The Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard are co-sponsoring the annual military/amateur radio communications tests in celebration of the 65th Anniversary of Armed Forces Day (AFD) and the 90th Anniversary of MARS. Although the actual Armed Forces Day is celebrated on Saturday, May 16, 2015, the AFD Military/Amateur Crossband Communications Test will be conducted 09-10 May 2015 to prevent conflict with the Dayton Hamvention (15-17 May 2015), which is the same weekend as the actual Armed Forces Day.
The annual celebration is a unique opportunity to test two way communications between Amateurs and military communicators authorized in 47 CFR 97.111, and features traditional military to amateur cross band SSB voice, Morse Code, practice using legacy interoperability waveforms, as well as an opportunity for Amateurs to utilize more modern military communications modes such as MIL-STD Serial PSK and Automatic Link Establishment (ALE). These tests give Amateur Radio operators and Short Wave Listeners (SWL) an opportunity and a challenge to demonstrate their individual technical skills, and to receive recognition from the appropriate military radio station for their proven expertise. QSL cards will be provided to those stations making contact with the military stations.