MARS has changed significantly in recent years and one of the services has shut down their program (USAF, I think). You need skills and equipment well beyond the beginner level in order to participate. It’s a good thing to aspire to do after learning other baseline skills to support that level of interest.
Good advice on clubs with purpose(s). I belong to two local clubs that have strong involvement in providing communications support to public events like bicycle road events. This allows you to learn how to operate in a controlled net environment like what would be used in disaster support communications. It also builds skills in working with a served organization to meet their needs for participant safety during the event.
In this part of the country (OK), these skills are also important when operating as part of a storm-spotter network that reports conditions to the National Weather Service. Here is where you’ll learn the value of a good mobile radio with enough power output to stay in contact with the local repeater for communicating back to the weather service office. It’s usually one of the first projects where the first-timer/new ham seeks the assistance of a more experienced operator, usually referred to as an “Elmer.”
Choose a club that is also engaged in helping new hams learn about operating on the world-wide bands, normally called the HF or “shortwave” bands. A club that activates a station during the annual Field Day in June will expose you to HF antennas, feedlines, remote power equipment operations, getting on the air when there are lots of signals to sort out. The best thing to learn on this weekend activity is that an HF antenna doesn’t have to cost a lot of money in order to make contacts. You might even get your first exposure to Morse code during the event or maybe one of the new digital modes.
It was the Navy/Marines that shut down it’s participation in MARS preferring to rely on the Army to lead in that space. My only reason for holding them up was to address the issue of purpose. I was not away of the work with the National Weather Service. That is also a great example!
Thanks for the info.
I do know that here in Colorado, due to the mountains, there is a lot of potential dead terrain. I would imagine that there are a fair amount of repeaters but I also assume that there is strong need for support during rescue operations. There might be clubs related to those type activities in other states as well.