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Once again, CGIARC will be operating as NMC1 for AFD 2025. Here are the stations that will be participating. The CGC Healy will participate under their ship’s callsign, operations permitting. Eric, KB6YNO/3, will be operating from Fort Meade, MD with their station (AAM3D) for the event:

ANNUAL ARMED FORCES DAY CROSSBAND TEST (10 May 2025)

The Department of Defense will host this year’s Armed Forces Day (AFD) Crossband Test, scheduled for May 10, 2025. This annual event is open to all licensed amateur radio operators and will not impact any public or private communications. For more than 50 years, military and amateur stations have taken part in this event, which is an interoperability exercise between hobbyist and government radio stations.

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The Shack is level!

We got the shack leveled and it’s way better. We’re using it to store things from the Hut. I think we can make that into a pretty usable space.

The Hut Floor…

We have the floor out of the Hut and we’re measuring it out for the replacement pieces. The good news is that the back half was already done with what looks like masonite so we have a good model for what we need to do for the front half.

The space we need to fill is 5 ft by 6 ft and 2-in deep.

Underneath that is a couple of steel stringers under the fiberglass shell.

The next steps are to dispose of the demolition debris and clean up that space.

Good day,

I forgot to write in after Field Day 2023 came and went. I ended up being the only one operating for Field Day on that Saturday. I did not come back Sunday. I worked about 40 contacts, mostly on PSK31 on 20 meters. Band conditions were not the greatest, if memory serves.

Anyway, we don’t have any upcoming events scheduled. We have been talking about doing some repairs and upgrades to the hut over the fall and winter. If anyone wants to participate as a club in an event, please let us know.

Hope all are well wherever you may be.

73 de Eric, KB6YNO
Sonoma County ACS, South County Unit
Coast Guard Island Amateur Radio Club, W6NMC
Trustee of K4CG/6 & W2AIR/6

My regrets for not posting sooner.

AFD 2023 was a success. While operations on 40M were unsuccessful, we made 42 contacts on 20M. This includec working 21 states and 3 countries. They were the Canary Islands, Croatia and Slovenia. There were 2 other radio events operating that day. They were the Museum Ships On-The-Air and the Lewis and Clark Trail On-The-Air event. We worked 5 stations that were also participating in either of those events.

We didn’t have as much participation as we had hoped for. We did have an active-duty Chief come and operate with us. It was his first time on HF. He is responsible for most of the contacts we made on 20M. Kudos and well done to him.

We look forward to operating again next year for AFD 2024.

Eric, KB6YNO

Hello all,

We are in the beginning stages of planning our participation in AFD 2023. We invite our members to participate, as always. Anyone that has credentials to clear the security gate and come aboard USCG Coast Guard Island are also welcome.

We are still trying to determine how we want to participate in this event. Typically, we run a couple of voice stations. We may try to add some additional participation. We will advertise our intentions as the date draws closer.

The event is scheduled for May 13th, 2023. We look forward to seeing or at least hearing you on the air.

https://www.dodmars.org/mars-comex-information-website/armed-forces-day (will be updated after Feb 10th, 2023)

73 de Eric, KB6YNO

Good evening, all,

Due to COVID-19, we were not allowed access to Coast Guard Island for an extended period. I am happy to say that we have regained access to the base and the shack during the Spring of 2022. We were able to operate for Field Day 2022 during the last weekend of June. Pictures will be posted of our various activities since we have been able to come back onboard.

Happy Holidays to all and a Happy 2023!

Eric Simmons, KB6YNO
CGIARC Vice-President

Good day, all,

It’s been quite some time since we’ve posted anything new on our page.

Our next planned activity will be the USCG Auxiliary 79th birthday on October 20, 2018.  Many other stations will be on the air around the country.  We don’t have a specific set of frequencies that we’ll be working.  I suspect that we’ll be found on either 20M or 40M depending on time of day and propagation.

We hope to hear you on the air.

73 de Eric, KB6YNO

Greetings from the Coast Guard Island Amateur Radio Club (W6NMC/W2AIR/K4CG).

We hope to hear you on the air.

73 de Eric, KB6YNO

CGIARC President