Amateur Radio Week in the City of Nanaimo - Press Release

NANAIMO CITY COUNCIL PROCLAIMS WEEK OF 22-28 JUNE 2009 “AMATEUR RADIO WEEK IN THE CITY OF NANAIMO”

Nanaimo Amateur Radio Association, 18 June 2009
1415 Wingrove Street,
Nanaimo, B.C. V9S 3L8,
www.ve7na.ca

PRESS RELEASE

NANAIMO CITY COUNCIL PROCLAIMS WEEK OF 22-28 JUNE 2009 “AMATEUR RADIO WEEK IN THE CITY OF NANAIMO”

PUBLIC DEMONSTRATION OF EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AT FIELD DAY EVENT JUNE 27-28, 2009

The Nanaimo Amateur Radio Association is pleased to announce that the Council of the City of Nanaimo has proclaimed the week of 22-28 June 2009 “Amateur Radio Week In The City of Nanaimo”.
The Proclamation recognizes that amateur radio operators, or ”hams”, are celebrating over a century of the miracle of the human voice broadcast over the airwaves and that the Nanaimo Amateur Radio Association has been in existence for sixty-one years.

Amateur radio operators have provided countless hours of community service and do so without compensation. The City acknowledges the service these volunteers provide to various emergency response organizations including the City of Nanaimo Emergency Plan, the Regional District of Nanaimo Emergency Plan, the Provincial Emergency Program and the Amateur Radio Emergency Service.

Hams, have further demonstrated their value in public assistance by providing free radio communications for the World Bathtub Race and other local public events.

Amateur radio has proven its undisputed relevance in the modern world by providing emergency communications when other systems have failed such as the devastations of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the United States and in the Tsunami catastrophe in Asia.

The members of the Nanaimo Amateur Radio Association will join thousands of other hams over the air waves in the 24 hour emergency preparedness exercise called “Field Day” beginning at 11 am on June 27, 2009. This North America wide “off the grid” event is a demonstration of the radio amateur’s skills and readiness to provide self-supporting communications. The Nanaimo hams will set up their radios and antennas near the main Beban Park parking lot overlooking the soccer field.

The public is invited to drop by to meet the hams, learn more about amateur radio and view the temporary installations and even make calls over the air waves, under the guidance of an operator of course!

The Nanaimo Amateur Radio Association maintains an active web site at www.ve7na.ca.