAF MARS is organized by geographic units States are grouped into Regions Regions into Divisions The Divisions are linked by Transcontinental Nets TRANSCON Voice TRANSCON DIGITAL Sound Card Modes and PACTOR BBS Bulletin Board System The Transcontinental Division and Region nets are managed by MARS members on both the evening and daytime nets as well as on the weekends At the Region level MARS members will receive the traffic for direct delivery to the addressee relay to other MARS channels or re file into the Amateur Band Each relay is expected to move the traffic closer to its final destination until delivery by local telephone is possible Since this is not always possible we rely on member s dedication and ingenuity to devise methods of delivery Forwarding by radio is encouraged so a process for re filing messages into the Amateur Band to be delivered by the National Traffic System is authorized This re file
113. e different difficulties occur e g e Beam pattern azimuth plus elevation e Single frequency or multiple frequency e Antenna impedance will vary widely with different frequency e Feed line will alter impedance if it does not match impedance of antenna e Loops dipoles EDZ all have unique characteristics The correct solution is to use the right one for what you need to achieve In short for a new MARS member wanting to operate only on their regional net probably a simple center fed dipole as long as you can get is the best If space is tight arrange the ends so that its a Z configuration when viewed from above That ll give you the opportunity to make it a little longer yet keep the main radiating element of the antenna as long as possible Cobra Senior and Cobra Junior antennas work well but the junior will be really struggling down at 3 2MHz and be difficult to tune Linear loading is the technique that allows them to operate so low on frequency compared to what their physical length would indicate as being possible For a cheap commercial antenna these work quite well provided you have an antenna tuner So what is really required here is to phrase the question not as what is the best antenna but rather what is the best antenna system The best antenna system for a new operator is one in which he can operate on as many frequencies as possible as efficiently as possible for minimum outlay This is best achieved by a center fed dou
114. e is also a software soundcard checking mechanism that can be used called CheckSR See http www pa sitrep com NBEMS Fldigi_calibration htm for details 97 XZ 429 9 7 6 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Level adjustment of the audio signal This depends on whether you are using an acoustically coupled connection a computer soundcard internal or an external soundcard 3n soundcard in addition to the computer soundcard Note that for most soundcard modes it is best to always turn off any speech compressor on the radio For direct connections the voltage levels for different radios need to be considered For reception of digital signals the soundcard gain needs to be adjusted so that there is a signal visible in the waterfall of the soundcard software The transmission of digital signals the output needs to be at an appropriate level for the radio in question On external soundcards there is often an additional level control on the soundcard itself which can be used to adjust the signal driven to the radio Typically the radio RF gain should be on maximum and the radio microphone gain should be left at the default setting for normal SSB voice usage When adjusting an external soundcard output level and feeding the transceiver output into 500 load the audio should typically be adjusted to enable 5096 of full RX output when using PSK31 or 10096 when us
115. e is no net in progress and that you use the frequency for MARS related business only Traffic that must be recorded should however only be passed on appropriate traffic nets such as Region State Division and Transcon Nets specifically designed for the purpose of passing traffic It should not be passed during free time If a message that needs to be recorded must be passed on an administrative tactical or reporting net the proword MESSAGE shall be transmitted immediately after the call to indicate that a message which requires recording is about to follow Recorded here means that the message is written down 40 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD by the sender and receiver and kept on file either electronically or handwritten the NCS keeping a note of the precedence message identifier DTG of the message transmitting station s message number and call sign and receiving stations number and call sign The NCS does not need to record the message himself unless he is the targeted recipient of the message If a message is relayed through many stations each station will record the message Again the need to record is indicated by the proword MESSAGE in a communication if the traffic needs to be passed on a tactical or reporting net It is assumed that all messages passed on traffic nets specifically designed for the purposes of han
116. e of 5 This brings about a major increase in broadcast transmission reliability at the price of speed Because of the 200 wpm maximum speed PACTOR transmissions need to use a minimum 200Hz shifts PACTOR ARQ is the preferred mode used for HF MARS Message Center Systems MMCS operations PSK 31 BPSK 31 This was the first of the popular sound card modes It was developed by Peter Martinez G3PLX as a keyboard to keyboard digital mode It uses narrow band phase shift keying at a modest data rate of 31 5 baud and a variable length code also known as a varicode The advantage of a varicode is that all characters can be transmitted with the most common characters having the shortest codes Maximum typing speed is 50 wpm It is a narrow band mode and the powerful DSP capability of sound cards makes it possible to copy signals even when they cannot be heard The basic modulation scheme is BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying without error correction Since the emission bandwidth is on the order of 80Hz a single voice channel can support more than a dozen simultaneous keyboard to keyboard transmissions This is a potential major advantage for MARS in times of heavy traffic load as a single MARS frequency allocation channel could support simultaneous communications with a net operator being able to simultaneously monitor all communications within the channel using software such as Digipan which allows simultaneous reception However such advanced channel usage
117. e only these approved abbreviations and count each one as a group and include it in the GROUP COUNT Here are a few of the most common punctuations Punctuation Spoken as Symbol Abbreviation Full stop period Full stop PD Comma Comma I CMM Slant Oblique Slant SLANT Hyphen Hyphen Left hand bracket Brackets on PAREN Right hand bracket Brackets off UNPAREN Colon Colon CLN Semi colon Semi colon SMCLN Question Mark Question mark QUES Decimal point Day See Mal Point Table 9 Approved Punctuation The Abbreviation column in the above indicates that an abbreviation may be used in a digital transmission if the symbol is not available on certain keyboards As most modern keyboards have all the symbols the symbol should be used in preference to the abbreviation if it is necessary to use punctuation in a MARS message Some confusion results in the distinction between Hyphen and DASH If DASH is used it is spelled out and counted as a group making it necessary to count what came before and after as separate groups If hyphen is used it is simply said as part of a group and allows the hyphenated word to be counted as one group e g R 390 is sentas SPELL ROMEO HYPHEN THREE NINER ZERO and is counted as one group It is recommended to always use Hyphen as DASH is not strictly in the official list of abbreviations e g suppose the
118. e prepared to assume NCS responsibilities THE NCS controls and coordinates the net activities A typical net outline will flow as follows e NCS transmits net call e Initial members check ins NCS acknowledges check ins e NCS recognizes or assigns ANCS e NCS directs clears all listed traffic e NCS conducts official MARS business e NCS or designated instructor conducts training e NCS may poll the net for information questions or comments if appropriate e NCS declares net free as appropriate e NCS closes the net Directed Nets All USAF MARS are directed nets unless declared otherwise by the NCS This means every station must have NCS permission to transmit Nets are under the direct and immediate control of the net control station NCS The NCS is responsible to maintain net discipline and to ensure that all stations are operating within prescribed frequency tolerance It is often expedient to have an Alternate Net Control station ANCS assigned in advance or for NCS to designate an ANCS station at the start of the net The NCS could suddenly and without warning be gone from the net Stations must check in before conducting business Stations must first be checked into a net before they may conduct any business on the net The net status automatically returns to directed status whenever a station checks in The NCS may then continue the net in directed status or change it to free status as appropriate Constant watch requir
119. e required to complete the delivery of a message Among these are a Thelength of the message b The overall message traffic load c Encryption and decryption requirements d The means of communications i e automatic or manual and delivery arrangements at terminals e The number of relays required as opposed to point to point communications f Poortransmission conditions g Communications staffing problems Recognizing that these factors may affect the speed of service of any given message the following general time objectives apply Precedence Symbol Precedence Category Time Objective Not fixed Handled as fast as humanly possible 7 FLASH with a time objective of less than 10 Minutes Note that FLASH is not used in MARS O IMMEDIATE 30 Minutes to 1 Hour P PRIORITY 1to 6 Hours 3 Hours to the start of business on the next working day Note The objectives include the overall handling time from the time accepted by the communications facility at the point of origin to delivery to the addressee at the point of destination Table 8 Time Objective for Precedence Category 56 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Punctuation Generally punctuation will not be used in the text of a MARS message If you absolutely need to use punctuation to clarify the meaning of a text then us
120. e signal it puts out no horribly distracting whistles just a loud waterfall like roar it is possible to have a simultaneous SSB speech signal on the same channel as the MT63 signal This is especially true if the signal is centered in the channel at 1 500Hz This capability of having the MT63 being received correctly at the same time as speech can be heard legibly is an additional benefit of this mode This mode is about 80 duty cycle But be wary of judging this from the average power meter on your radio It may appear that the meter is stating 1096 power but the actual peak output power does indeed rise to a full 10096 and a peak output power meter will show this Do not adjust your sound card output to try to make the signal louder you will distort the signal and potentially damage your radio by overdriving the finals MT63 sounds quiet but it is actually a strong signal This mode requires high linearity Any amplification must like SSB voice be class A or class AB This mode s performance has made it the mode of choice for traffic handling in most USAF MARS nets many Navy Marine Corps MARS nets and some Army MARS nets Its broadcast capability means that any station on a net can copy the traffic and forward if necessary to a station that did not achieve copy Olivia Olivia is a digital mode designed to work in difficult low s n ratios plus multipath propagation conditions on HF bands though it also works as well on VHF UHF When l
121. e speed for the individual characters can be set to a fixed high speed 18 wpm is recommended for beginners and the overall transmission speed then reduced to say 12 wpm This way space is increased between each of the letters to allow a little more thinking time for people to refresh their skills yet they are learning the appropriate character at full speed and getting used to the sound of the character Gradually the overall speed can be increased to 14 wpm 16 wpm and eventually 18wpm The Farnsworth speed setting is ignored if the overall transmit speed is greater than the Farnsworth character speed the gap between words and letters is never decreased below the normal international standard for Morse communications This setting is available under Configure gt Modems in the Fldigi software 104 N 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System 2 Training Manua 4 2 Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD H Fldigi configuration 5 Operator UI Waterfall Modems Rig Audio ID Misc Web cw Dom Feld MT 63 Olivia Cont PSK RTTY Thor Navtex Wefax General Timing and QSK Prosigns Receive Lower Upper SOM decoding a 0 40 gt 4 60 Matched Filter Filter bandwidth IFFT filter 150 anes Tracking Rx WPM E 15 8 4 10 b Range wpm Transmi 0 WPM Default Lower limit _ Upper limit 24
122. ecked in NCS transmits AAA BBB EEE CCC GGG THIS IS NCS ROGER OUT If NCS did not fully hear a station example CCC then NCS withholds acknowledging that station finishes the remainder of the acknowledgements then transmits CCC THIS IS NCS SAY AGAIN OVER If NCS heard a station but did not hear the call sign or only part of the call sign NCS transmits an UNKNOWN STATION call up prosign AA in digital or AA in CW Note that only stations who attempted check in but were not acknowledged are authorized to transmit at this time NCS transmits UNKNOWN STATION THIS IS NCS OVER If necessary NCS may call another station on the net to relay an unknown station s transmission If NCS hears no stations during a net call he she may transmit e g THIS IS NCS NOTHING HEARD OUT and continues conducting net operations If a station is late to check in to the net it is good practice for the NCS to state YOU FOLLOW lt callsign gt where lt callsign gt is the call sign of the previous station to check in to the net This way on a roll call the station will be able to respond in the appropriate order EEE THIS IS NCS ROGER YOU FOLLOW DDD OUT 114 XZ 42 10 6 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD It is imp
123. ed Once checked in stations are expected to maintain constant watch on the net be prepared to respond when called and be prepared to receive traffic at any time Stations are expected to remain for the duration of the net unless granted permission by NCS to close down sooner If a station needs to leave for several minutes the station should inform the NCS that they are leaving their post for X minutes and then inform the NCS when they are back at their post If 111 N Z e e 10 3 4 10 3 5 10 3 6 10 3 7 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD you don t know how long you will be gone then inform the NCS that you will be closing Officially in active military you need to request to close but if as a civilian volunteer operator simply informing the NCS of closure of your station is perfectly acceptable When you return you must then check back into the net with the NCS although remember that the NCS may have changed during the course of your absence so don t assume the previous NCS call sign you cannot immediately jump in to a net and go straight to business without checking back in Brevity Superfluous wording must be eliminated from transmissions Stations are expected to use prescribed procedures at all times Transmissions shall be short and concise consistent with clarity Proword usage Stations will use only authorized prowords and in
124. een completed there are numerous networks available Nets Authorized Upon Completion of Training In addition to the various State Division and Region nets MARS stations that have completed training are authorized to participate in the various transcontinental nets These include TRANSCON Voice TRANSCON CW TRR and TVRS Digital Nets Nets Not Authorized Unless Specially Appointed There are a few restricted nets such as Phone Patch Net or Mission Support Net Membership on phone patch nets or the Mission Support Net is by special appointment through your SMD and the special net managers These two special restricted nets will be discussed briefly in the next couple of sections 5 2 Phone Patch Net PPN 5 2 1 5 2 2 Phone Patch Net Purpose As mentioned in section 9 0 of the MOI of February 2013 the Phone Patch Network provides pilots and aircrews in flight as well as ground units the opportunity to make official business and morale phone patches via an authorized AF MARS phone patch station Phone Patch Net is a Closed Net The AF MARS Phone Patch Network is a closed net requiring specific assignment by AF Form 3661 action What this means is that MARS Members are not authorized to use Phone Patch frequencies or conduct Phone Patch Operations unless they have been specially appointed to the net 35 N Z e e 5 2 4 5 2 5 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 201
125. el Romeo THIS IS Alpha Foxtrot Alpha Six Charlie Charlie VERIFY Your One Zero Zero Eight Three Zero Zulu WORD AFTER Arriving Haiphong OVER AFA9HR transmits THIS IS Alpha Foxtrot Alpha Niner Hotel Romeo ROGER OUT WAIT orWAIT OUT AFA9HR operator checks the message with the originator and finds that the word after arriving should have been Hong Kong instead of Haiphong He therefore transmits a correction to all the original addressees If the message had originally been sent to a net e g MSN then the message would be sent to the MSN net using the net call sign Two addressees are assumed in this example Alpha Foxtrot Alpha Six Charlie Charlie Alpha Foxtrot Alpha Niner Alpha Yankee THIS IS Alpha Foxtrot Alpha Niner Hotel Romeo CORRECTION My One Zero Zero Eight Three Zero Zulu WORD AFTER Arriving Hong Kong OVER 53 XZ 42 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD In the above instance if transmission conditions are less than optimal it would be a very good idea to additionally use the I SPELL proword for the replacement word Note also that full phonetics have been used in the above If the NCS has authorized ALPHANUMERIC call signs then the above can be shortened to just saying the letters of the call signs as
