The following is an open letter to ALL Amateur Radio Operators in the State of Michigan.
Re-printed by permission:
April 15, 2002
Attention Michigan Amateur Radio Operators:
A battle is about to be waged over the future of amateur radio
operations in Michigan and this is a Call To Arms! Cities and counties
all over the United States, including Michigan, have been passing laws
prohibiting or severely restricting the erection of amateur radio
towers. We must not allow this to continue here in Michigan.
In 1998, Virginia was the first and only state to pass a specific tower
protection bill. Prior to that, five other states passed lesser generic
bills. Now we have sixteen states that have codified PRB-1 in their
state legislatures with our neighbors in Wisconsin being the latest.
The states with local PRB-1 protection are Alaska, Florida, Idaho,
Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico,
Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and
Wyoming.
Michigan hams have no such protection, but that's about to change. The
Michigan Section Leadership has formed a Work Group to forge ahead and
get an antenna bill passed in our state. We cannot do this alone, it is
a monumental project and we need help.
Individuals that would like to help should contact me, but most
importantly we need the help of all of our Affiliated and Special
Service Clubs. We need a commitment to see this through. Clubs can help
by making information available to their membership and when the time is
right to send letters of support to our legislators. Clubs can help by
turning out members to attend committee sessions in Lansing in a show of
support. A similar bill in Tennessee was just defeated due to lack of
support.
I appeal to every one of you to help us in this effort. Our ability to
erect antennas and operate on our bands will be seriously jeopardized if
we do nothing.
I can be contacted at w8fqt@arrl.org or at 313 730-2111 and I will put
you in touch with our Work Group.
Dick Mondro, W8FQT
ARRL, Michigan Section Manager
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ARRL Michigan Section
Section Manager: Richard J. Mondro, W8FQT
w8fqt@arrl.org
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If you, your club or group has a web site. We have created a page that displays this letter. It can be viewed and or linked to at:
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Thank-you
Jeff Lake K8JSL
Webmaster
K8JSL.net, LLC