“Who ya’ gonna call? Milton Area Radio Hams!”

Public Demonstration of Emergency Communications June 23-24, Baron Hugo Gazebo

Despite the Internet, cell phones, email and modern communications, every year whole regions find themselves in the dark. Tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, ice storms may leave people without the means to communicate. In these cases, the one consistent service that has never failed has been Amateur Radio. These radio operators, often called “hams” provide backup communications for everything from the American Red Cross to FEMA and even for the International Space Station. Your Town’s “hams” will join with thousands of other Amateur Radio operators showing their emergency capabilities on weekend of June 23,24, 2012.

Over the past year, the news has been full of reports of ham radio operators providing critical communications during unexpected emergencies in towns across America. Amateur Radio operators are often the first to provide rescuers with critical information and communications. On the weekend of June 23-24, the public will have a chance to meet and talk with ham radio operators and see what the Amateur Radio Service is about, hams across the USA will be holding public demonstrations of emergency communications abilities.

This annual event, called “Field Day” is the climax of the week long “Amateur Radio Week” sponsored by the ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio. Using only emergency power supplies, ham operators will construct emergency stations in parks, shopping malls, schools and backyards around the country. Their slogan, “WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, HAM RADIO WORKS” is more than just words to the hams. They can send messages in many forms without the use of phone systems, internet or any other infrastructure that can be compromised in a crisis. More than 35,000 amateur radio operators across the country participated in last year’s event.

In the Milton area, the Mystic Valley Amateur Radio Group will be demonstrating Amateur Radio at Baron Gazebo on June 23-24, 2012. To learn more about Amateur Radio, go to www.emergency-radio.org. The public is most cordially invited to come, meet and talk with the hams and see ham radio’s capabilities.