W9RES

Lakeshore Amateur Radio Service Club 

and 

Manitowoc County ARES/RACES

Meeting Minutes 2026 Hamfests 

Amateur Radio to Participate in DoD Armed Forces Day Crossband Test on May 9, 2026

04/25/2026

Amateur radio operators will participate in the Department of Defense’s Armed Forces Day (AFD) Crossband Test on May 9, 2026. The annual event will not impact any public or private communications.

For more than 50 years, military and amateur stations have participated in this interoperability exercise between the amateur and government radio services. The AFD Crossband Test provides a unique opportunity to conduct two-way communication between military communicators and stations in the Amateur Radio Service (ARS), as authorized in 47 CFR 97.111. These tests present both opportunities and challenges for radio operators to demonstrate individual technical skills in a tightly controlled exercise scenario.

Home of Rockets For Schools

Launch Competition, May 8 & 9, Blue Harbor Resort

Sheboygan has been Wisconsin's home of Rockets For Schools since its inception in 1995. Each year, more than 300 students from Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan have participated in successful launches at Spaceport Sheboygan. From 2001 through the present, students from Sheboygan County have also been involved in an elementary-level rocket launch.

Rockets For Schools provides an opportunity for all U.S. students in grades 6 through 12 to learn about aerospace technology, scientific experiments, and space launches. Student teams construct a rocket equipped with a powerful motor that lifts it to high altitudes. Besides constructing their rocket, students design a payload experiment to fly in their rocket. In addition, students give an oral presentation and prepare a visual display of their experiment to exhibit at the event.