AG19
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 19  ARLB019
>From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  October 24, 2017
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB019
ARLB019 Communications Interoperability Training with Amateur Radio
Community Set

Elements of the US Department of Defense (DOD) will conduct a
'communications interoperability' training exercise November 4-6,
once again simulating a 'very bad day' scenario. Amateur Radio and
MARS organizations will take part.

'This exercise will begin with a national massive coronal mass
ejection event which will impact the national power grid as well as
all forms of traditional communication, including landline
telephone, cellphone, satellite, and Internet connectivity,' Army
MARS Program Manager Paul English, WD8DBY, explained in an
announcement.

During the exercise, a designated DOD Headquarters entity will
request county-by-county status reports for the 3,143 US counties
and county equivalents, in order to gain situational awareness and
to determine the extent of impact of the scenario. Army and Air
Force MARS organizations will work in conjunction with the Amateur
Radio community, primarily on the 60-meter interoperability channels
as well as on HF NVIS frequencies and local VHF and UHF,
non-Internet linked Amateur Radio repeaters.

Again this year, a military station on the east coast and the Fort
Huachuca, Arizona, HF station will conduct a high-power broadcast on
60-meter channel 1 (5330.5 kHz) on Saturday from 0300 to 0315 UTC.
New this year will be an informational broadcast on Sunday, on
13483.5 kHz USB from 1600 to 1615 UTC. Amateur Radio operators
should monitor these broadcasts for more information about the
exercise and how they can participate in this communications
exercise, English said.

'We want to continue building on the outstanding cooperative working
relationship with the ARRL and the Amateur Radio community,' English
said. 'We want to expand the use of the 60-meter interop channels
between the military and amateur community for emergency
communications, and we hope the Amateur Radio community will give us
some good feedback on the use of both the 5-MHz interop and the new
13-MHz broadcast channels as a means of information dissemination
during a very bad day scenario.'

Contact Paul English for more information or questions about this
exercise via email at, [email protected] .