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 (IARU) 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 wavelength as Amateur Radio was “in grave danger of being pushed aside, 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. 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.
Today, Amateur Radio is more popular than ever, with over 3,000,000 licensed operators!
World Amateur Radio Day is the day when operators can show their capabilities to the public and enjoy global friendship with other Amateurs worldwide.
In Saint Lucia. The Saint Lucia Amateur Radio Club (SLARC) celebrates this special occasion on or around the date on a Saturday when most of the operators are off work.
Over the past three years it was celebrated in Castries, Gros Islet and Anse la Raye-Canaries. This year it will be celebrated today in Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia.