According to the decision of the IARU Region 1 Executive Commitee on 18.04.2010 the 7th IARU-R1 HST Championship will take place from 5-9 October 2010 in Rawa Mazowiecka, Poland. The venue is located about 80 km south-west of the capital Warszawa and 25 km south-east from Skierniewice the closest bigger city in the area.

Detailed information can be found on the HST Championship page www.hst2010.pl

The official toll following the 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Qinghai province in north west China as at 10am local time 18 April is 1706 deaths and 12,128 people injured. Local authorities estimate that up to 90 percent of buildings collapsed.

The Chinese Radio Sports Association (CRSA) reports that amateur radio rescue teams from An Hui, Qinghai, Beijing, Shandong, Jiangsu, Sichuan provinces have joined the disaster mitigation efforts.

The rescue and recovery efforts following the quake that occurred on 14 April are difficult in the area which is a mountainous plateau more than 4,000 metres above sea level that experiences with very low overnight temperatures.

The amateur radio teams have set up VHF and UHF repeaters to provide quick support communications, 7050 kHz and 7060 kHz are their main HF QRGs, and sometimes 14270 kHz in 20 meter band has been used.

Destination: Sofia, Bulgaria. Event: IARU Region 1 Executive Committee meeting from April 17-18, 2010.  Participants: Hans - PB2T, Tafa - 6W1KI , Dennis - ZS4BS, Andy - HB9JOE, Panayot - LZ1US, Betty - F6IOC, Nikola - 9A5W, Hani - OD5TE, Colin - G3PSM, DK4VW - Ulli, OE1MCU - Michael, YV5AMH - Reinaldo and LA2RR - Ole.

IARU Region 1 Executive Committee members and WG chairmen participating at the yearly Executive committee meeting struggled to reach Sofia from various parts of the World due the Iceland Eyjafjallajokull's volcanic ashes.

From flight cancelations, to airport closures and participants stranded in airports, only few people made it to Sofia  (Tafa - 6W1KI, Dennis - ZS4BS, Andy - HB9JOE, Panayot - LZ1US, OE1MCU - Michael) and the rest are either stranded at the transit airport or on the way back home in any possible mean of transportation.

Giving enough time for everyone to be back, the meeting will now take place on Sunday April 18, through a webconference.

Each year on 18 April, radio amateurs celebrate World Amateur Radio Day. On that day in 1925 the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) was founded. In 2010, the theme of the event is "Amateur Radio: Combining communication experience with modern digital techniques."

Amateur radio has truly entered the 21st Century. In less than 100 years amateur radio communications has evolved from crude spark-gap technology to digital signal processing and software-defined radios. The amateur's HF choice between voice and CW has been expanded to a broad range of communication choices from television to spread spectrum.

Amateur digital communications has evolved. At the end of World War II until the early 1980's, radioteletype, also known as RTTY, was the only HF digital mode available to amateurs. In the 1980's, AMTOR made its debut along with the increased popularity and availability of personal computers. AMTOR was the first amateur digital communication mode to offer error-free text transmission.

The following information has been received from Jim Linton VK3PC, IARU Region 3 Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator.

The Chinese Radio Sports Association (CRSA) has asked that the frequencies of 7050kKHz and 7060kHz be kept clear for emergency ham radio communications following a devastating earthquake in Yu Shu district, Qinghai province. A number of radio amateurs are already active in supporting the rescue and recovery efforts including BG9UA, BG9UP and BG9UO.

The emergency communication team of Anhui amateur radio society, led by Mr Du BG6CEV was flying to Qinghai today (15 April) to bring communication equipment. The earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale occurred on the morning of Tuesday has left 589 people dead, nearly 10,000 injured and 10,000 families needing to be resettled due to 99% of houses damaged.

Yu Shu located in a plateau with temperatures fall to -5 degrees (minus five degrees) making conditions bad for those without shelter as well as hampering rescue efforts. Water, electricity and other facilities are cut.

(Report provided by Fan Bin BA1RB, CRSA Coordinator of the IARU Region 3 Disaster Communications Conmmittee via Jim Linton VK3PC)

ictQATAR has granted today JY5FX - Jamal Rayyan an amateur radio license to operate from Qatar under A71/JY5FX.  Jamal, a prominent Al Jazeera News Anchor, was granted today the first reciprocal Amateur Radio license for a foreigner to operator in Qatar. This wouldn't have been possible without the support of QARS and the Hams in Qatar. Congratulations Jamal!

Check the following link on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdG4cTmBTiE where Jamal announces on the air his Jordanian Amateur Radio Callsign (JY5FX).

Global Simulated Emergency Test – May 2010
Saturday May 15th 2010 04.00 - 08.00 UTC

IARU Region 1 invites the HQ-Stations of all IARU member societies and stations of Emergency Communications Groups to participate in a Global Simulated Emergency Test on Saturday May 15th, 2010 04.00 – 08.00 UTC. The operation will take place on and near the emergency Centre-of-Activity (CoA) frequencies on 80, 40, 20, 17 and 15 metres (+-QRM ).