The Annual Armed Forces Day (AFD) Crossband Test, hosted by the Department of Defense, is scheduled for Saturday, May 10, 2025.

The event will test two-way communications between military stations and amateur radio operators as authorized by the Federal Communications Commission in Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations 47 CFR 97.111. The test provides opportunities, and challenges, for operators to test their individual technical skills in a controlled scenario that will not impact public or private communications.

The annual DOD message will be transmitted via RTTY on 14667.0 kHz at 1400 and 2000 UTC. Military stations will transmit on selected military frequencies and announce the specific amateur radio service frequencies that will be monitored.

All scheduled times will be in UTC, and all scheduled transmissions will be upper sideband (USB), unless otherwise noted. Frequencies, times, and other technical information can be found at the DoD MARS – Armed Forces Day site at: www.dodmars.org/mars-comex-information-website/armed-forces-day.

Those who wish to document their contacts with a QSL card should visit www.usarmymars.org/armed-forces-day-qsl-card-request and complete the request form. For more than 50 years, military and amateur stations have taken part in this event

ARRL welcomes members and all radio amateurs to visit us at the 2025 Dayton Hamvention®, May 16 —18 in Xenia, Ohio. The event features three days of fun activities, ham radio programming, and plenty of opportunities to engage with ARRL.

Saturday’s ARRL Youth Rally will be a fun day of ham radio discovery and friendship for young people aged 11 to 21. Among the team leading the Youth Rally will be volunteers from the ARRL Collegiate Amateur Radio Program (CARP), who are also exhibiting and presenting at Hamvention.

In addition to the CARP forum, ARRL has many other exciting forums planned at Hamvention. Start off Friday with a surfside lesson on portable antennas with “Salty Walt” Hudson, K4OGO, of the popular Costal Waves and Wires YouTube channel. Salty Walt’s forum is Friday, 10:15 AM – 11:15 AM, in room 3.

The ARRL Membership Forum is on Saturday.

There are many other great ARRL forums for you to attend. See the whole list at www.arrl.org/expo.

You can also visit ARRL’s large exhibit area in the Telsa Building. All the great things you expect from ARRL will be there, including a chance to get some ARRL merch and publications, plus your free 2025 ARRL button. The ARRL VEC will be on site to help hams renew their licenses; you can visit with ARRL leaders face-to-face and learn about how to get involved in your local ham community (and much more).

You can also see the ARRL Sweepstakes Icom Dream Station on display.

You asked, we listened: The ever-popular on-site radio emissions testing by the ARRL Lab returns this year. Have your handheld tested to make sure the output is clean. Expert engineers will be on hand to do it right in front of you.

Find ticket information at www.hamvention.org. Download the ARRL Program Guide [PDF] which includes a map of the ARRL exhibit area.