CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS

Issues that are very important to us as radio hobbyists may not even be "on the radar" of our elected representatives -- unless we put it there. If a representative hears about an issue from a dozen constituents, he or she will take notice and want to find out more about it.

We encourage you to contact your elected officials on matters of importance to the radio hobby, and if you live in the United States, it's very easy through a website called <http://www.governmentguide.com>, a service of AOL. Just click on the link below and enter your Zip code or city and state, and the site will generate a list of your federal, state and local elected officials, as well as links for contacting them via e-mail. (In our experience, the local links are not always up-to-date, so double-check those for accuracy.)

Remember -- US Senators and Members of Congress are responsible for federal laws and oversight of federal agencies, such as the FCC. Do not contact them regarding state or local matters. State representatives (assembly members or delegates in some states) and senators deal with state law and state government agencies, so contact them only with regard to statewide issues, such as statewide antenna/tower standards. Finally, local council members are your city/town representatives, who deal with local matters including zoning laws, regulations regarding building permits, etc. Contact them about matters decided on a local level.

The February 2006 issue of CQ carried an excellent guide to grassroots lobbying by N3IJ and AJ3X, titled, "Effective Lobbying In Support of Amateur Radio - Step by Step." As a service to our readers, we have posted it here as a PDF file that may be printed and distributed for use in your own efforts to protect amateur radio in your community.

 Effective Lobbying In Support ofAmateur Radio — Step by Step

Here's how to make contact:

Click on <http://www.governmentguide.com> or type it into your browser. Then type in your Zip code and follow the prompts.

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© Copyright 2006, CQ Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced or republished, including posting to a website, in part or in whole, by any means, without the express written permission of the publisher, CQ Communications, Inc. Hyperlinks to this page are permitted.