126. ell as modulation products so correct transmit level audio is important This also true of AFSK Audio Frequency Shift Keying used for generating RTTY compared with direct FSK Frequency Shift Keying where the carrier is directly switched between two frequencies will like direct CW have very few RF artifacts However with modern rigs and careful setup it is often impossible to distinguish if a sound card 80 Figure 1 Frequency Allocation and USB dial frequency N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD is being used or not Correct setup is the key to correct operation on digital modes via sound card Now when transmitting on other modes such as MFSK and MT63 the signal should again be centered in the audio spectrum at 1 500Hz This way the transmission will always be correctly centered in the allocated MARS channel There are some exceptions made to this with MT63 Historically the older software of IZ8BLY could only start at 500Hz audio so the default 1kHz wide mode MT63 1K started at 500Hz and ended at 1 500Hz audio with the center being at 1 000Hz audio Thus this transmission would not be centered on the allocated frequency but appear to be centered 500Hz too low The related MT63 2K mode with a 2kHz wide bandwidth would however appear correctly centered with a 500Hz start and a 2 500Hz end point This is the exception and has been tolerated with
127. end of the text This is the only way the proword BREAK is used If you hear it used in place of OUT consider it an error in that operator s procedure Each plain language word each initial or group of initials each numeral or group of numerals is counted as one group in the GROUP COUNT Hyphenated words are counted as one group and are always spelled out for clarification More details on this are in the next section of the guide The Ending In our present format there is generally no ending However this section is provided to allow any Operators Note such as comments by any relaying operator who may have any observation concerning the message If an operator s note is added along the relay chain then it should be sent along with the message on each subsequent relay 6 2 Abbreviated Plaindress Message Format Operational requirements for speed of handling may require abbreviation of plaindress headings In such case any or all of the following may be omitted 1 Precedence 2 Date 3 Date time group 4 Group count The Abbreviated format is a very valuable tool to be used during emergencies when stations are in direct communication with each other and the expedient passage of traffic is a requirement A message in abbreviated form will contain at the very least an address a text If the originator and the addressee are MARS stations and they are in direct communication with each other then this highly abbreviated fo
128. erb Used for FM communications only unless your SSB radio uses a syllabic derived squelch such as SINAD CM5 LOUD AND CLEAR GOOD READABLE Slight noise typical of SSB under very good conditions CM3 FAIR READABLE Marginal voice communications Occasional fills needed noisy CM2 WEAK READABLE Unreliable difficult copy frequent fills needed CM1 UNREADABLE Unintelligible Signal barely evident CMO NOTHING HEARD No audio signal detectable Table 5 Circuit Merit system and natural language equivalent The Circuit Merit system and the plain language equivalent is not used in MARS to describe voice communications clarity The FAIR READABLE term in particular has no similar sounding MARS signal strength term and the phrase should never be used in responding to a radio check request from another MARS station On the military SSB frequencies that USAF MARS uses the appropriate method is to respond with the signal strength and the readability of the signal Strength and readability although often dependent on each other are treated as independent entities in a radio report given to another station e g to the NCS during a Roll Call Radio Check The tables given below are a plain language version of the official tables in the ACP125 F which are shown in 810 14 1 The additional descriptions when viewed here may help understand what is meant by the descriptions in the
129. essage 2 Whenisthe proword BREAK used in a message Name all the locations where it should be used 3 Write a short plaindress message to your Training Officer or mentor in digital format and review the structure 4 Amessage is about to be sent with Operational Immediate precedence as 2317007 JUNE 2013 How would you change the above to change this precedence to Routine Note that you may need to reference the next chapter for additional information but this chapter has sufficient data for you to accurately answer the question 49 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 4 Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 7 MESSAGE HANDLING 7 1 Introduction When sending or receiving messages keep in mind that information to be written down and prowords are the only things to be transmitted If you will make some copies of the MARS MESSAGE FORM and keep them at your operating position It will make both sending and receiving traffic very simple The message form has spaces for five words per line for a maximum of five lines for the message text This makes it easy to count the number of words The prowords are designed to alert the receiving station as to what will follow In most cases prowords are not written down Before sending messages you must become familiar with the prowords and know how they are used in message transmission Prowords are detailed in ACP 125 F located at http jcs dtic mil
130. ev AD PREFACE AIR FORCE MARS To All new members T calls You have been accepted into an elite organization that is tasked with providing emergency communications support for the United States Air Force and other Government Agencies which include the Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA the Shared Resources SHARES HF radio program and other agencies of the Department of Defense and U S Government The opportunities offered by MARS for you to serve in public service support are limited only by your willingness to participate in the many programs that make this a unique organization Examples of some of the services offered by MARS are 1 Dispatch of health morale and welfare traffic to and from military service personnel world wide 2 Disaster communications support for federal state and civilian governmental agencies and other disaster relief organizations when requested 3 Engineering and technical support in all communications systems to continue state of the art readiness status 4 Management training for local military base support positions Air Force MARS utilizes both voice and digital modes You will first be trained to use the correct radiotelephone procedures required for communications support of military and allied national forces Additional training is available for those members that desire to use digital capabilities After you have completed your initial training assignment you will then be re assi
131. exceed the emission bandwidth of a radiotelephone signal As recently as the last decade this bandwidth was defined as 2 8kHz This is why until 13 May 2007 all the USAF frequencies when listed as USB dial frequency ended in 1 or 6 e g 3228 1kHz USB dial when the center frequency was 1 4kHz up from that viz 3229 5KHz On 13 May 2007 the 1 and 6 were dropped so that if a USB dial frequency previously ended in 1 it would be changed to end in 0 and if it previously ended in 6 it would be changed to end in 5 This did not actually move the authorized frequency allocation down by 100Hz from 3229 5kHz to 3229 4kHz it stayed the same at 3229 5kHz what changed was the bandwidth going up to from 2 8kHz to 3 0kHz Of course this made tuning easier for SSB on many rigs used by civilian MARS operators with the USB dial frequency being 1 5kHz below the allocated reference center frequency and the LSB dial frequency being 1 5kHz above the reference center frequency Allocated frequencies are always specified in official documentation as channel center frequencies For ease of use of the membership the regional state and TRANSCON frequencies are also listed with their USB dial 79 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD frequencies in the frequency allocation tables so that tuning to the proper frequency is less error prone N
132. ffic status OVER GI e g 5 I E pause THIS IS AFA5AA T NO TRAFFIC OVER If you have comments or queries you would state that in your check in NCS call sign pause THIS IS Your call sign Comment or Query status OVER e g AFA6FF pause THIS IS AFA6AA T WITH QUERIES OVER 38 N Z e 5 4 3 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD After completing your call to check in listen carefully to be certain that the NCS has recorded your call sign correctly Your credit for participation is dependent on this and the NCS will report your time to a Net Manager who will in turn report to the Region or Division Records Manager Net Activity After you have checked into a net you are expected to remain available to the net for any traffic that might be destined for your immediate area You will be listed on the NCS log and should remain available until the NCS closes the net If you need to leave the frequency early call the NCS and request to CLOSE Once you are checked on to a net you can gain the attention of the NCS with the abbreviated call THIS IS Your call sign OVER The NCS will answer with a full preliminary call using your call and his When contact is established make your request e g AFA6AA THIS IS AFA6BB T REQUEST
133. g a record will greatly assist in multi frequency operation from a single antenna under widely varying circumstances If a station is newly equipping for MARS operation it is recommended to invest firstly in a good ATU before investing in a linear amplifier Ideally a roller inductor type ATU should be acquired The reason for this is that it will allow tuning to occur outside the frequencies used for amateur bands more easily than a switched inductor band based arrangement Manual tuners from Palstar www palstar com are good examples of this type of roller inductor based tuner Much easier than window line for ease of tuning purposes is open wire ladder line This is wet weather immune It has the same impedance regardless of whether it is raining or sunny Hence a notebook of antenna tunings for various frequencies only needs to contain one set of numbers rather than two sets of numbers when using open wire ladder line Although 6000 open ladder line can be easily constructed at home there is an online source that seems to be well constructed The location for this is http www trueladderline com Their ordering page is at http www trueladderline com orderladder html Balanced Antennas Note that ladder line does not radiate provided you are feeding a balanced antenna That is connect it to the middle of the antenna and assuming both halves of the antenna are at the same height both halves are the same length same distance from large p
134. gical balance of the extra air time required versus the benefit of reducing problems The limiting call up would be A1B2 A1B2 THIS IS NCS insert phrase here OVER The following are authorized phrases to limit check ins and would replace the insert phrase here in the above call up e STATIONS WITH RECORD TRAFFIC ONLY e STATIONS WITH PRIORITY TRAFFIC ONLY this would include any traffic of higher precedence be used in combination with a geographic area e g DADE COUNTY FLORIDA STATIONS WITH PRIORITY TRAFFIC ONLY e ALL NEW YORK ARMY MARS STAFF ONLY substitute Navy or AF as appropriate Replace NEW YORK with any logical MARS administrative or operational zone such as Region Five or Central Area e ALL SAN DIEGO STATIONS substitute SAN DIEGO with any generally understood geographic area including but not limited to state county borough or city e ALL STAFF REGION SIX this could be further limited by requesting only ECOM staff only training staff or any logical limitation of station type or by use of a collective call sign if that is most expedient 10 7 Free and Directed Net Status 116 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD All nets will always begin in directed net status This means every stati
135. gned to the traffic net system in your MARS Division This will be your primary assignment but you may participate in as many nets of the Air Force MARS program as you desire excepting special assignment nets The expansion of your own horizons through your association with Air Force MARS and the members of this organization are limited only by your desire and capability Operations on USAF MARS are governed primarily by Allied Communications Publications listed on http jcs dtic mil j6 cceb acps and Air Force MARS Operating Instructions Primarily of interest in the ACP series are N Z e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 1 121 l Communication Instructions General 2 ACP 124 D Communications Instructions Radiotelegraph Procedures 3 ACP 125 F Communication Instructions Radio Telephone Procedures 4 ACP 126 C Communication Instructions Teletypewriter Teleprinter Instructions 5 ACP 131 F Communication Instructions Operating Signals Of the above item 3 is the most necessary to become familiar for operating nets ltem 5 is particularly comprehensive in terms of the Q code and Z code which are used in digital transmissions but has many more codes than are required for use in regular MARS activities Item 4 has some useful guidelines for digital communications that remain applicable for modern digital modes despite being
136. going to make much difference In fact it is possible to have one arm of a dipole facing East and another arm facing North with very little effect on the overall radiation pattern 11 4 Further study If you are interested in learning more about antennas and transmission lines and how to design them and operate them then the ARRL course on Antennas is highly recommended The ARRL Antenna Modeling Course book by the late L B WARNL is particularly to be recommended as a first step in your further studies Additional useful information is of course in the antenna handbooks but bear in mind that many designs are optimized for amateur frequencies and need some adjustment to operate successfully on MAS frequencies 133 A 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 4 Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 11 5 Assessment Answer these questions and submit your answers to your Training Officer or mentor and answer additional questions that may be given to you 1 What is the simplest antenna that will give wide frequency coverage for MARS usage 2 Why is NVIS operation important for Regional MARS nets 3 What advantages does NVIS give for local emergency communications when a high fixture cannot be quickly obtained 4 Why are odd multiples of 44 wavelength to be avoided for transmission lines 134 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 4 Training Manu
137. h NNN is to pronounce it as the letters N N N and never as NOVEMBER NOVEMBER NOVEMBER Now because the latter is quite a mouthful to say taking 9 syllables Navy Marine Corps MARS have 29 N 2 e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD always shortened this to N N N with the letter pronunciation of N N N as En En En This pronunciation applies whether or not procedures require full phonetics or alphanumerical call signs Consider the following example call NNNOXYZ DE AFA9HR OVER Compare the means of delivering this call in full phonetics and then in alphanumerics FULL PHONETICS Pronounced as NN N ZERO X RAY YANKEE ZULU THIS IS ALPHA FOXTROT ALPHA NINER HOTEL ROMEO OVER ALPHANUMERICS Pronounced as N N N ZERO X Y Z THIS SA F A NINE H R OVER Where the NN NXYZ AFAand H Rare pronounced as the individual letters as per kindergarten ABC s Service Callsign Full Phonetics Pronunciation Alphanumerics Pronunciation USAF AFA2RC ALPHA FOXTROT ALPHA TWO ROMEO CHARLIE Ay Ay TWO aRe Cee ARMY AARABB ALPHA ALPHA ROMEO FOWER BRAVO BRAVO Ay Ay aRe FOUR Bee Bee NAVY MC NNNOJKL eN eN eN ZERO JULIET KILO LIMA eN eN eN ZERO Jay Kay eL Table 4 Phonetic and Alphanumeric Call Signs by Service So Navy Marine Corps MARS call s
138. h this transmission When this proword is employed the transmission shall be ended with the proword OUT Remember normally message transmissions end in the proword OVER so OUT at the end of a message transmission gives you a very clear reminder that something is different DO NOT ANSWER is useful when a message is being sent to a group of stations and the net time to wait for acknowledgements from each station would be prohibitive 7 5 Originating Messages For each message introduced into the MARS system there will be an originator and an originating station They might be one and the same but in case of Health Moral and Welfare 54 N Z e e 7 5 1 7 5 2 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD messages they often are not The originator is the actual sender of the message whose name appears in the FROM line of the message The Originating Station is the MARS station who first introduced the message into the AF MARS system The originating station is responsible for putting the message into the proper format and is responsible for abiding by the restrictions placed on the origination of MARS Messages i e No original death notices no coded or encrypted messages no foreign language texts no messages which contain obvious false or misleading information and no messages which are of a commercial nature The originating MARS operator will sometimes make s
