Lewis Thompson AAA6TX April 25, 2011 Texas Army MARS Lewis Thompson AAA6TX April 25, 2011

MARS Military Auxiliary Radio System – DOD sponsored programs separately managed by Army, Navy and Air Force History Established Nov. 1925 as Army Amateur Radio System Renamed MARS 1948 by Army and Air Force Navy joined in 1962

MARS Mission (DoDI – 4650.02) Provide contingency radio communications: DOD Components Civil Authorities (DoDI 5111.13) Provide Heath & Welfare radio communications to: Military Civilian employees and contractors of the DoD Civil agencies’ employees and contractors Ensure MARS “Radio Only” communications: Between individual MARS stations Interoperable between all MARS services Civil/Military authorities radio services Communications sustainable on emergency power Some MARS stations to be transportable for timely deployment.

Texas Army MARS Served Agencies Texas DEM SOC - CCG Texas Military Forces (TxMF) FEMA – Region 6 ARNORTH TSA

Unique Capabilities MARS does not fall under the FCC Part 97 rules: Employment in a served agency does not prevent operating a MARS EMCOMM station for that agency in either an exercise or actual event. All Texas Army MARS mobilization team members (26) (TxSG MARS Detachment) are provided the following during an exercise or actual event: Salary Expenses (per diem and mileage) Worker’s Compensation Insurance TXSG Military Picture ID Members of TxSG MARS detachment have had a complete criminal background check

Conus Organization http://www.netcom.army.mil/mars/ Region 6 Director Scott Warren AAA6RD Chief Army MARS Jim Griffin AAA9A Same as FEMA Regions

Texas Army MARS Zone Map http://www.txarmymars.org/ State MARS Director Lewis Thompson AAA6TX 96 Texas Members Zone 1 Coordinator Don Josephs AAR6PC

Texas Army MARS Staff State Director Assistant State Director AAA6TX: Lewis Thompson Assistant State Director AAM6TX: Bill Fogg Emergency Operations AAM6ETX: Dave Martin Training AAM6TTX: Scott Hamende Administration AAM6ATX: Brian Manka Web Master AAM6WTX: Matt Bogner Interoperability AAM6ITX:Don McFarland

Membership/Participation Requirements 18 years of age US citizen or resident alien FCC amateur General class HF station capable of operating on MARS frequencies 15 hours of participation per quarter, 9 hours on state nets. Winlink Telnet HF digital modes Serve as NCS quarterly Participate in two exercises per year (6 hours) Complete the National Basic Training Course and 4 FEMA ICS classes (ICS 100, 200, 700, 800) Non compliant members have their MARS license revoked by SMD

TX Army MARS Training Weekly state-wide training administered during the four scheduled HF radio nets per day, 7 days per week (1 hour nets). Two Field Days per year Monthly FEMA Region 6 COMEX exercises Participate in exercises with our served agencies: DICE (SJIATF - TxANG) SOC (MOBEX –Heavy) SOC (MOBEX – Light) RRTF exercises 2010 – AUSTIN, DALLAS, WACO

Training - Field Day

Approximate TX Army MARS Frequencies 3200. KHz USB 4000. KHz USB 4900. KHz USB 5200. KHz USB 5400. KHz USB 6900. KHz USB 7400. KHz USB 7700. KHz USB 9900. KHz USB Plus 120 MARS Winlink Gateway Frequencies This close spread of available frequencies allows Texas Army MARS to maintain state/nation wide HF communications under almost all ionospheric propagation conditions. These are exclusive MARS/military use frequencies and not subject to interference by other radio services. Both voice and digital transmissions are allowed on all these frequencies.

Region Traffic Routing

Inter Region Traffic Routing

World Wide Traffic Routing

Operating Modes (Allowed on all net frequencies) Voice – SSB Digital: MT-63 (Sound Card,FEC) Olivia (Sound Card, FEC) PACTOR (100% accuracy – 3600 baud, attachments) Winlink – MARS HF E-mail Gateways (Radio Message Server – RMS) Station to Station (P2P) WINMOR (ARQ-100% accuracy) Winlink – MARS HF E-mail Gateways (Radio Message Server-RMS)

Sound Card Modes Forward Error Corrected “Broadcast” Message capability. All Texas Army MARS members can operate this mode. Example of typical 16-line military message sent by MT-63: DE AAR6NAC NR 242 R 141230Z SEP 2008 FM AAR6NAC TX TO AAA6TX TX AAR6NAB TX AAR6NAD TX AAN6ETX TX RYAN.CAGLE1@US.ARMY.MIL BRIAN.ATTAWAY@us.army.mil BT ACTUAL INCIDENT SUBJECT: SITREP / HOWLING WIND / TX 1. DTG: 141230Z SEP 2008 2. NET: AAA6RD/E 3. OPERATION: DEPLOYED WITH SJIATF BALL HIGH SCHOOL PARKING LOT, GALVESTON TX LAT - 29 DEG 17.327' N, LONG - 094 DEG 48.689' W 4. CUSTOMERS: SJIATF 5. REMARKS: AAR6NAC READY TO SEND AND RECEIVE TRAFFIC, SOUND CARD, PACTOR, VOICE AS OF 130130Z SEP 2008. NNNN

MARS WINLINK Message Capability HF Internet E-mail Gateway stations (44) Very long range (outside affected area) Ionospheric Skip (no satellites or relay stations) Available 24 hours per day 120 military frequencies (CONUS & OCONUS) No operating cost 100% accuracy (packet ACK/NACK) Attachments (.PDF, .jpg, etc) Multiple addressees Internet addresses Winlink MARS and Ham addresses National MARS Incident Notification system (EEI) Special e-mail address + subject line code Automatically distributes emergency messages to national address list.

MARS WINLINK (44-PACTOR, 12 WINMOR)

MARS WINLINK Message With Attachment

PACTOR/WINMOR Radio Only (P2P) Mode AAN6ETX

Resource Type 1 & 2 Home located MARS HF stations (80) Digital and Voice Emergency power Report local incidents – National Incident Notification System or to SOC via MARS staff officers Provide NCS duty, relay and forwarding for deployed teams Customer fixed location stations SOC JOC TxSG CCG FEMA Region 6

Resource Type 3 TxMF Mobilization Teams CCG Task Groups (4 teams) Plus Refueling/Reentry locations Digital Voice MARS & Ham – HF/VHF Emergency power/Shelter 72 hours independent 26 Paid members of the TxSG MARS detachment with military picture ID.

Resource Type 4 Independent Operations (4 teams) Refueling/Reentry locations Digital Voice MARS & Ham HF/VHF Emergency power 72 hours Shelter (personally owned trailers, campers, vehicles) Paid members of the TxSG MARS detachment with military ID.

INTEROPERABILITY Friday Workshop – Communications Time – 08:00 – 09:30 Room – 207B

State MARS Director, Texas CONTACT INFO Lewis Thompson, AAA6TX State MARS Director, Texas U.S. Army W5IFQ@att.net W5IFQ@winlink.org AAR6UK@winlink.org AAA6TX@winlink.org Home – 512-892-8815 Cell – 512-587-9944 Web Site http://www.txarmymars.org/