A 2-day Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) communica-tions exercise in early November was an overall success, especially in terms of MARS-ARES cooperation. The November 8 – 10 exercise was built around the scenario of a simulated massive coronal mass ejection (CME) that dis­rupts conventional communication systems across the US.  Following the simulated CME, MARS stations returned to the air and received requests for information from the sup­ported Department of Defense (DoD) organizations and asking that MARS stations establish contact with Amateur Radio operators in as many of the 3142 US counties as possible. MARS operators were limited pri­marily to using HF NVIS bands and VHF-UHF repeaters. Communication be­tween MARS and Amateur Radio operators was to be made directly, without relying on Internet-linking capabilities or store-and-forward messaging systems. Continue reading →

To all ARRL members in Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Northern Florida, Oregon, Santa Clara Valley, Vennont, and Wisconsin. You are hereby solicited for nominating petitions pursuant to an election for Section Manager (SM). Incumbents are listed on page 16 of this issue.

To be valid, a petition must contain the signatures of five or more full ARRL members residing in the sec­tions concerned. It is advisable to have a few more than five signatures on each petition. A sample nomination fonn is available on the ARRL website at www.arrl.org/section-terms-nomination-infor mation. Nominating petitions may be made by fac­simile or electronic transmission of images, pro­vided that upon request by the Field Services and Radiosport Manager, the original documents are received by the Manager within 7 days of the request. Continue reading →