Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) members will support a Department of Defense HF radio communication exercise October 24 – 26. The readiness exercise will test the ability to communicate via voice and military standard communication protocols, simulating the loss of conventional communication systems. MARS members will interface with the Amateur Radio community to collect information at the county level regarding publicly available information.

Amateur Radio operators are asked to monitor 60-meter channel 1 (5,330.5 kHz, USB) at 0001 UTC on October 24, for a high-power broadcast of updated information regarding this exercise and how the Amateur Radio community can participate.

During the exercise, MARS members will communicate with Amateur Radio operators on all five 60-meter channels, as well as on other Amateur Radio bands. Contact MARS for more information regarding this exercise. As a simulation, this exercise will not affect any public or private communications or infrastructure. The exercise will end at 2359 UTC on October 26.

Additionally, MARS members will participate in the HF automatic link establishment (ALE) on-the-air exercise taking place October 12 – 22.