Jay wrote: >Radios with wideband (1.8-30 MHz) receivers can sometimes be modified >by or for valid MARS stations
It is likely that someday NTIA compliant radios will be required for MARS. MARS stations that participate in SHARES nets already need to meet specs. The Civil Air Patrol has committed to NTIA compliance, so it has an interesting official web site with listings of what commonly available gear meets the specs (frequency stability and spurious output are two important criteria): https://ntc.cap.af.mil/comm/equipment/hf_equipment.cfm Were I choosing a radio specifically for MARS/SHARES/CAP/USCGAux/etc., I'd want it to meet NTIA specs and have HF general coverage transmit capability. It's not all that onerous...the rig will need a frequency reference at least as good as a TXCO. Even an old TS-50S with SO-2 TXCO meets specs, for example. Alinco and most Yaesu rigs do not. The Elecraft K2 does not. >Hambands-only radios, even if they cover a few hundred Khz >above or below the hamband limits miss out on a lot. Most Army and Navy-Marine Corps MARS frequencies are just outside the ham bands, so a lot of *older* (without microprocessor control of frequency) ham-band-only gear will work well there. The K2 shouldn't have much problem operating on these systems either (until NTIA compliance is required). That is NOT true of Air Force MARS and CAP, whose frequencies are often way outside ham bands. Modern (last 20 years) ham band transceivers with microprocessor control of frequency usually stop transmitting at the exact official band edges unless a "general coverage transmit" mod is made. >Glad to answer Army MARS questions (not frequencies) off-list. Why not frequencies? I've heard some of the MARS coordinators telling their nets to use frequency designators when specifying frequencies, but that is nonsense. MARS activities haven't the slightest classification. When I was in MARS (20 years worth, split between Navy and Army MARS beginning in 1968) we were happy to have people listen in on our frequencies and perhaps become members. We would even pass out brochures at ham fests with net times and frequency info on it. Every MARS organization *banned* Morse operation about ten years ago, even including training nets and repeater IDs. What a way to ruin the outfit! 73, Mike / KK5F ex-USN-USMC N0LTD, ex-USA AAT6UI _______________________________________________ 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
