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USAF MARS Phone Patch Net Overview
The USAF MARS Phone Patch Net provides 24/7 HF Radio Phone Patch service to all branches of United
States military aircraft worldwide*. All US Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard Aircraft are supported.
The net is staffed by Amateur Radio (Ham) volunteers who are members of USAF MARS (Military Affiliate Radio System). US Air Force MARS is sponsored by the Air Force Communications Agency (AFCA) at Scott AFB, Illinois.
The Phone Patch Net provides both "Morale" patches to family and friends, as well as "Official"
patches for military business. All "Morale" patches are provided free of charge courtesy Sprint. All Phone
Patch Stations have DSN access for Official calls.
Typical Morale calls run 5 minutes or less in length, and are often made to "say hello", check on something
at home, or to update family members of a new arrival time. Typical Official calls are made to Base Operations,
Scheduling, Maintenance, or Metro.
* The range of MARS Radio is dependent on High Frequency (HF) radio propagation, which is subject to daily and
seasonal variation. Generally speaking the best propagation is within 3000 miles of the US mainland. However, it is
common for patches to be run as far as 6000 miles from the US.
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