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.

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.

April 18 is the day for all of Amateur Radio to celebrate and tell the world about the science we can help teach, the community service we can provide and the fun we have.

We hope you will join in the fun and education that is World Amateur Radio Day!

YOTA Italia as part of ARI, and his local clubs based in Rome Region, organizes from June 21^st to 24^th in Montecassino – central Italy area around 100 km south of Rome – a YOTA Subregional Camp, with up to 40 youngsters to share a great experience. We invite all youngsters in IARU Region 1 and mainly those in Mediterranean countries.YOTA Italia as part of ARI, and his local clubs based in Rome Region, organizes from June 21^st to 24^th in Montecassino – central Italy area around 100 km south of Rome – a YOTA Subregional Camp, with up to 40 youngsters to share a great experience. We invite all youngsters in IARU Region 1 and mainly those in Mediterranean countries.A detailed program will be published close to the event and it will include several radio activities, a day to share radio knowledge with Scouts, ARDF and a visit to the Montecassino Abbey. An amateur radio station will be on air from the camp operated by all the youngsters with a special callsign for the event.

Are you interested? Find here more information and a detailed description. Use this link to apply for the event.

YOTA, as you know, is expanding its horizons more and more from this year onwards and we are glad to announce our first YOTA IARU R1 sub-project! It’s called Nordics On The Air (or NOTA for short) and will be hosted by SSA. NOTA is essentially going to be a camp for young radio amateurs which will take place at Hemsö fortress in the middle of Sweden near Sundsvall/Härnösand. It will take place from March 1^st to March 4^th 2018. The camp is directed towards all the Nordic countries. The camp will be held on an island which is connected to the mainland by ferry. The campsite is inside an old large military base in a mountain. The shack and cafeteria are inside the mountain as well. There will be many outdoor activities during the camp. Breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as snacks will be catered and the food will correspond to normal Scandinavian food traditions. As of now, all the gear is set! Special thanks to everyone who helped making this event possible as well as a big thank you to all our sponsors!

At the camp there will be 3 working HF stations covering 20, 40 & 80 meters plus VHF using the call SK8YOTA. Here are some of the activities included in the program:

Tournament “Battle of Hemsön”
Lectures & Theory
Mountain BBQ
QSO contest
Off air contest
Along with other team building activities
Kit building

We hope to see you there and have a lot of fun at the Nordics On The Air camp!

In 2018 the Youth Contesting program of IARU R1 will be continued. Young members are invited to take part in a contest from one of the following stations:

• ES5TV: ARI International DX contest (5−6 May 2018)
• 9A1A: CQ M International DX contest (12−13 May 2018) 
• EC2DX: His Maj. King of Spain contest (23−24 June 2018) 
• 4O3A: CQWW RTTY contest (29−30 September 2018)

Are you interested? Here you will find more information and also the application link.