World Amateur Radio Day

Every April 18, radio amateurs worldwide take to the airwaves in celebration of World Amateur Radio Day. It was on this day in 1925 that the International Amateur Radio Union was formed in Paris.

Amateur Radio experimenters were the first to discover that the short wave spectrum — far from being a wasteland — could support worldwide propagation. In the rush to use these shorter wavelengths, Amateur Radio was “in grave danger of being pushed aside,” the IARU’s history has noted. Amateur Radio pioneers met in Paris in 1925 and created the IARU to support Amateur Radio worldwide.

Just two years later, at the International Radiotelegraph Conference, Amateur Radio gained the allocations still recognized today — 160, 80, 40, 20, and 10 meters. Since its founding, the IARU has worked tirelessly to defend and expand the frequency allocations for Amateur Radio. Thanks to the support of enlightened administrations in every part of the globe, radio amateurs are now able to experiment and communicate in frequency bands strategically located throughout the radio spectrum. From the 25 countries that formed the IARU in 1925, the IARU has grown to include 160 member-societies in three regions. IARU Region 1 includes Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Northern Asia. Region 2 covers the Americas, and Region 3 is comprised of Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific island nations, and most of Asia. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has recognized the IARU as representing the interests of Amateur Radio.

Today, Amateur Radio is more popular than ever, with more than 3,000,000 licensed operators!

World Amateur Radio Day is the day when IARU Member-Societies can show our capabilities to the public and enjoy global friendship with other Amateurs worldwide.

Special Theme for World Amateur Radio Day 2021 Announced

The IARU Administrative Council has chosen “Amateur Radio: Home but Never Alone” as the theme for World Amateur Radio Day, Sunday, 18 April 2021. Faced with a pandemic that forced the adoption of extreme physical isolation to reduce the spread of the virus, the worldwide amateur radio community responded positively to overcome the resulting social isolation. In the days and weeks following the onset of the pandemic radio amateurs reached out spontaneously to one another via the airwaves at the local, national, and global levels. Local “wellness nets” provided friendly voices and regular status checks to those, especially the elderly, who are confined to their homes. “Stay safe” special event stations in dozens of countries reminded us all of the importance of limiting the spread of the virus. On-the-air activity was at an unprecedented level throughout the remainder of 2020, with record-breaking numbers of entries in the major contests.

While the development of effective vaccines offers hope for a return to some semblance of normality later in 2021, the pandemic will still be with us when we mark World Amateur Radio Day 2021. This theme offers the opportunity for our member-societies to tailor meaningful messages to the general public about the values of the global amateur radio community.

We have provided a poster for World Amateur Radio Day. Any club may download it and use it to promote WARD in their area. The poster comes in two sizes: 61cm x 91cm and a small (A4) flyer.

Groups should promote their WARD activity on social media by using the hash tag #WorldAmateurRadioDay on Twitter and Facebook. IARU will list all WARD activities on this page. To have your WARD activity listed, send an email to IARU Secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ.

Australia: The Bayside District Amateur Radio Society (B.D.A.R.S.) will activate its club station VK4BAR during WARD.

Bahrain: The Bahrain Amateur Radio Society will operate A91WARD 14 – 18 April 2021 using SSB, FT8, and DMR modes.

Canada: Radio Amateurs of Canada are sponsoring a “Get on the Air on World Amateur Radio Day” special event. Details at https://www.rac.ca/ward2021/

Canada: From 1700 – 1830z The Canada Hub will be hosting a special version of its weekly Trans-Canada Net and inviting check-ins from all over the world. The net will be led by VE5UO operating the special event callsign VE5RAC. Each person who checks in will later be able to download a free commemorative certificate confirming the contact. The Canada Hub is a nationwide network of repeaters available on AllStar (517300), IRLP (9029), EchoLink (VE7NZ‑L), and Hamshack Hotline (94069). We welcome connections from anyone, anywhere. More information at www.thecanadahub.ca

Dominican Republic: On Thursday April 15 at 8:00 pm local/EST Radio Club Dominicano will have a virtual talk with the topic “IARU, PRESENT and FUTURE”*(In Spanish) by Ramón Santoyo President of the IARU Region 2 via: 
ZOOM / YOUTUBEZOOM ID 865 8531 1845 access code rcd
YOUTUBE http://bit.ly/RCDyouTubeChannel
On Sunday 18 April the club station will be activated on different bands and modes.

Hungary: The Hungarian Amateur Radio Society, MRASZ, will celebrate WARD with 2 short contests on the 80 and 2 meter bands. The objective is to draw attention to young operators and keep our eldest generation active as well. https://www.mrasz.org/news

India: Amateur Radio Convention and Conference Samity (ARCCS) VU2GIN is holding several events including the activation of AU6ARD 16 – 25 April; details at https://ward.hamconvention.net/

Italy: The A.R.I. club of Como will operate II2OM 15 to 18 April for WARD.

United Kingdom: The RSGB’s new Friendship on the Air Award links with this year’s World Amateur Radio Day theme of “Home but never alone”. The RSGB award celebrates amateur radio friendship and gives UK radio amateurs an opportunity to get on the air, represent their club and have a proper chat with radio amateurs across the airwaves. There are monthly and annual awards for individuals, clubs and the highest-scoring club in each region. For further information visit the Society’s website: rsgb.org/friendship-award

United States: The ARRL has created a web page in support of World Amateur Radio Day: http://www.arrl.org/world-amateur-radio-day

Puerto Rico: The Federación de Radio Aficionados de Puerto Rico will be on the air for World Amateur Radio Day on 2 meters and HF. There will be special certificates and eQSL’s for those who contact KP4FRA. More information on www.frapr.org and Facebook page Federacion Frapr.

The TEN-TEC Legacy Nets returns in 2021 to celebrate this year’s World Amateur Radio Day theme operating across three bands (80m,40m,20m) in 4‑hour groupings on April 18^th. A schedule of bands and operating times will be posted the day before the event here: http://groups.io/g/TENTECLEGACYNETS . Participants are encouraged to check dxwatch.com for operating frequencies. Net Control stations will use Netlogger.org for logging to eliminate pile-ups and increase accuracy. Netlogger Net Name will be “World Amateur Radio Day Event.” Once logged in, confirm the operating band/frequency at the top of the page. The Netlogger Chat window invites your “Home but Never Alone” story with possible readout on-air. All contributions will be forwarded to the IARU/WARD. A special event Certificate of Achievement will be emailed to each participant crediting band(s) “worked.” Check-ins who work all Bands earn a “Clean Sweep” Certificate endorsement. Email W4OVT if your email is not QRZ listed to receive your no-cost Certificate on/before 05/01/21.

VOIP/ECHOLINK *ROC-HAM* Conference node #531091
18 – 19 April 13:00 — 05:00 UTC (9AM EDT-1AM EDT) via VOIP/ECHOLINK *ROC-HAM* Conference node #531091/Allstar #2585. W2JLD, VO1UKZ, GW8SZL, 2W0KYH, Net Controllers. All stations from around the world are encouraged to check in. Special event qsl Card will be available via S.A.S.E.

The Fair Lawn (NJ) Amateur Radio Club will operate club station W2NPT on CW and phone throughout the day on 18 April. In support of the theme of this year’s event the operators will share information about the Health & Welfare Net that the club is running during the pandemic. 

The Disaster Communication Action Team (AL) will operate club station KD1CAT on April 18, 2021 in support of World Amateur Radio Day. DCAT will operate on all HF bands.

source/foto : https://www.iaru.org/on-the-air/world-amateur-radio-day/

Sumber www.orari.or.id