Blackswan73
Active Member
Is the MARS program still active? And if so, can MARS operators still get free equipment from the military?
MARS
- Thread starter Blackswan73
- Start date
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There are small pockets of MARS still operating however it is mostly experienced ham operators who are still active duty in some capacity,HAM and military protocols have merged into Federal protocols with mostly digital Radios that are not compatible with traditional Amateur equipment or frequencies and alot of stuff has merged with overall military comms utilizing the Julian calendar and second per second frequency hoping radios , though if you are interested in it several good history texts of the service was recently published and are available for purchase, written by some of the guys who pretty much started the service, very interesting and educational as well as historical.
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nd5y
Member
https://txarmymars.org/join
mars1
Participate in the MARS Excess/Surplus Equipment Program after 6 months active membership. Issue of equipment is based on availability of equipment, and possible assigned mission of individual activity. The granting of MARS membership to an individual or activity does not in itself convey an automatic right or entitlement of the recipient to receive or demand MARS property.
mars1
Participate in the MARS Excess/Surplus Equipment Program after 6 months active membership. Issue of equipment is based on availability of equipment, and possible assigned mission of individual activity. The granting of MARS membership to an individual or activity does not in itself convey an automatic right or entitlement of the recipient to receive or demand MARS property.
Blackswan73
Active Member
Thank you both for the info. A little more background as to why I wanted to know if MARS still was in operation. In the late 80's I was part of Joint Task-Force Bravo in Honduras. My duties there was the HF station at Soto Cano. I was in charge of the station and was responsible for the station operation 24/7. It was only there for back up in case the main satellite terminal went down, and for in country communication. On Saturday nights for about four hours we used the station to contact MARS stations in the states so the GI's could talk with their families and sweethearts. This was done completely at the expense of the MARS operators who was willing to set up long distance phone patches. I made a vow then, that after seeing the morale boost this gave the GI's, I would become a MARS station if I ever got my ticket.
I question if there is any reason for MARS these days with the proliferation of mobile devices into every spot on the planet. I used to call, face time and Skype my son in law all over Afghanistan a few years back and it worked great.
prcguy
prcguy
Well you can still buy auto-patch equipment for use with most rigs in all bands and set up to your station and use it for emergencies , NTS or health and welfare traffic in the days after 911 alot that stuff got some serious dust off and workouts , between the infrastructure damage and the magnitude of the tragedy the still infantile cell phone system got over loaded and crashed so most comms where one way via pagers and us hams , we got a lot of health and welfare traffic out of Manhattan those days much to many survivors family relief between the CAP sorties doing photos and air sampling ( the only planes flying that day after ATC 0 was declared) and the comm support we earned our non pay. You really never know when this stuff is going to go from obscure ( I hear all the time, ham radio that still exists ? People really volunteer to use there time and money to help others ?) Being Federalised into Homeland was the first many people heard we still existed .
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US Army MARS
ARMY MARS SUPPORT PAGES - HOME
MARS is a lot different today due to advances in communications. From what I read, though, MARS apparently still has a mission with some agencies of the U.S. government. I believe that Army MARS has a working relationship with the Transportation Security Administration. OTOH, Navy MARS has been terminated.
ARMY MARS SUPPORT PAGES - HOME
MARS is a lot different today due to advances in communications. From what I read, though, MARS apparently still has a mission with some agencies of the U.S. government. I believe that Army MARS has a working relationship with the Transportation Security Administration. OTOH, Navy MARS has been terminated.
Cellphones and Skype are great when the grid is there , when it's not is when we still shine , I am in a power wheelchair and have built myself and other local operators awesome power back up using the large AGM batteries I replace every year in my chair, they don't run my chair very good anymore but one of those batteries with an IC 7000 into a tarheels hp II will let me do 100 watts for about 6 hours , I have my station backed up with six of them and when one will not give full power on HF it will still go another half day easy on 2/440 at 10 watts, so 6 of them will run my station for a few weeks of emergency traffic without any sun to charge them.
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I recently resigned from MARS due to an impending move to an HOA-dominated area. (It's hard to meet on-air participation requirements if you don't have antennas of your own!)