139. has not typically been practiced in MARS but is something that advanced exercises should practice on occasion Typically just one transmission occurs per channel in MARS circuits Because of the use of a varicode that favors the efficient transmission of lowercase letters PSK 31 will have a higher wpm rating with lowercase text than with uppercase text Additionally in bad conditions the longer sequences required for transmitting uppercase text will give rise to more errors and potentially garbled transmissions Switching to lowercase text usage will often result in the transmissions being received without error This is important for MARS messages and it is recommended that the usual uppercase text body be converted with word to lowercase text prior to transmission in order to maximize the wpm of the transmission and reduce the likelihood of error in the received text Although a very convenient mode for keyboard to keyboard usage when pre written texts are not needed to be loaded extensive testing by Navy Marine Corps MARS over a variety of conditions showed an average error rate for BPSK 31 of 3 896 or 1 error every 26 characters 83 N Z 9 5 6 9 5 7 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Whilst acceptable for conversation mode it could cause problems if used to relay lengthy messages It should be noted that PSK 31 requires linearity in order to
140. he governing documents and most importantly because the formal procedures work well 3 6 Assessment Answer these questions and submit your answers to your Training Officer or mentor and answer additional questions that may be given to you 1 When should formal procedures be used and when are first names permitted to be used on anet 2 When should the Proword OVER be used 26 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Under what typical conditions would the Proword WORDS TWICE be used Which words and phrases are repeated and which are not Using WORDS TWICE how would you transmit THIS IS AFA3CC THE DOLPHINS ARE IN THE BAY REQUESTING 00 BLANKETS AND 20 BOTTLES OF WATER 500 GALLONS OF GASOLINE ARE NEEDED OVER 27 7 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 4 CALLING AND ANSWERING PROCEDURES 4 1 Preliminary Calls 4 1 2 4 1 3 A preliminary call sometimes referred to as simply a call is made to initiate a contact An answer is a reply to a call There are three types of preliminary calls a single call a collective call also known as a group or net call and a multiple call Examples of each of the types of calls are given in the following subsections Single Call One station calls another station to initiate communications Example 1
141. he net During a directed net the NCS may declare the net Free using the proword THIS NET IS FR first obtaining the permission of the NCS but the NCS is still monitoring and directing the Net I At this time you may call any station on the net without and may assume control at any time All MARS procedures will still be used when the net is in Free Status The only thing that has changed is the need to contact the NCS first The net will remain FREE until the NCS declares the net to be in Directed status by using the proword THIS IS A DIRECTED NET atthe end of a call to some other station or if the NCS makes another Collective Call Net Call This Collective Call automatically puts the net back to a directed status and will remain so until the NCS declares that it is in FREE status He does not need to state the proword THIS IS A DIRECTED NET If you are unsure as to whether the net is in free or directed status the safe and correct procedure is to assume that the net is directed and ask permission of the NCS to contact the station Free Time and Recorded Traffic At certain times when a frequency is not in use and there is no net in progress members may use the frequency to contact other MARS members if there is a valid reason to communicate This is sometimes referred to as FREE TIME If you plan to use one of the MARS frequencies make certain that ther
142. his way but DELIVERY BY COLLECT TELEPHONE CALL IS NOT ALLOWED When messages cannot be delivered in the Air Force channels refiling is encouraged The Amateur Band NTS and the ARMY MARS or NAVY Marine Corps MARS nets provide channels for refiling 7 8 Service Messages If you receive a message and cannot deliver it for any reason i e addressee moved and left no forwarding address incomplete or wrong address party unknown etc you must originate a SERVICE message back to the originating station In the text of your service message refer to the DATE TIME Group DTG of the original message and state briefly your reason for non delivery Note that the DATE TIME Group DTG is the only reference to use Do not use the message number as it changes on each relay In order to enable service messages to be transmitted to the originating station the call sign of the originating station needs to be known This call sign should be listed in the FROM part of the original message Now if the message is from a member of the public then listing the call sign of the originating operator needs to be done slightly differently than if a full name and address of a MARS operator is used Instead of 59 N Z Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD FROM FirstName LastName Address AFA lt xx gt The format that should be used is FROM FirstName LastName Address via
143. hysical structures etc then the system will be balanced That way currents in the antenna are balanced and in 129 N Z e e 11 2 2 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD opposite direction in both wires in the feed line The resulting electrical field from one cancels the field from the other The author frequently runs 1kW through window type ladder line just a few inches away from a computer with no issues of interference to the computer Of course if the antenna isn t balanced then significant RF would result in the station Transmission lines and Impedance A few words need to be said about feed line impedance and how it alters with length The characteristic impedance of a transmission line is labeled Zo The value does not change with length Typical amateur radio coax has Zo 500 whereas window ladder line often has Zo 4500 The input impedance of the antenna at the antenna is 24 If Za Zo then any length of transmission line preserves the impedance The transmission line does not have to be any specific length the impedance of the output will be the same as the input in this case If Z4 Zo that is they are different which is nearly always the case then transformation of the impedance occurs There are some special cases of note e Feedline length 0 54 allow for velocity of radio wave in copper this is for a feedline adjusted to the
144. if both stations have their AFC switched on they will both chase each other as they drift This is not a problem in the two stations remaining in contact but is a problem for a net since the frequencies will be moving around a lot and if someone can t hear both sides of a transmission the ability to lock on the changing frequency will be lost The solution to this problem is twofold Firstly don t use the AFC unless you really need to e g to communicate with someone who is using a radio that is not NTIA compliant and is drifting a lot in frequency Secondly use the transmit frequency lock function Lk to ensure that you lock your transmit frequency properly at 1 500Hz before listening to other stations 9 7 7 3 Setting the right value for squelch 9 7 8 In the reception of digital signals you will often see a lot of noise in the receive window with random characters being displayed This random display is what you typically get with the squelch labeled SQL in the bottom right of the Fldigi window turned off This is the soundcard software at its most sensitive and all signals that are decodable will be received But getting lots of garbage characters between received messages is problematic for sorting So to change this you can click on the SQL button and then adjust the sliding scale to the right If you adjust the scale to the bottom the SQL indicator light will glow green in color instead of grey when the switch is off If
145. igns are the exception where both alphanumeric and phonetic letter transcriptions apply to pronouncing the call sign when full phonetics are required Army and Air Force call signs do not have this exception Thus e g AAR9XQ is always either full phonetic or alphanumeric similarly AFA9AY is always full phonetic or alphanumeric Stating NINER ALPHA YANKEE is a negative and is not permitted on any MARS circuits The Navy Marine Corps MARS call sign exception is made because it aids in efficiency 9 syllables reduced to 3 with a very recognizable intonation even in heavy interference on the air This has been approved for years solely because NNN is a unique prefix and there are no other variations such as NGE or NND in use So in the interests of efficiency please do always use N N N when referring communicating to any Navy Marine Corps MARS station on the MARS nets 30 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD What about the situation of calling the NCS using an alphanumeric call sign and using a full phonetic call for the other station is this acceptable In terms of efficiency if the NCS has permitted the use of alphanumeric call signs and the calling station knows that he has a weak signal into the NCS then he may call the NCS with the alphanumeric call sign and then use full phonetics for his own call sign Th
146. in other digital soundcard software lt LI m mam 4 20 Pla 70 b x1 4 W 4 1500 Store urskie s n 16 dB jula 3 0 ac rsa Figure 8 Fldigi with MFSK16 idle 9 7 7 1 TX frequency lock Now in the picture of Figure 8 which shows an 5 8 signal transmitting the idle tones it will be noted that there are some interesting elements on the far bottom right of the display The Lk refers to Lock and means when selected that the frequency is locked Subsequent changes to the TX audio frequency from 1 500Hz shown in the bottom middle will not result in the X audio frequency changing It is recommended that MARS stations use this to prevent their TX frequency changing as the receive frequency adjusts for drift see AFC in a moment Next o Lk is Rv The Rv stands for Reverse and will swap the waveform around with the high audio frequencies becoming low The purpose of this setting is to reverse things when LSB has been selected instead of USB on the radio Remember most digital transmissions are done with the radio in USB mode and transmitting in LSB will result in the tones being the opposite way around to what most people would expect This switch should typically be off in normal USAF MARS usage as we always use USB for all frequencies anyway Note that in Fldigi software the TX lock swit
147. ing CW from the soundcard The ALC on the radio should not activate during transmit This is quite important ALC activation means that absolute linearity which is essential during transmission of many digital modes is being lost The ALC should never activate during digital mode operation Once properly set up it will usually not be necessary to ever make any adjustments again when using an external soundcard Using an internal computer soundcard can often require going through the steps again if new software that uses the soundcard is installed or if you make changes to allow a Skype call to be handled effectively etc Refer to your particular computer soundcard or external soundcard instructions for setting up the levels Remember in an emergency simple acoustic coupling of holding the transceiver microphone near the laptop speakers and positioning the laptop near the transceiver s speaker can allow effective digital communications to take place Some adjustment of volume and microphone gain will be required but this can often very quickly get a digital transmission working under emergency field conditions 98 A 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 45 2013 10 31 Rev AD 9 7 7 Transmitting with Fldigi This section outlines a few important considerations when using soundcard software Although Fldigi has been used the equivalent techniques are available and should be used
148. ing Manual Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Limitations e Lots of additional control characters and wild characters appearing in the message owing to compression Without FLwrap at the receiving end the message is unintelligible e Should only be used if all stations on the net have both Fldigi and FLwrap installed 9 7 8 3 Flmsg forms management editor Benefits e Provides common forms for messages such as Army or Navy MARS messages Red Cross 5739 On site detailed damage assessment ICS 213 Emergency management report Plaintext e Avoids the problem of message buried in a buffer and the operator manually selecting the relevant section of text from Fldigi receive window and then saving to a file e Many amateur ECOM nets use this software Limitations e Control characters used in messages If no Flmsg and Fldigi at RX station control characters seen in message which makes message copy and understanding difficult Ilf communication conditions are poor the relevant section control characters could be corrupted and then the message would be garbled e Allstations on the net must have Flmsg e Only use if pre arranged with receiving station s 102 N 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System U S Air Force Training Manual Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 9 7 8 4 Summary of usage of auxiliary Fldigi software Fldigi is good software and the auxiliary software packages can give added benefits
149. ining Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Computer control of PTT and frequency It is possible to manually tune your radio and operate without computer control but life will be much easier if your software can control your radio Computer control can be broken down into PTT control and full frequency control PTT control is very much a recommended thing to occur but full frequency control needs to be considered carefully The reason for caution on the latter is that inadvertent mistakes can lead to band switching when the transceiver may not be tuned to the transmit frequency and the antenna not being tuned to the right frequency This can be problematic when an amplifier is also connected to the system Novice users are recommended to initially adopt PTT control only by computer and leave the dial frequency control remain under manual control In this mode you want to leave the Waterfall display to always show audio frequencies It is also useful to monitor the transmitted signal on the waterfall as it helps you learn what different types of signal look like during transmission This way you will be more than likely to recognize them when you hear them on MARS channels H Fidigi configuration Operator UI Waterfall Modems Rig Audio ID Misc web Display FFT Processing Mouse Colors and cursors default Load S Center line Signal tracks VION ION Wide Frequency scale 71 A
150. irectives corres pdf 511113p pdf It is also to provide contingency radio communications support to the DoD Components Emergencies Assist in effecting normal communications under emergency conditions MARS may provide communications engineering services and technical support and additional communication capacity to military units in training or responding to an actual event on frequencies identified for MARS use and through MARS Nets Morale Traffic Handle health morale and welfare radio communications support to military members civilian employees and contractors of DoD Components and civil agency employees and contractors when in remote or isolated areas in contingencies or whenever appropriate 2 3 Program Emphasis The emphasis of the program has moved from one to another of these objectives over the history of the program For example during the Viet Nam era MARS was very heavily involved 15 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD with passing morale messages and phone patches between deployed military and their loved ones That function has largely been taken over by the internet and cell phones The present emphasis of the program is on providing communications to military civil and other disaster officials during periods of emergency and providing them with information about the emergencies from within the affected area 2 4 Structur
151. ired on RATT and may sometimes be seen on digital networks Although preference should be to reduce the message down to the minimal size possible agreeable to the sender prior to introducing it into the MARS network 42 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System pde Training Manua 4 Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD e g AFA3AA THIS IS AFA3BB MESSAGE NUMBER SEVEN This is the call sign of the receiving station the call sign of the sending station the proword MESSAGE indicating that the message being transmitted on a tactical or reporting net is to be recorded and the message number assigned by the sending station As this message is relayed through the MARS system the Procedure is the one and only part that changes on each relay Note that the MESSAGE proword is only needed on tactical or reporting nets not primarily design for handling traffic Messages should normally be passed on specific traffic nets and on those nets it is assumed that the message needs recording and there is no need to use the MESSAGE proword 6 1 1 2 The Preamble The Preamble consists of the Precedence Proword MARSGRAM ROUTINE PRIORITY or MMEDIATE followed by the proword TIME and the Date Time Group DTG Note that the use of precedence level of IMMEDIATE is highly restricted The precedence level of FLASH is
152. irst come first served and several messages of different precedence from the same station 6 When traffic is listed and is being passed how do you handle a new check in to the net that has higher precedence traffic 7 Suppose NCS and ANCS both suddenly cease to be able to transmit who should become NCS Illustrate how this should occur and how stations should cope with multiple stations claiming to be NCS Discuss with your Training Officer or mentor the best approaches for different circumstances and radio conditions 126 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 45 Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 11 ANTENNAS A word needs to be made about suitable antennas for MARS This is not intended to be a comprehensive guide as there are many great manuals out in the amateur and professional space regarding antenna construction This is intended as a quick guide to help the newcomer understand what will get a station operating more quickly and more effectively 11 1 Best antenna for MARS use The best antenna for MARS use is an almost impossible question to answer as there are many variables that need to be considered including size cost effectiveness radiation efficiency power handling strength wind loading beam widths ease of orientation and setup and so on Depending on whether operation is anticipated on regional nets and transcontinental nets different antennas are required With each of thes
