Whereas, There are over 21,000 amateur radio operators in the State of Michigan and over 60 amateur radio clubs who have demonstrated their value in public assistance by providing, at their own expense, free emergency radio communications; and,
Whereas, Many of the Michigan radio amateurs - who are on volunteer status to assist in any emergency local or worldwide - will demonstrate their radio communications skills during the American Relay League’s (ARRL) Annual Field Day Exercises; and,
Whereas, In cooperation with NASA and its astronauts, Michigan amateur radio operators and the ARRL provide additional public service by setting up portable amateur radio communication links between astronauts in space and Michigan students in their classrooms, opening the eyes of young people to the realities of space, science and engineering; and,
Whereas, The ARRL and the National Association for Amateur Radio, headquartered in Newington, Connecticut, provides internationally broadcast bulletins, training programs and a staff of professional engineers, technicians and legal counsel for its members in Michigan and throughout our Nation; and,
Whereas, The ARRL’s broadcasts via amateur radio reach over two million licensed radio amateurs plus uncounted numbers of electronic engineers, technicians and experimenters; and,
Whereas, This years Amateur Radio Field Day, taking place June 26 and 27, 2004, will be a 24-hour, round-the-clock operation under emergency power where radio amateurs will test their own skills and the readiness of their equipment from the Michigan fields, hillsides and woodland clearings; and now therefore be it,
Resolved, That I, Jennifer M. Granholm, Governor of the State of Michigan, do hereby proclaim the week of June 26, 2005, as Amateur Radio Awareness Week in Michigan.