Every April 18, radio amateurs worldwide
take to the airwaves in celebration of World Amateur Radio Day. It was on that
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 over 3,000,000 licensed operators!
More about this here: World Amateur Radio
Day