MARS has and continues to evolve. While there is still a very little bit of morale activity (there are still some deployed troops that don't have civilian phone access; plus most of the Armed Forces Day stations are run by MARS), the bulk of the organization is now focused on training to help the federal government collect and relay information in the event of a communications outage.
There are a lot of sharp operators within MARS, and there's room for more folks who want to help with that kind of work and are willing to put in the time and effort to train.
The minimum participation requirements are for 12 hours on HF per quarter...but there is a lot of poking and prodding to do more than the minimum, because there is quite a bit to practice on.
One thing that will drive some potential MARS members nuts is the increasing focus on security. Depending on the region, almost all or all traffic is encrypted now. So much MARS information is FOUO that it can be a little challenging to talk about it.
Probably the most challenging elements of the MARS program for civilians these days are:
1. There are procedures for everything. While the rules have been tweaked to tolerate minor deviations, some hams may struggle with the notion that "this is the way something should be done/said", period, full stop. (But once you get over that hump...everyone being on the same page procedure-wise makes things run much, much better in adverse conditions.)
2. Information flows up and down via the chain of command. Only information that you need to know flows down. It can be rough for folks who like to be "in the know" to accept that sometimes you won't have the big picture. That's just the nature of the sponsoring organizations and the agencies that make use of MARS' services. (And it may explain why it's difficult to get good information on MARS from outside the program.)
3. While there are MARS members who will bend over backwards to help get new members operational, even with that assistance, being an effective MARS operator requires a certain ability to be self-starting. Someone who needs a lot of hand-holding might find the experience frustrating..
4. The published minimum participation requirement really is just a minimum; you need to participate more frequently, and regularly if you're going to be effective. If you're considering joining, try to find out when your state/regional nets are, and consider whether you will be able to join them on a somewhat regular basis. I still work; when I originally signed up for Navy MARS, I chose that service because the nets fit with my schedule. When it came time to transition away due to the program going QRT, I struggled because the Army and Air Force MARS nets were held at times that didn't fit in well with work and family time.
I enjoyed my time in the program, and will probably rejoin if and when my circumstances change. There are a lot of good people in the program, there are plenty of opportunities to learn, and the program has turned the corner to having an actual mission again (and an opportunity for folks to make useful contributions for)...even if security/paranoia concerns mean that some details of that mission aren't always known.
Oh, and because the folks involved with processing new member paperwork can get very busy with other tasks...while submitting an online application from an Army or Air Force MARS website will start the paperwork moving, it might be more effective to make contact with a current member, or to corner someone at a regional hamfest where MARS might have a table, to get your membership paperwork shepherded along. Random email contacts aren't as effective (in MARS or otherwise) as they once were.
MARS has and continues to evolve. While there is still a very little bit of morale activity (there are still some deployed troops that don't have civilian phone access; plus most of the Armed Forces Day stations are run by MARS), the bulk of the organization is now focused on training to help the federal government collect and relay information in the event of a communications outage.
There are a lot of sharp operators within MARS, and there's room for more folks who want to help with that kind of work and are willing to put in the time and effort to train.
The minimum participation requirements are for 12 hours on HF per quarter...but there is a lot of poking and prodding to do more than the minimum, because there is quite a bit to practice on.
One thing that will drive some potential MARS members nuts is the increasing focus on security. Depending on the region, almost all or all traffic is encrypted now. So much MARS information is FOUO that it can be a little challenging to talk about it.
Probably the most challenging elements of the MARS program for civilians these days are:
1. There are procedures for everything. While the rules have been tweaked to tolerate minor deviations, some hams may struggle with the notion that "this is the way something should be done/said", period, full stop. (But once you get over that hump...everyone being on the same page procedure-wise makes things run much, much better in adverse conditions.)
2. Information flows up and down via the chain of command. Only information that you need to know flows down. It can be rough for folks who like to be "in the know" to accept that sometimes you won't have the big picture. That's just the nature of the sponsoring organizations and the agencies that make use of MARS' services. (And it may explain why it's difficult to get good information on MARS from outside the program.)
3. While there are MARS members who will bend over backwards to help get new members operational, even with that assistance, being an effective MARS operator requires a certain ability to be self-starting. Someone who needs a lot of hand-holding might find the experience frustrating..
