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Larry

wrote in news:1168627500.487767.85030
@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

What is the general purpose of these AUX stations? To provide marine
coverage in those areas where the CG doesn't have a station, backup or
what? I agree that this would be a nice thing to volunteer for to
help to create for more relevance for us ham ops before we all just get
grey and bald and disappear.

Same idea as the CAP USAF stations.....backup. The more ears the better.
If there were regular AUX comm stations on HF, for instance, especially
now that the commercial operators have gone dark like WOM, AUX HF
stations could provide a much larger virtual antenna than CG can provide,
the reason ham nets are so successful at getting a message through in
poor conditions. Every station adds itself to a network of combined
receivers, one of which is bound to hear "something" of a distress signal
that may pass over a small number of official stations.

A secondary reason isn't important to comms, but is to the mission.
Volunteers, in any organization, need to feel part of the action, whether
they are important or not. It's the recognition of volunteering why
they're there. A military radio net of the AUX volunteers is a very
valuable tool in making more senior, less physically-capable members have
a useful function to the mission as a whole. Not all AUX volunteers have
a yacht to play Coastie in. Many have no boat at all, just an interest.
Operating a radio system in the middle of the action is a great way to
get them involved in the action they cannot physically participate in.
The same thing goes on the Maritime Mobile Service Net on 20M. A bunch
of house-ridden old guys with nothing more to do than monitor the
frequency and feel useful, to themselves with the recognition of the
maritime community, that are always listening with that link to help when
anyone needs it. All this "service" costs CG one or two frequencies in
military bands that are mostly empty on HF these days. The cost is zero,
its utility great. Everyone wins....

Larry
--
Extremely intelligent life exists that is so smart they never called
Earth.