153. is will often increase the efficiency of communications on a net as the NCS in a directed net will know he is being called and the time efficiency of stations not stating his call sign in full phonetics each time is large with many communications taking place Again all MARS stations should realize that the importance is efficiency of communications while maintaining certain protocols Note that weak signal conditions during years of sunspot minima and at other times demand a different procedure to good signal conditions as experienced during peaks of sunspot cycles MARS is a dynamic network and so must change dynamically as conditions change during a net as well as during different periods of the 12 year sunspot cycle Do not confuse the phrase Alphanumeric call signs with the phrase Abbreviated call signs such as AA for AA1AA Abbreviated call signs are never allowed in MARS networks 4 5 After Communications are Established use Abbreviated Procedure Once communications have been established between two stations both should use abbreviated procedure until the communications is concluded Example preliminary single call using full procedure AFA1AA THIS IS AFA1BB OVER answer using abbreviated procedure THIS IS AFA1AA OVER communications THIS IS AFA1BB REQUEST YOU DO communications THIS IS AFA1AA WILCO OUT 4 6 Abbreviated Procedu
154. istening to it and 87 N Z U S Air Force Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Military Auxiliary Radio System Training Manual observing it on a waterfall display the signal can be seen to be like a combination of MT63 and MFSK The signal can be decoded even when it is 10 14 dB below the noise floor It can also decode well under other noise fading man made interference flutter polar path and auroral conditions The confusing item with Olivia is that there are many possible modes of usage The formats vary in bandwidth 125 250 500 1000 and 2000Hz and number of tones used 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 or 256 This makes it possible to have 40 different Olivia formats which have different characteristics speeds and capabilities The two most commonly used in MARS activities are 16 500 and 32 1000 known as Olivia 16 and Olivia 32 respectively The characteristics of these two specific formats are shown in the following table Format Symbol Rate Typing Speed FSK Tones Bandwidth Lowest S N 16 500 31 25 baud 20 wpm 16 500Hz 13dB 32 1000 31 25 baud 24 wpm 32 1000Hz 12dB 9 5 10 Table 12 Olivia Characteristics The reason that these two formats are chosen is that they provide reasonable robustness with 12dB of S N capability in 32 1000 and 13dB of S N in 16 500 and acceptable speeds of just over 24wpm and nearly 20wpm respectively Although 16 500 is slightly slower it als
155. j6 cceb acps acp125 ACP125F pdf As you monitor the traffic nets it will become evident that operators who use the prowords as they are intended are those who avoid making up their own non MARS prowords They are also the ones who avoid making extra comments during message transmission You will probably notice that these well trained members are the ones who get their traffic on the way with the least difficulty Unfortunately you will occasionally hear supposedly trained MARS operators using other than the prescribed procedure but these are the exception SPEAK SLOWLY AND DISTINCTLY We pride ourselves in the ability to move traffic through the system accurately and quickly Speed however is secondary to accuracy The few seconds gained by speaking too fast are frequently lost when the receiving station is forced to ask for fills When sending traffic say words no faster than you can easily write them This means saying words at a speed no faster than 20wpm Very few people can write longhand at speeds in excess of 28wpm even in a perfect classroom setting So slow things down 12 14wpm may sound slow but if you are never asked for a fill the overall transmission time and efficiency of the net improves Never say ROGER for a message or a fill unless you are certain that you have received it correctly The proword SAY AGAIN is the only way to ask for fills Do not hesitate to use SAY AGAIN for any part of a message that you question
156. lways show audio frequencies Transmit signal Z Monitor transmitted signal Restore defaults Figure 2 Fldigi Waterfall setup All software used with direct connection interfaces allows PTT control of the transceiver Some software when combined with specific interfaces can also allow frequency selection to be done 92 N Z e e 9 7 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD by the digital sound software Both Fldigi and MixW have this capability with the appropriate interfaces Direct connection of computer to radio using computer soundcard The old serial connections of RS 232 are no longer provided on modern computers so one needs to use a USB connection to the radio It is better to purchase a newer interface that provides a USB connection rather than attempting to use a USB to RS 232 adapter card with an old RS 232 serial interface based connection It can work but it is not recommended Donner Digital interface is of this type that still uses RS 232 so needs an auxiliary USB to RS 232 adapter for use with modern computers Typical interfaces that provide direct USB type of connection are RIGblaster series of connectors Adapter cables are required for most radios and your radio will need data aux jacks on it to allow control By being a USB interface it is powered directly from the USB connection and does not need an external power sup
157. m Chief on new security section and FOUO reference document as required reading for all members A 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System Training 42 Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 TRAINING REQUIREMENTS 11 1 1 INTRODUCTION m 11 1 2 STATION REQUIREMENTS ec 11 1 2 1 Digital 11 1 2 2 12 1 3 COMPLETION OF DRAINING ices EVE RUBER MATURE el FQ SAT 12 1 4 TRAINING ON USAF MARS PROCEDURES 13 1 5 TTRAININGINETS 5 oes 13 1 6 PARTICIPATION TIME REQUIREMENTS 4755 eva is vt no on rn ia va n e nna 13 1 7 ARRANGING PROLONGED PERIOD OF 13 1 8 ASSESSMENT S 20 haspan at aA REED 14 2 MARS OVERVIEW uuu 15 2 1 5 OH EO FOU SURE EEG Q
158. n State Administrative net should provide you with current information U S Air Force MARS Program Administration The total MARS program is administered through the office of Chief USAF MARS at Scott Air Force Base IL MARS management is through the State MARS Directors SMD and Region MARS Director RMD and Division MARS Director DMD SMD RMD and DMD are MARS member positions appointed by Chief USAF MARS Each DMD and RMD appoints a staff of Division and Region Officials who help with various activities Division and Region Officials are authorized specific billet call signs that may be used while conducting activities related to the duties of their office Each SMD may appoint a staff of State Officials to help with various aspects of state level activities WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE STATE EMERGENCY COORDINATOR SEC State level appointments do not normally authorize a specific billet call sign In addition to the Division Region and State officials there are a few National Officials who have duties which are CONUS wide and are authorized the use of certain billet call signs See section 2 5 2 for a partial listing of billet call signs authorized for Division Region and National Officials 2 5 Call Sign Assignments 2 5 1 Completion of Training After training is completed each MARS member is assigned a personal call sign that will remain with the member as long as the member resides in the original region The T suffix in
159. n arranging the transmission 90 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD properly The microphone on the transceiver needs to be keyed prior to pressing the send on the computer software VOX can work but sometimes the delay can result in key data being lost so manual PTT operation is better Although if typing by hand one hand is potentially now holding the microphone on and unable to type This is fine for sending a prepared message but difficult for interactive communication Receiving is simply un keying the transceiver microphone and letting the sounds from the radio enter the computer through the computer s microphone The disadvantage of this technique is that environmental sounds can enter the transmission and can interfere with reception Many of the digital modes are quite deafening in their tonal quality so this audio connection method does not suit operations at night in an environment where such noises would disturb people Even family members would find such tones disturbing Note that any additional noises that normally come through the computer sound card should be disabled prior to using this technique The ding tone of new email arriving would interfere with a digital transmission and any sound effects would also be inappropriate to appear on air 91 Z e 42 9 7 2 Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Tra
160. n order to become a member of MARS but MARS members who are familiar with Morse code may use it on appropriate MARS nets 9 2 Analog Digital or Fuzzy When talking of human readability of the signals we are talking of either the audio output of the radio through a loudspeaker or the output on a printer or LCD display which the human can examine and attempt to interpret There are three mode types analog digital and fuzzy Modes used to transmit voice such as FM and SSB and graphics modes such as TV SSTV and facsimile are analog in nature Analog modes are human readable The operator simply listens to the voice or views the picture and makes sense of what is being communicated Transmissions of text and data are digital and typically need a computer program and sound card or a TNC to generate them e g RTTY PSK31 MFSK MFSK16 MT63 Digital modes are not typically human readable they require a computer to decode them into a form that can be recognized by a human Although old operators of RTTY will instantly recognize the RYRYRY tone and some may be able to decode more but in general digital modes are not human readable A third class of modes is fuzzy This is a blend of coding and or machine generation that describes human readable text and sounds Examples of fuzzy modes are Morse code and Hellscheiber While Morse code is digital in the sense of being keyed on and off the timing is completely analog in nature so that when hea
161. nd will not be used as such on MARS circuits When a station calls for a radio check the assumption is that simply responding with a ROGER as in e g AFA7BB THIS IS NCS THIS IS AFA7BB ROGI RADIO CHECK OVER R OVER GI THIS IS NCS WEAK W TH INTERFERENCE OUT 33 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System pde Training Manua 4 Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD This means that AFA7BB is responding with LOUD CLEAR He does not need to say LOUD CLEAR the response of ROGER automatically indicates that the transmission was heard LOUD CLEAR Only when the response is different e g LOUD DISTORTED or WEAK READABLE or some other combination other than LOUD CLEAR do the actual words need to be said Note that there is nothing inherently wrong with stating LOUD CLEAR but it is more efficient to simply ROGER the request if you believe the signal strength and readability to be LOUD CLEAR Efficiency is the hallmark of MARS communication so becoming efficient while following correct procedure is the best approach Note that as a courtesy the NCS station in the above also gave his report of the signal strength and readability of the station who called him as a two way report is far more beneficial and informative to all stations on the net than a one way report 4 8 Assessment Answer these questions and
162. nefficient Form is not approved as a means of quickly getting a Roll Call Radio Check done on the net After the fact that it is a roll call has been announced calling each station with just their call sign is sufficient for the responses Preferred Efficient Form When all stations know their check in order in the net roster the NCS may adopt a far more efficient means of doing a Roll Call Radio Check provided most stations on the net can hear each other calling This method does not work well in extremely poor propagation conditions The NCS will make a call to the net call sign ending with the proword OVER A response from all net stations is required in net order 1 2 THIS IS NCS RADIO CHECK OVER All net stations hear NCS loud and clear except BBB and DDD The replies of each station in net roster order are THIS IS AAA ROGER OVER THIS IS BBB WEAK WITH INTERFERENCE OVER THIS IS CCC ROGER OVER THIS IS DDD GOOD READABLE OVER The NCS indicates his reception of each of the net stations was loud and clear by replying A1C2 THIS IS NCS ROGER OUT If all stations were not loud and clear for the NCS for example BBB who was weak and distorted and CCC who was not heard the NCS would transmit 1 2 THIS IS NCS ROGER BBB WEAK AND DISTORTED CCC NOTHING HEARD OUT
163. ng each chapter On completion of each assessment you should submit your answers to your mentor or training officer for review Passing score is 100 and you may use any resource available to you Your mentor s job is to ensure your understanding of the material and any wrong answer will be returned to you to make correct The number of questions listed in this training manual is a small sample subset to promote discussion and understanding Your mentor or training officer may well ask you to answer additional questions and he or she is encouraged to do so to ensure that you have a solid understanding of what is required to be a successful MARS operator To actively participate in MARS your transceiver should be able to transmit and receive through the entire 2 30 MHz range and your antenna system should be capable of working efficiently on all your region frequencies Contact your mentor or MARS training officer if you have difficulty with these tasks 1 How many hours of participation are required per calendar quarter to maintain membership in MARS What are the frequency stability requirements of HF radios for use in MARS Are stations required to be digital capable or is this optional What is the maximum time you have to complete the training If you going to be inactive for a period of time who do you notify about this period of inactivity 14 Z e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt
164. nt to allow the audio from the telephone circuit to be switched to the transmitter and the audio from the receiver to be switched to the telephone circuit Such Phone Patch equipment should isolate the telephone circuit from the transceiver electronics and should allow coupling without background room noises being added to the transmitted signal or to the signal going to the telephone circuit d The willingness to dedicate time in excess of the minimum MARS activity requirements Phone Patch Discussions Discussion of classified information during a MARS phone patch is not authorized MARS operators are not expected to determine the classified nature of phone patch conversations and shall not terminate patches when suspected violations occur The operator should bring the information to the attention of the NCS To preclude occurrences of this nature the initiating and receiving parties shall be briefed on the insecurity of AF MARS phone patch circuits by the phone patch operator prior to the patch being initiated Further Details Further details on the Phone Patch Network are available in section 9 0 of the MOI of February 2013 36 e e Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 5 3 Mission Support Net MSN 5 3 1 5 3 2 a b 5 3 3 Mission Support Net Purpose As mentioned in section 10 0 of the MOI of February 2013 the main mission of MARS is to
165. ntenna feed point impedance does not directly match the intrinsic impedance of the ladder line Adjusting the length of the transmission line will sometimes provide significant changes of impedance to permit a difficult to tune frequency to become tunable 11 2 Ladder Line Ladder line has extremely low loss at extremely high SWR In MARS the chances are that you will be unable to construct antennas for each of the frequencies so you will be operating off frequency to such a severe extent that the SWR on the transmission line will be high In these circumstances Coax as a transmission line fails miserably and suffers extremely high losses with high SWR on the line Ladder line whether window or open is much better in this regard Window line as comes supplied with the Cobra commercial antennas does change impedance when wet so you need to retune the antenna differently in wet conditions to when used in dry The way to prevent this being a problem is to list all the tuning measurements when wet and then list all the tuning measurements when dry for various frequencies and keep them in a notebook This way if it is wet you will know approximately where to tune the ATU to get it close to a good SWR and similarly if the weather is dry you will again know where to tune the antenna A very nice online resource for wire and ladder line window type but high quality is The Wireman http www thewireman com Part 552 is great 450 Ohm window line
