Armed Forces Day Cross-Band Test

The Department of Defense will host this year’s Armed Forces Day (AFD) Crossband Test,
scheduled for May 9, 2026. 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.

The AFD Crossband Test is a unique opportunity to test two-way communication between
military communicators and radio stations in the Amateur Radio Service (ARS), as authorized in 47 CFR 97.111. These tests provide opportunities and challenges for radio operators to demonstrate individual technical skills in a tightly controlled exercise scenario that does not impact any public or private communications.

Military stations will transmit on selected military frequencies and will announce the specific ARS frequencies monitored. All times are ZULU (Z), and all frequencies are Upper Side Band (USB) unless otherwise noted. The frequencies used for the test will not impact any public or private communications and will not stray outside the confines of the exercise.

The following stations will be making two-way radiotelephone contacts with stations in the ARS between the time periods listed on the frequencies listed in Kilohertz below for Washington State.

AGA0WJ/ NAS WHIDBEY ISLAND OAK HARBOR, WA
1600Z – 2200Z 5,112.0 kHz USB 7,431.5 kHz USB 13,528.5 kHz USB
18,272.5 kHz USB
AGA5SC / SCOTT AFB, IL
1500Z – 2300Z 5,186.0 kHz USB 7,938.0 kHz USB 14,832.0 kHz USB
27,736.0 kHz USB

A full list of the can be found at the DoD MARS webpage.