Governor Polis Signs Amateur Radio Week Proclamation as Colorado Hams Prepare for Field Day 2026
It’s Official: Governor Polis Declares Amateur Radio Week in Colorado — and We Earned Every Word
This week, something rare happened: Colorado’s state government looked at what amateur radio operators do — the late-night nets, the wildfire deployments, the SKYWARN watches, the SAR support, the thousands of hours given freely — and put it in writing.
On June 22, 2026, Governor Jared Polis signed an executive proclamation designating June 22–28, 2026, as Amateur Radio Week in the State of Colorado. The proclamation carries the Governor’s signature and the Executive Seal of the State. It names the agencies Colorado hams serve, the programs they sustain, and the community they strengthen — and it does so by name, in an official government document, because the record deserves to reflect the truth.
That truth is this: Colorado’s amateur radio community has been showing up, without pay, without fanfare, for decades. This week, the state of Colorado showed up for them.
Proclamation Highlights
A Century of Communication — and Counting
Governor Polis’s proclamation opens by recognizing over a century of amateur radio, from the first human voice carried over the airwaves to the digitally capable, globally connected operators active today. That history isn’t ornamental — it represents a continuous tradition of technical self-education, voluntary licensing, and operational readiness maintained entirely at the operators’ own expense and initiative. Colorado’s hams aren’t keeping a hobby alive; they’re sustaining a critical communications discipline that predates every digital network we now take for granted.
The Agencies That Depend on Ham Radio
The proclamation is specific about who Colorado hams serve: the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM), Search & Rescue teams, Sheriff’s offices, and Wildland Fire crews. These aren’t ceremonial affiliations. When commercial infrastructure degrades — and in Colorado’s wildfire seasons and mountain terrain, it does — amateur radio operators deploy with their own equipment, on their own time, to fill the gap. The proclamation also recognizes the quieter side of community service: free communications support for parades, bike-a-thons, walk-a-thons, fairs, and charitable public events across the state.
SKYWARN: Hams as the Eyes of the National Weather Service
Governor Polis specifically recognized Colorado hams who serve as weather spotters in the SKYWARN® program of the National Weather Service. SKYWARN spotters provide ground-truth severe weather observations in real time — hail size, tornado sightings, flash flood conditions — that no remote sensor can replicate. In a state where weather can turn lethal fast and affect Search & Rescue operations, wildfire behavior, and public safety decisions, SKYWARN spotters are not a nice-to-have. They are infrastructure.
Field Day: The Proof of Concept — This Weekend
The proclamation’s timing is deliberate. It was signed to coincide with ARRL Field Day, June 27–28, 2026 — a 24-hour emergency preparedness exercise in which amateur radio operators across the country demonstrate the ability to establish self-supporting communications from any location, without commercial power or internet infrastructure. Field Day is both a contest and a demonstration: proof that when the grid goes down, ham radio goes up. Colorado clubs will be activating sites across the state this weekend. Find one near you and see it in action.
Join Us: Volunteer with Colorado ARES
The operators named in this proclamation — the ones staffing SKYWARN nets, deploying alongside Search & Rescue, and standing up Field Day stations at sunrise — are volunteers coordinated through the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES). Colorado ARES links licensed amateur radio operators with the public safety agencies that need them, training them for real-world emergency communications deployment.
If you hold an amateur radio license and want to put it to meaningful use, Colorado ARES is where that starts. Your county needs trained, reliable operators. Your community’s emergency plan has a gap you can fill.
Volunteer with Colorado ARES → coloradoares.org
The proclamation is signed. The week is here. Field Day runs June 27–28. The nets are open — and so is the roster.