4. The published minimum participation requirement really is just a minimum; you need to participate more frequently, and regularly if you're going to be effective. If you're considering joining, try to find out when your state/regional nets are, and consider whether you will be able to join them on a somewhat regular basis. I still work; when I originally signed up for Navy MARS, I chose that service because the nets fit with my schedule. When it came time to transition away due to the program going QRT, I struggled because the Army and Air Force MARS nets were held at times that didn't fit in well with work and family time.
I enjoyed my time in the program, and will probably rejoin if and when my circumstances change. There are a lot of good people in the program, there are plenty of opportunities to learn, and the program has turned the corner to having an actual mission again (and an opportunity for folks to make useful contributions for)...even if security/paranoia concerns mean that some details of that mission aren't always known.
Oh, and because the folks involved with processing new member paperwork can get very busy with other tasks...while submitting an online application from an Army or Air Force MARS website will start the paperwork moving, it might be more effective to make contact with a current member, or to corner someone at a regional hamfest where MARS might have a table, to get your membership paperwork shepherded along. Random email contacts aren't as effective (in MARS or otherwise) as they once were.
rural_radio
¿Por qué no Ø?
What kind of ALE radios are MARS operators using these days? I know there is a version of PC-ALE spefically for MARS, but are there affordable(-ish) radios with ALE?
ALE Info
ALE Info:
HFLINK | ALE HF Automatic Link Establishment HF Interoperability HF LINK
MOBAT ALE:
Home
ICOM ALE:
F8101 HF Transceiver - Features - Icom America
MARS ALE:
MARS-ALE Technical Forum file support site
ALE Info:
HFLINK | ALE HF Automatic Link Establishment HF Interoperability HF LINK
MOBAT ALE:
Home
ICOM ALE:
F8101 HF Transceiver - Features - Icom America
MARS ALE:
MARS-ALE Technical Forum file support site
I was part of an Air Force Mars family... my father was a member before I was born, and also an AF officer- we had something MARS going on where ever we were stationed....years and years.....the stories of the equipment he would bring home would astound you! (and the not-so-flattering comments of my mother about these 'treasures' are a separate subject...
)
.
My father (retired)... left the program about 8-10 years ago citing the lack of any mission left for MARS. It seemed that the regional sideband nets had devolved into simply checking into them for an hour- no interesting conversations- no talking allowed--- the frequencies they used were,- this was his polite word for them when he talked about it with me..."Crap"... (I tuned across one, 4593khz and it was filled with a 20-over South American data signal).....and Muskrat, as to your original question: he said - "there was no equipment available any longer"
.
I guess that threw a bucket of cold water on the subject... though I was never interested in joining, I knew many of my father's friends and some ham friends of my own that *immensely!* enjoyed the program. But those days of the social MARS , the VHF, SSB, RTTY- even CW nets, repeaters, Field Day activities, 'phone patches- car loads of surplus equipment...are all gone now. The last time I discussed it with my father, I could sum his words up as: "It (MARS) is all volunteers- you have to make it fun if you want to attract and keep good people. Its no fun any more...."
.
So, Muskrat, there is another side of the MARS story for you....
.
.........................................CF
).
My father (retired)... left the program about 8-10 years ago citing the lack of any mission left for MARS. It seemed that the regional sideband nets had devolved into simply checking into them for an hour- no interesting conversations- no talking allowed--- the frequencies they used were,- this was his polite word for them when he talked about it with me..."Crap"... (I tuned across one, 4593khz and it was filled with a 20-over South American data signal).....and Muskrat, as to your original question: he said - "there was no equipment available any longer"
.
I guess that threw a bucket of cold water on the subject... though I was never interested in joining, I knew many of my father's friends and some ham friends of my own that *immensely!* enjoyed the program. But those days of the social MARS , the VHF, SSB, RTTY- even CW nets, repeaters, Field Day activities, 'phone patches- car loads of surplus equipment...are all gone now. The last time I discussed it with my father, I could sum his words up as: "It (MARS) is all volunteers- you have to make it fun if you want to attract and keep good people. Its no fun any more...."
.
So, Muskrat, there is another side of the MARS story for you....
.
.........................................CF
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