MARS has no better email than anyone else. The request for application could have fallen in the bit bucket and not gotten to MARS; or they might have been short staffed as they often are at HQ. MARS is pretty far down the staffing priorities when it comes to the management of the program by the military. Always has been, even pre Vietnam war, when I was in MARS.
It is true, they have given up CW nets, and are moving toward digital forms of communication. It is also true the MARS fellows in volunteer administration are probably pretty ignorant of the true value of QRP especially with digital modulation. A lot of them are ex service types used to a kw or BC 610. I personally would not ask them if I could use such and such a rig. After all, all they request is that you have a rig that can meet their assigned modes and nets. You can choose a configuration that you believe meets the requirement. If you can't make the nets, then you find something that can. For the present, they still have SSB, but they also are involved in packet or other digital modes. A kit rig could operate with packet TNCs, and of course you could use an amplifier if needed. The best way to improve your station value to MARS is to have very good antennas. Now, at one time, there was talk of needing automatic link establishment commercial transceivers, but that is pretty high dollar for an all volunteer group. Hopefully, that nonsense has gone away. Since MARS is often a point to point service, that should be easily done. Fixed wire beams, parasitic vertical arrays, rotatable beams, etc., are all ways to satisfy their reliability requirement. You will need an outdoor antenna, and perhaps space for several antennas for the various nets. The Fourth U. S. Army MARS Command Station used one beam and an assortment of wire antennas to work the world with 100 watts. For awhile, we did enjoy the old Signal Corps hill location, with its fixed Rhombics, but had to move to a more typical ham station location later. -Stuart K5KVH _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