166. o uses less bandwidth so two or three transmissions could occur in the bandwidth of a single MARS channel Although six is mathematically possible in 3kHz bandwidth typical transceiver limitations of not transmitting in the lower 500Hz of audio and not transmitting in the upper 500Hz of audio would limit it to four sets of 500Hz signals but coupling this with the need for some spacing between sub channels of say 250Hz reduces capacity So in real terms a max of three simultaneous transmissions could with careful arrangement occur in a single MARS channel Naturally Olivia should only be used for poor propagation conditions as other modes such as MT63 give far better throughput when conditions are good Of course even when conditions are good if one is operating on emergency power and has a severely reduced transmitted power output then Olivia can be a useful way of getting the message communicated Olivia is 10096 duty cycle and requires linearity in the transmitter and amplifier Any amplifier must be operated in class A or class AB ALE ALE is an acronym for Automatic Link Establishment It can be viewed as a digital HF system rather than a digital mode as it uses several modes The ALE system provides selective calling and handshake link quality analysis and channel selection scanning and sounding Participating stations have radio equipment designed to ascertain automatically the highest quality reliability of linking together two or
167. ocedures in the Voice SOP This guide only summarizes the most common NCS functions The Voice SOP details additional possible NCS actions such as imposing SILENCE directing use of FULL and ABBREVIATED PROCEDURE etc 10 2 Terminology Used To minimize confusion this manual will use the same terms and substitutions as in the Voice SOP 1 A1B2 is a sample net designator 2 NCS is the net control station this would be substituted with the net control s actual call sign 3 FRQ1 represents a frequency designator 4 AAA BBB CCC etc represent stations on the net Note these are not abbreviated call signs Abbreviated call signs are not authorized on USAF MARS nets In actual practice these would be replaced by the appropriate call signs use e g AFA9HR AAR9XQ etc 10 3 General Operating Principles USAF MARS non automated networks are directed by USAF MARS net control stations The NCS may be assigned or drawn from net participants In the absence of the assigned NCS or ANCS any member present may open and operate the scheduled network Sustained emergency communications operations will require a large pool of operators qualified and ready to assist in 110 N Z e e 10 3 1 10 3 2 10 3 3 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD maintaining continuous networks As such all USAF MARS members are required to understand basic NCS functions and b
168. oftware has a difficulty 105 N Z e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD in showing the macron character it is Shown as BT Using correctly formed Morse prosigns is a very important part of correctly sending CW by soundcard Learn the characters that represent the single character prosigns you need If you have a message that you have previously saved from another digital mode you will need to change some letters to become the corresponding prosign prior to transmission on a predominantly manual human keying and human decoding CW net Clearly some prosigns such as FM and TO are simply sent as two separate characters as these do not have macrons above them in the telegraphy manual and do not need to be changed for sending a message via CW Although cancelled on 12 March 2004 because no military services currently use CW other than MARS the best reference for CW transmission on MARS remains the cancelled ACP 124 D document Communications Instructions Radio Telegraph Procedure dated October 1983 See http jcs dtic mil j6 cceb acps acp124 ACP124D pdf The following table gives a list of Prosigns for CW usage PROSIGN MEANING AA Unknown station AA All After AB All Before AR End of transmission OUT in speech AS Wait B More to follow BT Break Transmission C Correct or correction DE From THIS
169. oice D designating digital and CW modes and denotes the net number Note that S is for SSB voice and is the mode designator used regardless of the net being on USB or LSB Most MARS nets are on USB and all USAF MARS nets are on USB EXAMPLES NEADS1 Northeast Division Administrative SSB Voice Net 1 NETSS1 Northeast Division Technical Services SSB Voice Net 1 NETGS1 Northeast Division SSB Voice Training Net 1 NETGS2 Northeast Division SSB Voice Training Net 2 NWTGD1 Northwest Division Digital Training Net 1 SCXCM1 South Central Multi Mode Exercise Net 1 SCECM1 South Central Multi Mode ECOM Net 1 Region Nets Network Call Signs for Region nets are of the format lt R gt lt TT gt lt m gt lt gt where R denotes the Region 1 through 0 TT denotes the net type AD for Administrative Nets EC for ECOM Net TG for Training Net TS for Technical Service Net or XC for exercise Net m denotes the mode S for SSB M for Mixed D for Digital for FM and denotes the net number Note that S is for SSB and not USB as per the MOI Note that F for FM is not called out in the MOI of January 2012 and should be fixed there EXAMPLES 4ADS1 Region Four SSB Voice Administrative Net 41 4TGS1 Region Four SSB Voice Training Net 1 4TGM1 Region Four Multi Mode Training Net 41 6ADS1 Region Six SSB Voice Administrative Net 1 61551 Region Six SSB Voice Technical Services Net 1 6TG
170. ome judgment calls when confronted by some of these restrictions Once a message is introduced into the system no station may refuse the traffic on the basis of the above restrictions If you receive a message that you believe should not have gotten into the system do not deliver it but turn it over the HQ USAF MARS and state your reason for non delivery In the case of an original death notice Headquarters would probably turn it over to proper channels i e Red Cross Clergyman etc ARRL Numbered Radiograms The American Radio Relay League ARRL provides a list of pre written texts to fit many occasions including emergencies USAF MARS encourages the use of these canned messages even in messages that are not to be refiled In the text of your MARS message use ARL note just these three letters and not ARRL and the number spelled out NOT figures e g ARL FIFTY FOUR sent as three groups In delivery to a third party that must be converted back to plain language In this case Many thanks for your good wishes See www arrl org fsd 3 arrl numbered radiograms for a list of ARRL Numbered Messages Assigning Precedence There are four levels of precedence available ROUTINE PRIORITY IMMEDIATE and FLASH These are listed from lowest to highest precedence There used to be an additional lower level used only in MARS circuits called MARSGRAM but that is no longer used and full adherence to ACP standards is currently observed MARS membe
171. on must have NCS permission to transmit Record traffic may only be passed when the net is in directed net status After all traffic training and net business has been handled the NCS may put the net into Free Net status if Free Net is authorized by transmitting e g 1 2 THIS IS NCS THE NET IS FREE OUT Free Net means stations may contact each other directly without prior permission of NCS A station may exchange informal comments with another station with the following limitations 1 All comments must in some way relate to MARS business or the mission of MARS 2 Comments need to be brief consistent with clarity 3 Stations must pause between turnovers in transmission to allow for another station to break in 4 NCS may interrupt an exchange at any time and stop the exchange by calling a directed net The NCS may return the net to directed status by transmitting e g 1 2 THIS IS NCS THIS IS A DIRECTED NET OUT or by making a net call e g 1 2 THIS IS NCS OVER Remember that any net call by the NCS automatically brings the net from Free Status to Directed Status 10 8 Abbreviated Call Signs Abbreviated call signs are not authorized on USAF MARS nets 10 9 Alternate Net Control Station ANCS It is often expedient to have an Alternate Net Control station ANCS assigned in advance or for NCS to designate an
172. on of normalcy ACTUAL EVENT or MARS EXERCISE 72 Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD A 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System in Training Manua e 4 Say one the other not both BREAK OVER 8 4 5 Sample EEI Message Exercise DE AFA3DK NR 001 R 1017307 JAN 2007 FM DAN M KIRBY AFA7DK MO TO AFN2EC NY INFO AFDAEC SC AFESEC WI AFF7MO MO BT MARS EXERCISE SUBJ EEI REPORT REF EVENT IDENTIFIER TALL WATER INCIDENT LOCATION TIME Cedar County Missouri EMERGENCY MEDICAL Not affected LOCAL TRANSPORTATION FLOODING ON MANY SECONDARY ROADS GENERAL DAMAGE DESCRIPTION Flooding of low areas UTILITY STATUS NOT AFFECTED COMMUNICATIONS STATUS NOT AFFECTED SOURCE OF INFO Cedar County Sheriff remarks RAIN EXPECTED FOR SEVERAL HOURS ROADS EXPECTED TO GET WORSE POTENTIAL FOR CLOSING OF MANY SECONDARY ROADS LATER TODAY MARS EXERCISE BT NNNN Ommoouoomn ncu NOTE Precedence for Actual EEI will be Priority or Immediate Precedence for Exercise EEI will always be Routine MARS Exercise Reports should be sent via digital if available to AFN2EC NY If digital is not available the report may be sent by voice to a digital capable station that will place it into the digital system DO NOT SEND EXERCISE MESSAGES VIA EMAIL UNLESS YOU ARE INSTRUCTED TO DO SO BY THE CHIEF USAF MARS OR THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY COORDINATOR AFN2EC 73 A Z 4 8 4 6 Military Auxiliary Radio Sys
173. ords WAIT and WAIT OUT If it is necessary to pause during a transmission for any reason the prowords WAIT or WAIT OUT will be used The proword WAIT is used when the pause required will last for only few seconds WAIT OUT is used when the pause requires more time The time period associated with the use of WAIT OUT should be as short as possible so network operations are not delayed Although the proword WATT OUT ends with OUT the communication between these two stations is not yet complete therefore no other station will transmit during this pause unless they have emergency traffic or traffic of a higher precedence than that being handled The Proword ROGER The proword ROGER signifies only that you understand the information transmitted to you without indicating approval or disapproval 25 XZ 429 3 4 5 3 4 6 3 4 7 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD The Proword WILCO The proword WILL COMPLY or its contraction WILCO may be used interchangeably It is used in response to a request or tasking and means that you understand the tasking thus no need to use in conjunction with the proword ROGER and agree to accomplish the task The Proword BREAK The proword BREAK has two purposes e Used in the transmission of messages signify the breakpoints between the message heading and the text of the
174. ortant that all stations either copy the net roster at the beginning of the net or if they checked in late at a minimum record their position in the net roster by noting the station they follow as indicated by the NCS It is not typically necessary for the NCS to transmit the entire net roster during the net but this may be done so if deemed appropriate by the NCS by using an abbreviated plaindress format message This may be deemed necessary if transferring control of the net to another NCS Use of Voice Color for Station Identification A station will NOT be checked in by the NCS recognizing the station by voice color alone If the NCS cannot discern the call sign then the NCS should call that station again when conditions may be better if another station on the net cannot relay the station in Clearly a knowledgeable operator may enter in the log notes unknown station sounded similar to AFA lt nn gt and attempt to call that station later as UNKOWN STATION THIS IS NCS OVER Validating not recognizing by voice color is essential in times of enemy activity Suppose a well known station possibly an area director call sign checks in e g AFA6 lt dd gt and is heard by the NCS as LOUD CLEAR then the NCS would write AFA lt dd gt the log but if the NCS hears the stations voice with a completely different voice color to the anticipated accent e g suppose a Texan accent is known of the station but the s
175. other station for a Radio Check by transmitting e g AAA THIS IS BBB RAD CHECK OVER AAA hears BBB loud and clear and replies BBB THIS IS AAA ROGI ER OUT 122 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Note LOUD CLEAR is not verbalized in the example It is assumed the signal report is Loud and Clear Note Do not include phrases such as 1 have you You are Your signal is etc These words are unnecessary and slow down net communications when there are many stations on the net Additionally there is no signal strength term Fair Only those listed in table 10 14 2 Making a Roll Call and or Radio Check The NCS will announce that a Roll Call will follow and then can proceed in different ways A1C2 THIS IS NCS ROLL CALL RADIO CHECK FOLLOWS IN TWO MINUTES The significance of the words ROLL CALL is that this is when the NCS is checking for logging and administrative purposes stations to be allocated certain time criteria Although any Radio Check could be used for the same purpose So the words ROLL CALL are actually superfluous and have simply been historically as a means of mustering more attention in net members Roll Call is really a group radio check so that all members on a net are given a radio check The NCS
176. ow why is this discussion of bandwidth important Let s consider a simple case first Suppose you have a MARS frequency and the USB dial is specified as 3200 0kHz This is not currently a MARS frequency just using it as an example because the numbers avoid too much mental arithmetic and are easy to understand If you wish to transmit CW you must put the transmitted signal into the center of the 3 0kHz channel allocation This center would be 1 5kHz up from the USB dial frequency viz 3201 5kHz This is shown in Figure 1 Frequency Allocation and USB dial frequency It will be noted that the USB dial frequency is below the allocated frequency and the LSB dial frequency is above the allocated frequency Note that on 3200 0kHz 3201 5KHz 3203 0kHz 1 5kHz gt lt 1 5kHz 3 0kHz USB Allocated LSB dial frequency dial USAF MARS circuits USB is the normal mode of operation So on switching your rig to CW you would select a frequency of 3201 5kHz Now if you are using a sound card to generate CW not by direct rig control but rather by using USB and injecting an audio tone then the rig dial frequency will be at 3200 0kHz and the audio tone must be at 1 500Hz in order for the CW transmission to appear at the center of the allocated channel bandwidth True CW direct carrier switching has very few RF artifacts Audio tone generated CW can have suppressed sideband and carrier leakage as w
177. pear that there are some redundancies in the above especially when one considers that this will be included in the body of a plaindress message where the sending station is already known However when the message to be transmitted is not coming from the MARS operator themselves but is coming from a third party then the above format loses its redundancy and the reason for the additional elements becomes clear Example Plaindress Message SPOT report filed by a MARS station The following text shows a full plaindress message filed on a traffic net for a SPOT report This example is derived from the National ECOM Manual DE AFA2UJ NR 202 FR AFA2UJ TO AFN2EC BT MARS EXERCISE or ACTUAL EVENT 1 AFA2UJ 2 SYRACUSE NY 3 NES1 4 1316007 JUNE 2013 5 DAMAGE REPORT 6 POWER OUT CITY OF SYRACUSE 7 AFA2UJ 8 NES1 9 MARS 1316007 JUNE 2013 10 POWER OUT FOR 2 WEEKS MARS EXERCISE or ACTUAL NNNN EV ENT DAMAGE 1316002 JUNE 2013 change precedence to or O if ACTUAL EVENT BY LARGE EARTHQUAKE 66 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Example Plaindress Message SPOT report originated via a third party In this example it will be seen that the message han
178. ply Because the sound from the computer soundcard is connected through to the radio again any auxiliary tones that you have on your computer should be switched off prior to using this type of interface The advantage of a direct connection is that the digital mode can be run in a completely silent manner with no sounds warbling around the house or the hospital late at night This makes digital operation much more discrete One issue with computer soundcard usage is that of an old Windows operating system bug with regard to soundcards that makes the transmit tone at the wrong frequency Typically in the software you will need to RX frequency offset at O ppm but you will need to adjust the TX frequency offset to 7 000 ppm note the minus sign in front of the number that is very significant Often first time users of digital modes state that they can decode all the other stations but the other stations can t decode them Frequently it is this TX offset adjustment that needs to be done to correct the situation This adjustment is only required for Windows operating system computers as the sound card bug is part of the Windows system only and does not affect Mac OS X and Linux based systems Running other programs and rebooting your computer may reset your sound card parameters You may find that you have to readjust your card the next time you need to use it for communications This is another limitation of using a computer soundcard Dire
179. ppropriate prowords for this usage such as combinations of WORDS BEFORE WORDS AFTER ALL BEFORE ALL AFTER in order to precisely narrow down the relevant section Breaking the Net A station may interrupt the current flow of communications on a net if he or she has a communication of higher precedence which must be conveyed as quickly as possible Such communications includes a record traffic of a higher precedence than the traffic being passed b non record traffic communication for one or more stations that is urgent time sensitive and may impact the safety of persons or property 120 N Z e 10 14 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD The station wishing to break the net should wait for the next natural pause in the communication currently taking place preferably waiting for the end of that communication The content of the breaking station s communication should be the determining factor for establishing urgency not simply that the station has for example a PRIORITY precedence message and a ROUTINE message is currently being sent Breaking the net is a rare event Normally waiting a minute or two is not going to make a difference If the breaking station knows the current communication is lengthy or several messages are going to be sent then interrupting may be necessary EXAMPLE When a station has determined it is essential to break the net he or
