Emery
McClendon, KB9IBW
2008 Hamvention® Special Achievement Award
A life long resident of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Emery
has
been an Amateur Radio Operator for 16 years. After
getting into Ham Radio he became very interested in
organizing
Military Special Events. Having served
four  years in the U.S.
Air Force, and two years in the Indiana Air National
Guard he wanted to use his hobby to show support for our Troops and
Veterans. In 2001 he was asked to make
Amateur Radio a
part of The Vietnam Wall Experience for the City Of Fort Wayne.
In 2003 he
was asked to organize Amateur Radio into the Fort Wayne Glen Beck Rally
For
America. The events went so well that he
was asked to organize Amateur Radio for the National Rally For America
held in
Huntington, West Virginia.
After
those events he came up with the idea for ARMAD or
Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day in 2003. ARMAD
was started as a way to have Amateur
Radio serve as a tool for the people of our communities to be able to
express
"live" support and appreciation for our Troops, Veterans, Military
Retired;
and First Responders. The event became
popular, and spread to other communities at the request of several
Military
Support Groups that he belonged to which had developed an interest in
having Amateur Radio
as a part of their activities. This
resulted in Amateur Radio being introduced to thousands of people
worldwide
that otherwise would have never known about our public service.
He is active with our two local Amateur Radio Clubs, and
gives presentations about Amateur Radio to community groups so that our
hobby can
continue to grow.
ARMAD has resulted in many TV, Radio, and media stories
over
the past five years giving the hobby community exposure. For
more info see http://www.armad.net
Created
4/12/2008 HR
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