MARS and Off banding

[NorthernRaider]

Just read a very interesting article in BE READY magazine and a bit of it was about the MARS modifications and OFF banding, could anyone give me a very simplified explanation of what they actually mean in laymans terms?

[Lightspeed]

MARS = Military Auxiliary Radio System
Off Banding

The first is an American set of non-ham frequencies that are for military support coms

The second I assume is like free-banding. The term used by pirate CB operators who transmit on frequencies outside of the CB services prescribed channel frequencies.

In both cases radios generally have to be modified to operate on the non standard frequencies.

[NorthernRaider]

Thanks now I get it.

[CharlesHarris]

MARS allocations include segments which are just outside the band edges of the US amateur bands in both UHF and VHF as well as HF. The MARS HF allocations also include segments within military operational bands and the same modes are used, primary automatic link establishment or ALE using digital modes, such as MT63.