Redmond Mayor John Marchione has proclaimed the week of June 21-27 as Amateur Radio Week in Redmond in recognition for the valuable public service that Redmond amateur radio operators, known as “hams,” provide to the community.
The proclamation is made in conjunction with Amateur Radio Field Day which occurs this weekend. From 11 a.m. Saturday, June 26 to 11 a.m. Sunday, June 27, amateur radio operators from the City of Redmond’s Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), Microsoft’s “MicroHams” Amateur Radio Club and the Redmond Top Key Contest Club will gather to set up radio communications equipment at Farrel-McWhirter Park, 19545 Redmond Rd. in Redmond, and test their communications capabilities during a simulated emergency exercise.
The exercise is part of a nationwide “Field Day” emergency preparedness activity. The event is designed to test amateur radio (ham) operators’ skills in setting up and operating radio communications equipment in situations where electrical power is limited or unavailable. The idea is to simulate the conditions that can occur during an earthquake, flood, or other emergency, including man-made disasters.
The event is open to the public and the hams will have a “Get on the Air” (GOTA) station available for the general public to operate, under the supervision of licensed radio operators, to make contact with hams from other areas of the world.
Today there are more than 680,000 Amateur Radio operators in the United States and more than 2.5 million worldwide. To find out how to get started in this hobby and whom to contact in your area, call or write the American Radio Relay League, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111; toll-free 800 32 NEW HAM. Or you can visit ARRL on the Web at http://www.arrl.org.
Local amateur radio operators who would like more information about the City of Redmond’s ARES team should visit their Web site at http://www.redmond-ares.org.