180. process is explained in Chapter 7 16 7 2 4 3 Military Auxiliary Radio System U SS Ar Force Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD DIVISION REGION STATES IN USAF REGION STATES IN FEMA REGION I 1 CT MA ME NH RI VT As USAF North East 1 2 As USAF plus PR and USVI Ill 3 DE MD Including DC PA VA As USAF AL FL Including PR and USVI GA KY South East IV 4 As USAF minus PR and USVI MS NC SC TN V 5 IL IN MI MN OH WI As USAF North VII gt 7 IA KS NE As USAF south VI 6 AR LA NM OK TX As USAF Central VIII 8 CO MT ND SD WY UT As USAF North West x 0 AK ID OR WA As USAF AZ CA NV HI Guam and Pacific South West IX 9 Islands As USAF Table 1 USAF Divisions and Regions by State comparing FEMA Regions It will be noted that MARS regions and FEMA regions are completely in alignment except for regions 2 and 4 For reasons of easier radio propagation Puerto Rico and the U S Virgin Islands were moved from FEMA Region 2 to USAF MARS Region 4 Other than that one change the regions are completely in alignment with FEMA Regions as outlined in http www fema gov regional operations It will be noted that two THREE USAF MARS divisions consist only of a single region namely Region 4 IS South East division Region 6 is South Central division and Region 9 is South West division
181. properly transmit the signal If amplifying the signal the amplifier must necessarily be operating inefficiently as with voice in class A or class AB It is not possible to use class C amplification with this mode For typical MARS usage with a single transmitting station per channel amplification to get the signal through is fine However if advanced channel usage is being practiced with multiple TX stations per channel then amplification should not be done because one strong signal will deafen the receiver to other simultaneous signals that are occurring on the channel QPSK 31 QPSK 31 is the FEC version of BPSK 31 and is often overlooked even though it demonstrates to be significantly superior to BPSK 31 Binary PSK transmits one bit at a time using one of two possible phase states Quaternary or Quadrature PSK sends two bits at a time using one of four possible phase states Alternatively you can think of QPSK as sending a second BPSK signal that is 90 out of phase with the original BPSK signal Both QPSK and BPSK send the same number of phase transitions per second so 5 can send twice as many bits as BPSK Peter Martinez used this extra capacity to include a rate 1 2 constraint length 5 convolutional code to improve its efficiency Rate 1 2 means a code that takes as long as the original transmission to send A high degree of interleave and Viterbi decoding is used such that there are 32 opportunities to correctly receive any 5
182. provide contingency radio communications support to the DoD Components and to support civil authorities in fulfillment of DoD responsibilities under DoDI 4650 02 and DoDD 5111 13 For purposes of this section the term MSN User s is defined as any U S Military Active duty Reserve National Guard Units SHARES or other authorized civilian Government agency station s Mission Support Net is a Closed Net In order to more closely align AF MARS capabilities with the expanded MARS mission reflected DoD Instruction DoDI 4650 02 the Mission Support Network MSN was established on 10 December 2010 and operates as a closed special purpose communications net MSN Operations are 24x7 on designated calling and working frequencies and is a closed net The MSN Administrative Net on a specific frequency and at a specified time is the only MSN net open to any AF MARS Auxiliary station except T to check in for the duration of that net As with the AF MARS Phone Patch Net and the TRANSCON Space Support Net that preceded the Mission Support Network the MSN is a closed net requiring specific assignment by AF Form 3661 action If you are interested in receiving assignment to the Mission Support Net the MSN Administrative Net can give you a feel for what happens during an MSN Net If you wish to join the MSN team you will need to apply to your SMD and your SMD will need to recommend you to the National Mission Support Network Manager for that as
183. re is Not the same as Abbreviated Call Signs Caution Do not confuse abbreviated procedure with abbreviated call signs Abbreviated call signs such as AA for AFA1AA are not authorized in USAF MARS 4 7 Signal Strengths The signal strength system used in MARS is different to that used in typical ham radio communications The details are outlined in 10 14 1 but the background shall be explained here In typical radio usage a Circuit Merit system was devised by HF radiotelephone professionals to better quantify the average quality of a voice signal In telecomm engineering specifications the letters CM voiced as Charlie Mike are followed by a figure from O to 5 to indicate the quality of the voice However in EmCom ICS incident Command System environments the stress is made on the use of plain language So in the amateur EmCom community in addition providing signal reports the use is made of the plain language equivalents of Circuit Merit as used in aeronautical 31 N Z e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD military and maritime HF practice This is discussed here purely so that you understand the differences between CM and the system that is used in MARS and can operate on both MARS are other circuits and translate appropriately CM PLAIN LANGUAGE DESCRIPTION No noise full quieting FM Rare on SSB unless conditions are sup
184. ring dit dah at slightly different pitches one could assume any of ET or A sent by one operator with variation in TX stability E by one operator followed by T by another operator with both transmitting at the same speed T by one fast operator followed by T of a slow operator E by one operator followed by E of a very slow operator or T by one operator followed by E of a very slow operator Human sent Morse code 77 v e 42 Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD is notoriously difficult for machines to decipher because the timing of the dots and dashes does not follow a precise notion unless the operator has extremely perfect keying and it is why during the World War Il it was possible for people to recognize an individual s fist when transmitting certain pieces of text owing to natural variations in rhythm for that person Similarly in Hellschreiber although a text mode where the individual letters are sent by computer and subsequently received as an image the image is not decoded by computer but rather decoded by the human operator who views the image Noise in the image is filtered by the human eye brain combination in the sense of Hellschreiber in a similar way to the way it is filtered by the ear brain combination when listening to audio of Morse code 9 3 Historical Background Reliability security and speed are the three fundamentals of milit
185. rm may be used If there is any intermediate relay station involved the DATE TIME group must be used in case that message needs to be identified at a 44 v e 42 6 2 1 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD later time The date time group and the call sign of the originating station are always used to identify a message The message number precedence and group count may be eliminated if the message is between MARS stations and this elimination causes no confusion Third party health and welfare messages will not be abbreviated Important Reminder Once a MARS message has been introduced into the system the operator at the originating station is responsible for the content of the message and nothing following the Beginning Procedure may be changed in the message by any relaying station or operator If a mistake is apparent this may be pointed out in an Operators Note in the ending section If an operator s note is added to the original message it should remain with the message until delivery to the addressee 6 3 Sample Message 6 3 1 6 3 2 Voice Format for message sent on a traffic net Beginning Procedure THIS IS AFA3BB NUMBER ZERO ZERO ONE Preamble ROUTINE TIME ZERO FOUR ONE NINER THREE WUN NINER NINER FIVE Address FROM SGT VILLIAM SMITH 4TH INFANTRY BTN BET SILL OK 73503 AFAAXX OK TO MR amp MRS JOSEPH SMITH 11512 S STATE DRIVE CHICA
186. rrently assigned 3 kHz voice and 3 kHz data channel bandwidths HF radio equipment should be capable of transmitting and receiving data modes up to 3 kHz in bandwidth For VHF operations only narrowband transmissions are permitted Bandwidth shall not exceed 11 kHz 12 5 Surplus Equipment New members become eligible to request surplus equipment 6 months after completing training if at least minimum participation requirements have been met Information about availability and procedure for requesting surplus equipment is available through your SMD The state administrative net is the ideal place to get this information 12 6 Return Address for MARS Correspondence Mailed messages and MARS correspondence should carry the return address of HQ MARS 38 CYRS SCM MARS Your Call sign State 203 W LOSEY ST ROOM 1200 SCOTT AFB IL 62225 5222 NOTE The office symbol changes from time to time Watch for announcements in the MARS BROADCASTS 12 7 Drill Messages The Drill Messages that you will send to complete training are simply messages in plain dress format These messages can be an actual message to another MARS member or a third party Actual messages will be relayed on through the system for delivery In most cases the training message will be a factitious message in which case the word DRILL must appear as the FIRST and LAST word of the text Both words Drill are counted in the Group Count The purpose of the drill message is
187. rs allow USAF MARS operators to indicate specific frequencies without divulging the exact numerical 137 N Z e e 12 13 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD frequency to any third party that might be monitoring the radio transmissions Frequency Designators are always given in phonetics e g FREQUENCY ROMEO HOTEL for frequency RH In short never give numerical MARS frequencies over the air The frequency designators and exact numerical frequencies are contained in the USAF MARS Frequency Matrix available through your State MARS Director or your Training Director In addition to never giving numerical MARS frequencies over the air frequency designators and their corresponding numerical frequencies should never be transmitted together over the air via unencrypted voice or digital modes under any circumstance This will help ensure operational security OPSEC and communications security COMSEC in support of exercise or operational requirements This also applies to other Service MARS frequencies and designators The importance of OPSEC COMSEC should be emphasized as part of the training curriculum for all new AF MARS members Security A word needs to be said about security Once you have become a MARS member you are technically an associate of the military There are various terrorist organizations and bad individuals that wish to do harm to the country OR
188. rs will not originate FLASH messages MARS members will not normally originate IMMEDIATE IMMEDIATE may be available to some officials during emergencies covering a very widespread area that will necessitate special assistance such as activating the National Guard e g widespread rioting across many cities however MARS Members may relay and or deliver these messages FLASH messages will never be passed on MARS circuits Most messages originated by MARS Members will be ROUTINE with PRIORITY being reserved for messages with a definite time factor or an ACTUAL EVENT EEI message For example a flight arrival or a deadline to be met should always be passed as a PRIORITY precedence message PRIORITY does not mean that the text of a message is more important than ROUTINE but only that this message should be handled ahead of Routine because of the time factor It should be noted that Army MARS no longer relays messages with IMMEDIATE precedence as the relay service is no longer subscribed to by other agencies 55 N 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System U S Air Force Training Manual Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 7 5 2 1 Time Objective Message originators do not normally select the means of communication to be used This is a function of the communication service throughout the entire route of the message Nevertheless message originators should realize that various factors could singly or collectively add to the tim
189. s 84 N Z Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Forward Error Correction FEC sends all data twice with an interleaving technique to reduce errors from impulse noise and static crashes Because this mode used varicode both lowercase and uppercase characters may be sent in fact the full extended ASCII character set This also makes it possible to transfer short data files between stations under fair to good conditions The varicode used in MFSK16 is not the same as that used in BPSK 31 although the techniques are similar The mode has good immunity to multi path phase shift For several years the TRANSCON digital network used MFSK16 as the primary mode to revert to if all else fails The mode requires accurate tuning and frequency stable transmitters A second version called MFSK8 7 8125 baud 32 FSK tones at 7 8125Hz spacing is available with a lower baud rate but greater reliability for transpolar communications when polar phase shift is a major problem This second version requires even more accurate tuning and greater frequency stability All MARS NTIA compliant transceivers should not have any difficulties with the frequency stability requirements of either of these MFSK versions Mode Symbol Rate Typing Speed FSK Tones Bandwidth Lowest S N average paris speed MFSK8 7 8125 baud 26 wpm 36 wpm 32 316Hz 15 5dB MFSK16 15 625 baud 42 wpm
190. s mode has a 10096 duty cycle but as the carriers are either on or off may be efficiently transmitted through a class C amplifier Linearity is not required Packet Radio This mode uses an Amateur Radio modification of the international X 25 protocol for land line packet switching known as AX 25 protocol The message is broken into packets which contain an address header the data and a checksum The receiving packet station computes the checksum of the received packet and compares it to the checksum sent by the transmitting station If they agree the packet is acknowledged ACK to the sending station who then sends the next packet 81 N Z e e 9 5 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Otherwise the receiving station sends a negative acknowledgment NAK and the sending packet station re sends the packet until an acknowledgment is received This mode requires a high signal to noise ratios for a good throughput It works well over a VHF FM channel at a signaling rate of 1200 or even 9600 baud Speeds of 300 baud can be used on an HF channel but experience over the last 20 years in MARS suggests that this mode be used only when none of the more robust HF modes are available AMTOR Amateur Teletype Over Radio This is the amateur radio implementation of the commercial SITOR mode by G3PLX It uses a 7 level Murray code and actually has two modes Mode A or ARQ
191. s station and the stations on the net Because of this fact it is unwise to change the NCS frequently during the net one or two changes during a one hour net would normally suffice Assuming CCC is NCS and wishes to transfer control to AAA AAA THIS IS CCC ASSUME CONTROL OVER CCC THIS IS AAA WILCO OUT AAA is now NCS AAA will immediately make a call up of stations on the net 1 2 THIS IS AAA OVER This notifies the net that AAA has assumed control puts the net in directed status and authorizes stations to check in or otherwise contact AAA who is the new NCS Variations could include some instruction from NCS to AAA such as AAA THIS S CCC ASSUME CONTROL FOR 10 MINUTES OVER or AAA THIS IS ASSUME CONTROL UNTIL state a time OVER 118 Z 10 11 10 12 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD When CCC returns and wishes to resume control CCC will at a call up or on a free net transmit AAA THIS IS CCC I ASSUME CONTROL OVER At this point AAA will acknowledge CCC and notify CCC of any changes in net status new traffic listings traffic passed and stations that checked in or closed down while AAA was net control CCC will acknowledge this information then make a call up It is never acceptable for CCC to tell AA
192. sa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Network Call Signs Networks are assigned distinctive call signs or net designators which identify the geographic coverage type of net and the mode of communication NOTE All USAF MARS high frequency voice nets operate on upper sideband 2 5 3 1 Transcon amp National Nets Net Call Sign Description Mode TRANSCON TRANSCON National Voice Net USB TDN TRANSCON Keyboard to Keyboard Sound Card Digital Modes Digital Usually MFSK16 TRANSCON Multi TRANSCON Multi Mode Net Net opens in USB and may switch Mode Net to MT63 or other digital modes TCN TRANSCON CW Telegraphy Net CW net open to all ALE TRANSCON Automatic Link Restricted Net only open to Establishment ALE Net members with ALE identifier Primary mode Data digital conforming to MIL STD 188 141 secondary mode SSB PPN Phone Patch Net Restricted Net only open to specially approved members MSN Mission Support Net Restricted Net only open to specially approved members Table 3 National Nets Note that the Mission Support Net MSN is a restricted net that replaces the previous TRANSCON Space Support Net Asa restricted net the MSN only allows registered members to sign in to the net Registered members must have Mission Support Net listed as either a Primary Net or a Secondary Net on their AF 3661 form in order to participate During regular net operations there
