For over 100 years amateur radio and ARRL — the National Association for Amateur Radio® — have stood for the development of the science and art of communications, public service, and the enhancement of international goodwill. Amateur Radio’s long history and service to the public has solidified the well-earned reputation that “Amateur Radio saves lives.”
Amateur Radio Operators, due to their history of public service, their training, and the requirement that they be licensed by the FCC have earned their status as a component of critical communications infrastructure and as a reliable resource “when all else fails.”
We also believe it is our civic duty to help our community, our government, and our fellow neighbors. We provide classes to the public teaching electronics, microcomputer programming, and atmospheric science as related to signal propagation around the world. Our belief in civic duty is why 50 to 100 of us volunteer and support regular, area-wide testing of the City Of Edmond’s early warning system and we volunteer to help with other vital public service activities including radio communications for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.
We are seen worldwide as the “good guys” and our reputation for friendliness and willingness to lend a hand was untarnished until Jan 6. We want to preserve these reputations and continue to be allowed to teach science and civic duty in our community. Our continued commitment to civic duty and continual education in science, engineering and math cannot be overtaken by anti-government conspiracies, those who seek to cause mayhem, and those who profit from perpetuating and growing this hate and civil disobedience.
Amateur Radio is about development of communications and responsible public service. Its misuse is inconsistent with its history of service and its statutory charter. Observing the January 6 2021 misuse of amateur radio equipment is very discouraging and harms our reputation. We do not support the use of Amateur Radio that is inconsistent with our core values.
Marcus Sutliff, N5ZY
2021 President of Edmond Amateur Radio Society