193. signment It should be noted that the assignment can become either as a primary assignment on the AF Form 3661 or asa secondary assignment on the AF Form 3661 it is the individual applicant members choice Note that if you choose to have this net as your primary net then the minimum number of hours for MARS participation as 9 hours on your primary net will have to be met with participation on MSN nets During regular net operations there is strictly no check ins permitted of non members to the net If you are not a registered member do not attempt to check in Further Details For more details on requirements for the Mission Support Net please refer to section 10 0 of the MOI of February 2013 37 e e Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 5 4 Directed Nets 5 4 1 All USAF MARS nets are directed by a Net Control Station NCS You will be able to identify the purpose for a net the call sign of the NCS and the mode of transmission by the Collective Call being used e g NCS1 THIS IS AFA3AA OVER North Central Division Traffic Net 3TGS1 THIS IS AFF3TO OVER Region 3 Training net 3ADS1 THIS IS AFN3RD OVER Region 3 Administrative net 31LS1 THIS IS AFF3IL OVER Illinois Admin net 3KSF1 THIS IS AFA3IU OVER Kansas VHF Net on FM Voice How to Check In It is essential that every st
194. sistance to the affected area 69 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD D GENERAL DAMAGE DESCRIPTION General description of damage or impact on Major structures such as Government buildings schools residences commercial properties public facilities Fire stations etc Include location of shelters if applicable E UTILITY STATUS Gas Water Commercial Power Sanitation Systems Operational Damaged Destroyed Needed F COMMUNICATIONS STATUS Telephone Radio Cellular Phone Operational Damaged Unavailable G SOURCE OF INFO Indicate Source of Information if different from originator of the message Include MARS Call sign Name of Official and Agency Radio TV Call sign or Network as applicable H REMARKS Include comments about expected changes in status of any of the above items such as power companies expect power to be cut for specify estimated time If applicable include expected time of next report MARS EXERCISE or ACTUAL EVENT Same as beginning BT NNNN You can take this message to TRANSCON Voice net or you can take this message to TRANSCON Radio Relay TRR net for digital traffic or you can send it to a Digital Representative on your Division voice net who can relay it to one of the digital systems Keep your descriptions brief and use NOT AFFECTED if a category is Not applicable or Not Affected don
195. smission from AFN3TD ends with the proword OUT AFA1AA needs make no response to AFN3TD Having heard the directions of the NCS the sending station calls the receiving station e g AFA7BB THIS IS AFA1AA ONE PRIORITY OVER Assuming AFA2BB copies AFA1AA well he sends e g AFAIAA THIS IS AFA7BB OVER If AFA7BB does not copy well he must notify AFA1AA of the problem using correct radio check prowords e g AFAIAA THIS IS AFA7BB WEAK READABLE OVER 1 THIS IS AFA7BB UNREADABLE OVER Once communications has been established between the two stations AFA1AA proceeds to pass the traffic e g THIS IS AFA1AA MESSAGE continue with the message header and text pausing and unkeying the microphone approximately every 20 seconds to allow for a station with higher precedence traffic to break in AFA1AA ends his her transmission with the proword OVER If there are additional messages to send to this station with the proword MORE TO FOLLOW OVER Assuming AFA7BB copied the message completely and does not need repetitions he sends THIS IS AFA7BB ROGER OUT Or to accept another message 58 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD
196. submit your answers to your Training Officer or mentor and answer additional questions that may be given to you 1 What is the difference between a single call and a collective call 2 In what order should stations answer a multiple call 3 Is FAIR READABLE an appropriate signal strength and readability report for use on MARS nets Give full reasoning 34 e Z Military Auxiliary Radio System ak gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 5 NET OPERATIONS 5 1 Authorized Nets 5 1 1 5 1 2 5 1 3 Authorized nets can be broken down into three types those authorized during training those authorized after completion of training and restricted nets that are only authorized after a special appointment All nets may be monitored by any MARS member Participation in a net where you transmit depends on the type of net There is also a distinction between admin nets for administrative purposes and traffic nets used to conduct the passage of traffic trainee you will not be eligible to participate in any admin nets but are encouraged to monitor them to learn more about the structure and organization of MARS Billet call signs are often used in place of regular call signs by officials acting in official capacity during admin nets Nets Authorized While in Training Current directives allow stations in training to participate only in State Region and Division nets Once training has b
197. t write N A If you have occasion to report an actual event use the same format with the following exceptions Replace the words MARS EXERCISE with ACTUAL EVENT at both places in the text that is at both the beginning and the ending of the textual message body An actual event message must be sent by the most expedient method available Email is allowed for actual events ONLY When sending email use an email subject line of 5 P ACTUAL EVENT for priority precedence Do not send email to Army MARS they do not relay EEI reports 70 N Z e 8 4 3 Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Essential Elements of Information EEI Event Identifiers Reference US Army MARS National Emergency OPLAN 4 02 Dated 03 April 2002 Applicable to Air Force and Navy Marine Corps MARS services laud qp esse IDENTIFIER AIR CRASH me FALLEN STAR AIRBORNE POISON 5 re POISON AIR BIOLOGICAL ata enano oo eoe ihn ko nr ihi BAD BUG BOMBING INCIDENT eene nennen LOUD BANG BRIDGE DAMAGE LOSS MAJOR LOST SUPPORT CHEMICAL SPILL 5 355 ette enatis POISONED GROUND CIVIL NRESTZRIOT irte dori iei BAD MAGIC DAMAGING
198. tary Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD nets Also on check in to a net it is not required to give the location of your station other than to the nearest large metropolitan area From a propagation standpoint other members of a net only need to know where you are to within 50 miles in order for propagation predictions to be used accurately and effectively If living in a remote area identifying your location to the village in which you live will make it trivial to find out who you are owing to the small number of ham addresses to be looked up in a township of 1 000 people or less Hence don t be too geographically accurate on air just locate yourself to the nearest major metropolitan area This way it will give a monitoring station thousands of potential radio amateurs to check through on the FCC database 12 13 2 Personal Names If you use personal names during informal sessions on the nets please only use first names to make it more difficult for monitoring stations to identify who you are With a full name it is possible to look up all the radio amateurs in a city and compare names on public databases and then put two and two together to deduce which radio amateurs are MARS members their addresses etc Again this ties back into the earlier point about identifying location Only the nearest major geographical city is needed 12 14 Assessment Answer these questions and submit your
199. tation comes through with a heavy Jamaican accent and some slight mistakes in the procedural word choices atypical of what the NCS expects of the station then he would be right to add to his notes potential imposter or other description The NCS can still proceed in a professional manner but could check by phone after the net if necessary if the station was indeed on the net and also be wary of following outrageous orders E g requesting 10 000 blankets at some location that doesn t need them thereby depleting stocks for areas that do Voice color is just as important as keying style was in WWII for telegraphy operators stationed overseas People at places like GCHQ and communications facilities here in the USA knew the keying fist style of those operators so they could assess if a station had been compromised You cannot use voice color alone to identify a station in the log as if you can t identify the call sign being spoken what use is it in having the station listed in the log You would be unable to relay anything from that station However if you can recognize the station by call sign then voice color is helpful in being sure that the station is genuine So voice color can help validate a station but voice color alone is not permitted to recognize an unreadable station into a net We rarely have deliberate interference on the MARS channels unlike on some amateur HF channels but we cannot assume that will always be the case If there is an
200. tations are encouraged to practice closing networks using both methods Once the net is closed down no further NET RELATED transmissions are authorized The net frequencies are not to be used for rag chewing If there are any informal communications that need to take place between members of the net they shall take place before net closure not after net closure Reporting Net Activity It is the duty of the NCS to report the activity of his her net including a stations that checked into the net b actual time each station participated in the net c traffic handled on the net The routing of net reports varies from USAF MARS area region to area region Contact your Region or Area Records Manager for guidance as to format and routing Assessment Answer these questions and submit your answers to your Training Officer or mentor and answer additional questions that may be given to you 1 Who should maintain the net roster What is it and why does knowing order of stations increase operational net efficiency Does the ANCS need to be given the full net roster 2 Doall nets have an NCS Who can be an NCS How does an NCS open a net and close a net What steps are present in all nets For a net in your region illustrate how you would act as an NCS and make an initial net call Why is having an ANCS important to efficient operation of a net 5 When multiple messages are listed what is the order of passing of traffic Consider precedence f
201. tem ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD DE AFA3DK NR 001 P 101730Z JAN 2007 FM DAN M KIRBY AFA7DK MO TO aan3eeiQ winlink org See Notes INFO ZEN AFN2EC NY ZEN AFDAEC SC ZEN 5 NE ZEN WI ZEN AFF3XX SMD ZEN AFA3XX SEC BT ACTUAL EVENT SUBJ EEI REPORT REF EVENT IDENTIFIER TALL WATER INCIDENT LOCATION TIME CEDAR COUNTY MISSOURI EMERGENCY MEDICAL NOT AFFECTED LOCAL TRANSPORTATION FLOODING ON MANY SECONDARY ROADS GENERAL DAMAGE DESCRIPTION HEAVY RAINS HAVE CAUSED FLOODING OF LOW AREAS UTILITY STATUS NOT AFFECTED COMMUNICATION STATUS NOT AFFECTED SOURCE OF INFO Cedar County Sheriff REMARKS RAIN EXPECTED FOR SEVERAL HOURS ROADS EXPECTED TO GET WORSE POTENTIAL FOR CLOSING OF MANY SECONDARY ROADS LATER TODAY ACTUAL EVENT BT NNNN TA m gt 5 Precedence for Actual will be Priority or Immediate Precedence for Exercise will be Routine Actual EEI Reports should be sent via E MAIL if available The E MAIL subject must be IMARS P ACTUAL EEI The originating station that sends an Actual EEI Report by E Mail is responsible for sending the info copies by CC s or other means i e radio Actual EEI reports sent by digital mode in the event E MAIL is unavailable will be sent via the Winlink 2000 WL2K or AirMail system DO NOT SEND EXERCISE MESSAGES VIA EMAIL UNLESS YOU ARE INSTRUCTED TO DO SO BY THE C
202. text that needed to be transmitted was Going home maybe tomorrow see you later This phrase which contains dashes would be spoken as follows GOING HOME DELTA ALPHA SIERRA HOTEL MAYBE TOMORROW DELTA ALPHA SIERRA HOTEL SEE YOU LATER I If you are the originator of the message or can speak to the person asking you to send the message see if it is possible to replace the dashes with something simpler such as a comma as hyphen would not be appropriate in the above before introducing the message into the MARS network You can t alter the message once it is in but if you can discuss a simpler formatting 57 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 4 Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD with the requester of the message before introducing it you should do so in the interests of efficiency 7 6 Passing Traffic The NCS will direct stations to pass traffic based on the precedence of each message and the availability of addressee s or another station to relay that traffic Higher precedence traffic will normally be passed before lower precedence traffic unless stations are not available to handle the higher precedence traffic NCS will then direct the holding station on how to proceed e g 1 THIS IS AFN3TD CALL AFA7BB PASS ONE PRIORITY KANSAS OUT Note that since the tran
203. that it would be possible for a digital soundcard operator to quickly transmit CW using his favorite digital soundcard software This is indeed possible But there are some words of caution and etiquette in attempting to do so Firstly it is recommended that you should be able to copy by ear CW sent at speeds of 18 wpm before you enter any CW net unless it is specifically set up for the purposes of training in CW The capability of transmitting CW by hand at 18 wpm and receiving at slightly higher speeds is to be considered a bare minimum for participating in the TCN TRANSCON CW Net Experienced operators routinely use 24 wpm on such a net and under good conditions some operator pairs will be able go as fast as 42 wpm accurately So CW via soundcard should not be considered a way of cheating the learning to get on such a net You need to be able to understand by ear at least as fast as you are sending In manually transmitted Morse code it is often possible for people to be able to send at a faster rate than they are able to receive so using a soundcard to do the CW transmission is good provided some conditions are followed On a CW practice net using a computer to generate the CW will guarantee that the spacing of the tones used for the letters is absolutely accurate which can help learners progress more quickly Additionally it is possible in several programs Fldigi included to use Farnsworth spacing for raw beginners In Farnsworth spacing th
204. think of them all 6 What duty or role of the people with the call signs AFETEC AFF2RM AFD2RD have gt wm 23 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System do Training Manua 4 Se Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD 3 BASIC PROCEDURES 3 1 Introduction As you begin your activity in MARS there are a few basic procedures that will become evident All USAF MARS nets are directed nets i e they are directed by a net control station and set procedures will prevail Initial transmissions will contain your call sign at the beginning After the initial call between two stations call signs may be dropped note that your call sign must still always be repeated every 5 minutes unless confusion is likely to arise by so doing Administrative training and technical nets are often conducted informally Traffic nets however are always conducted formally because this reduces verbiage and makes the net more efficient in terms of traffic passage The term informal refers to the use of first names and a few more relaxed procedures that will become evident as you monitor the various nets 3 2 Formality Formality will always be maintained during the following procedures When checking into a net When initially establishing contact Both when calling a station and when answering a call When receiving a message When sending a message When answering Roll Call 3 3 Informality Informalit
205. ting station if the signal was high or low As the TX ppm alters frequencies differently throughout the audio spectrum effectively either stretching a 1 000Hz wide signal wider than it should be or squeezing it narrower than it should be testing at various audio frequencies is required 96 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD File Configure View Logbook H RxID TxID TUNE Enter Xew Freg Frea 1500 0 1848 in rr v usB st Pr toc 7 1500 4 20 4 70 P x4 4 W Norm 4 4 1500 Store ruk CW Rx18 q is h 2 0 sq Figure 7 Tuning TX at 1500Hz An alternative technique to this is to transmit an MT63 1K signal and have your colleague monitor the bandwidth edges Using guesswork one can make adjustments to the TX ppm to assist in getting things right Another technique is to record the output from the soundcard into a digital recording device and then play it back to the computer using the computers speaker This is typically a very good way of validating if your transmitted signal will be readable It is best to do this with MT63 500 as errors in frequencies make receiving this mode more difficult than with receiving MT63 1K For Windows computers only ther
206. tion are different then the call sign and location of the Originating station appears after a Slant Bar In voice procedure this is sent as SLANT at the end of the FROM section of the ADDRESS 43 N Z e 6 1 1 3 6 1 2 6 1 3 Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD The complete address of the addressee is preceded by the proword TO This address must be complete enough to make delivery a simple matter for the final MARS station in the relay chain Telephone numbers should be included in all addresses The PREFIX Now Optional in USAF MARS The Prefix is simply the Group Count which is a number that reflects the number of words or groups in the text of a message The group count is preceded by the proword GROUPS Message texts are usually kept to 25 words or less written 5 words per line on transmission and reception forms to facilitate counting Messages may also be sent without a group count In that case the proword GROUP NO COUNT will be used instead of the proword GROUPS This process should be used with judgment When the group count is eliminated a valuable check for accuracy has been lost The Text The Text is the body of the message It is the information being sent from the originator to the addressee The proword BREAK indicates separation of the text from the heading and ending BREAK appears at the beginning of the text and at the
207. tions This is how the digital format looks without the section explanations when sent on a traffic net DE AFA3BB NR 001 0419302 JUNE 2013 FM SGT WILLIAM SMITH 4TH INF BTN FT SILL OK 73503 6 OK TO MR AND MRS JOSEPH SMITH 1512 S STATE DRIVE CHICAGO IL 60691 TEL 302 921 0078 GR 16 BT ENJOYING NEW ASSIGNMENT WILL WRITE LONG LETTER EXPLAINING NEW DUTIES HOPE TO S BT OP NOTE K NNNN J I YOU SOON BILL B DO NOT ATTEMPT DELIVERY BEFORE 5 PM CHICAGO TIME 6 3 5 Digital Format without explanation of sections This is how the digital format looks without the section explanations when sent on an administrative tactical or reporting net not intended to normally be used for traffic You will note the prosign ZBO immediately follows the call In digital the prosign ZBO is equivalent to the proword MESSAGE used in voice traffic J E AFA3BB ZBO NR 001 0419302 JUNE 2013 FM SGT WILLIAM SMITH INF BTN SILL 73503 6 TO MR AND MRS JOSEPH SMITH 1512 S STATE DRIVE CHICAGO IL 60691 TEL 302 921 0078 J
208. to demonstrate your ability to send messages in the MARS format using all the correct procedures and prowords When sending Drill message use complete addresses and avoid the abbreviated format After sending the message on the air your trainer may make some suggestions and offer constructive help 12 8 Training Final Exam 136 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD After satisfactorily sending the training drill messages you will receive a 50 question final exam A score of 8596 or better is required to complete training The final exam is an open book test and is based on material found in this guide and discussed on the training nets The final exam should be completed within 10 days 12 9 Participation Time 12 10 12 11 12 12 Your time spent on the MARS Networks will be recorded and reported by various Net Managers of the respective nets On some nets the actual time you are checked in is reported and on others often you will be given a full hour for any time spent on certain administrative nets Miscellaneous time may be reported to your SMD for time spent on MARS projects or MARS business such as attendance at MARS conferences preparing net reports repeater maintenance MARS technical projects etc The Divisional Training Manager assigned to you will provide you format used to send to the SMD of your state Call Sign Change When you h
209. to the system the FROM line cannot be altered as it is a part of the message and everything including and following the precedence indicator to the second BREAK denoting end of text body cannot be altered while a message is in transit 60 N Z e Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD In practice you will see the group count eliminated and the word SERVICE or the initials SVC in place of a number While this practice is in common usage it is not the most correct method Previous training material has always advised to always count groups and use the word Service as the first word of the text to indicate the nature of the message This is one of several practices where prescribed procedure has been changed by certain operators and then the entire system slips into a practice which may be in error 7 9 Refile MARS to Amateur ES gt N um 10 11 Here are the steps to follow when you find that you must refile a message into the NTS National Traffic System on the amateur band It will help if you are familiar with the amateur message format The message number may change or stay the same The precedence will probably stay the same NOTE Precedence for Amateur messages are Emergency Priority Welfare and Routine Put your amateur call sign as the station of origin The check number will be the MARS group count less any signature In the
210. training and demonstrate your capability as an NCS before you are released from training Please note that ideally NCS training should be conducted purely on a dedicated training net if it is conducted on a regular net then an experienced ANCS should be supervising and should immediately assume control of NCS duties and relieve the trainee of both NCS and ANCS duties should urgent traffic suddenly appear on the net This is to ensure that urgent emergency traffic can be passed correctly an accurately while a trainee is still in training It is also highly recommended that members should take the following four FEMA courses 15 100 IS 200 a 15 700 and IS 800 b as a minimum set The FEMA ISP course list may be seen at http training fema gov is crslist asp page all and the courses may be taken on line Each one concludes with an open book blind test set of questions and on passing you will be given an electronic certificate in PDF form a copy of which should 12 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD be sent to your State MARS Director Your Divisional Training Manager and your State MARS Director will determine when you have successfully completed training This is to provide some flexibility to accommodate different Regions needs and individual background Divisions may augment the recommended training to accommodate divisional needs as they see fit
211. ty This means 85 N Z U S Air Force Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD Military Auxiliary Radio System Training Manual that highly efficient class C amplification may be used for MFSK Note that MFSK is 10096 duty cycle so it is not the ideal mode to choose if running on reserve battery power Although it will often get the message through in one go avoiding a repeat transmission owing to its superior signal to noise ratio at the receiving station That fact can itself conserve battery power MT63 This mode uses 64 tones and spreads the transmission of any single character over the frequency domain spectral spreading and time domain temporal spreading It is reported that the sophisticated FEC scheme used can recover from up to 25 percent obliteration of a character The emission bandwidth is either 500 1000 or 2000 Hz and is user selectable Initial settings for MT63 are typically Bandwidth 1000 Hz Non Inverted Long Interleave This is generally the default for most software packages designed for this mode of operation Tuning can be critical with older software and requires a very frequency stable transceiver on both ends In the latest software e g Fldigi no special tuning technique is required because the signal capture logic is capable of locking with 50 Hz frequency error 80 Hz and higher in the latest software Additional parallel receivers in the latest software allow for significant mis tuning
212. ur world came into common use This new mode provided 60 and 100 wpm communications speed but did not provide for any error detection or correction Operators learned to correct for garble when the Letters shift or Numbers shift character was missed during transmission Experienced operators could correct single character errors from context and knowledge of single bit errors The use of punched paper tape prior to transmission offered an opportunity to correct typing errors and enhance reliability in message relay By 1950 the academic engineers had developed communications theory to the point that error correction and detection methods were theoretically possible but were not yet practical An early attempt to put the new theories into practice was the British Piccolo system that used 78 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD multiple tones and required a bank of mechanically resonant vibrating reeds in the receiver A modern digital variation of this is the MFSK system The development of the microprocessor made the modern amateur digital communications systems technically possible the relaxation of FCC rules that inhibited the use of other than Baudot code in the amateur bands gave amateurs the go ahead to explore these exciting new possibilities Radioteletype demodulators that were used to drive mechanical teleprinters were now connected instead to the new
213. ure that your radio itself is operating at the right frequency In normal MARS communications if you are using the RIT Receiver Independent Tuning knob to make voices seem normal your radio is probably out of alignment if the dial frequency is displaying appropriately The simplest technique is to listen on 2 5MHz 5MHz 10 MHz or 15MHz to either WWV located in Fort Collins Colorado with male voice or WWVH located on the Island of Kauai Hawaii with female voice and to first double check that your radio is aligned such that you can hear the 94 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD signal at the right frequency when your radio is displaying the appropriate frequency Both WWV WWVH use double sideband amplitude modulation Secondly the transmit signal needs to be considered Although your radio may be stating e g USB dial 3366 000kHz and you are receiving perfectly on that frequency it does not necessarily mean that you are transmitting perfectly on that frequency It is easy to be off by as much as 100Hz How to check this You need the help of another MARS member but doing it by voice is tricky It is much easier to set your radio to CW mode adjust the frequency to middle of the MARS band 1 5kHz above the USB dial frequency 3367 500kHz in this example and briefly transmit a carrier Your MARS colleague can then assuming is radio is properly
214. vailable but the above offer more than sufficient coverage for most MARS usage Fldigi is the software package most recommended at the time of writing this version of the training manual and all MARS members should become familiar with its usage as it covers the most frequently needed modes and is the most up to date operating system agnostic software currently available 9 7 Equipment setup instructions 9 7 1 To utilize digital modes the computer needs to be connected to the transceiver There are several means of achieving this Acoustically coupled connection through microphone and speakers In this mode there is no physical connection between the computer and the radio The computer soundcard plays the sounds into the speaker and the transceiver microphone is keyed and used to listen to the speakers on the computer in order to transmit the audio To receive and decode a digital signal the built in microphone of the laptop computer or some external microphone listens to the sound coming out of the radio speakers Transmit and receive audio is then acoustically coupled from microphone to speaker and vice versa Of course if you do this you ll need a quiet room you ll have to operate with voice control VOX or manual transmit control PTT and you ll have to watch your levels The advantage of this manner of connecting things is that itis simple This mode can well be used in an emergency with a laptop computer The key difficulty is i
215. ved over time to serve the needs of passing messages during emergencies One system that has been in use since 1994 is the Essential Elements of Information system That system has largely been replaced by the SPOT Situation Position Observation Task system Both systems will be detailed here although SPOT is recommended to be used in preference to EEI Essential Elements of Information EEI and SPOT reports are critical status reports provided to various DoD and DHS agencies which provide insight into availability and limitations of local infrastructure during and immediately following an emergency or disaster event These situations are reported because there is a potential that the event has or could adversely impact life limb or otherwise impede the Public Safety EEI and SPOT Reporting is an ongoing mission supported by MARS 8 2 Overview Both EEI and SPOT message reporting formats follow the convention of being formatted as Plaindress Messages with the message body in either SPOT format or EEI format occurring between the BREAK BT prowords in the message Thus the message will always be of the form note the use of MESSAGE proword ZBO when this is transmitted on a tactical or reporting net and not on a traffic net DE AFA lt xx gt ZBO NR 101 R 2902007 SEPTEMBER 2013 lt R P O depends on event FR name of originator address gt via AFA lt xx gt TO lt name address of recipient or callsign
216. vision VHF Coordinator 2 5 2 2 Region Officials Regions 1 2 3 5 7 8 10 only Regions 4 6 and 9 are single region Divisions so do not have Region Officials AFN RD Region MARS Director AFD RD Deputy Region MARS Director Region Emergency Coordinator 2 5 2 3 State Officials AFF lt ss gt State MARS Director AFD lt ss gt Deputy State MARS Director AFE lt ss gt State Emergency Coordinator 2 5 2 4 National Mars Officials Section 14 6 1 of the MOI of February 2013 lists the Billet call signs of National Officials That table is reproduced here for quick reference All MARS members should be aware that they may here official billet call signs being used on nets when those officials are acting in an official capacity otherwise they will be using their regular MARS call sign Members need to be aware that two call signs used during a long net may possibly belong to the same person although for regular traffic nets officials will typically use their regular assigned call sign and not the billet call sign if they are not acting in an official capacity during the net 19 A Z 429 Military Auxiliary Radio System Training Manual U S Air Force Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD CALL SIGN BILLET TITLE ISSUING AUTHORITY AFNZAA National Administrative Chief USAF MARS Assistant NAA AFN DT National Director Chief USAF MARS TRANSCO
217. x gee JOINT LIONS NATIONAL GUARD RESERVE SUPPORT CIVIL COVER NCS SUPPORT iit tanum nna TOP COVER 71 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System U SS Ar Force Training Manual Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD NDMS SUPPORT uqa eene tnnc eee vein v nera ruere neon uc MEDICAL LINK SHARES SUPPORT iicet cinereae e dene ca eva e np EUR COMMON FORTUNE Message Form for EEI Reports Voice THIS IS NUMBER ROUTINE or PRIORITY TIME ZULU 6 digit Date time Month Year FROM CALL SIGN Name call sign State TO CALL SIGN AAN3EEI VA or AFN2EC NY Note Actual 5 are addressed to AAN3EEI VA Exercise EEI s are addressed to AFN2EC NY INFO BREAK REF ACTUAL EVENT or MARS EXERCISE Say one or the other not both SUBJ EEI REPORT FIGURE 1 REF EVENT IDENTIFIER Event Identifier from List SPELL ALPHA INCIDENT LOCATION TIME Area impacted SPELL BRAVO EMERGENCY MEDICAL Status of Medical Facilities SPELL CHARLIE LOCAL TRANSPORTATION Status of Transportation Facilities ISPELL DELTA GENERAL DAMAGE DESCRIPTION F Exact location and Character of Damage SPELL ECHO UTILITY STATUS Status of local Utilities SPELL FOXTROT COMMUNICATIONS STATUS Status of Communication Facilities SPELL GOLF SOURCE OF INFO Source of Information SPELL HOTEL REMARKS Detailed description and estimate of resumpti
218. y may be allowed on a traffic net when the NCS has given permission for an informal This will allow informal comments between members on the net Generally informal procedure will be allowed only after all of the traffic that can be passed has been passed Typically informal comments are only passed when the directed net has been declared FREE by the NCS Such a declaration does not remove the NCS from the net the NCS remains in charge of the net FREE is equivalent to the net being in informal mode The term FREE is being used here in the same context as used by Army MARS to ensure greater interoperability of the services That is all MARS nets are ALWAYS directed nets with one station assuming NCS duties if a previous NCS can no longer be heard by other stations The sole purpose for a free declaration in times of excellent communications is to allow more expedient communications after all traffic has been passed A net should not be declared free if communications difficulties are immense rather the NCS should pass NCS duties to another station with better communications capabilities either temporarily or for the duration of the net or close the net While a net is in FREE status where stations do not have to ask permission of the NCS and may call another station directly a station may exchange informal comments with another station with the following limitations 24 N Z e e Military Auxiliary Radio System ak isisa gt
219. you adjust the sliding scale higher making the receiver more deaf the light will eventually turn to orange in color indicating that the squelch circuitry is active and no noise will appear in the receive window If a genuine signal that you wish to receive is above the noise floor set by the sliding squelch control then you will receive the transmission with the squelch light changing to green in color during the reception of the transmission and reverting to orange at the end of the transmission Of course setting the squelch control too high will prevent all noise but also prevent all the weaker station signals from being received So the minimum possible while still not printing too much random text is probably the optimal setting for reception purposes Fldigi auxiliary software There are three auxiliary programs that can be used with Fldigi that can have advantages provided they are used in the right way These programs Flarq FLwrap and Flmsg The right way of using these programs is to ensure that all intended receiving stations are also using Fldigi and also have the appropriate auxialiary program installed and operating at their station Failure to observe this guideline will result in receiving stations with different software receiving 100 amp 4 Military Auxiliary Radio System ve odo Training Manua 42 Training Manual 2013 10 31 Rev AD stations having multiple control characters printed out in their messages

Military Auxiliary Radio System National Training Manual

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