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World Amateur Radio Day
16 April 2013 | by Today is the 88th Anniversary of the founding of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) which is World Amateur Radio Day. Didn’t you know that? Well neither did I until I worked CR5IARU on 20m PSK31. Not that I’d have known from working the station. I had to use QRZ.com to find out what the special call was all about.
Perhaps it’s just me but I thought the purpose of a special event call was to raise awareness of some particular event or anniversary. In pursuit of which the special event station should give out this information on every contact. But too often it seems to be taken as an opportunity to work as many stations as possible, contest style.
Another special call that I worked today on 20m PSK31 was HF2013TATO. When I asked the operator Jarek what the special call was for my request was ignored. So I had to go on the internet again. From what I could deduce, this special call is to raise awareness of the role of the father in the family. There may be more to it than that but my Polish is not very good. 🙂 But I do know that “tato” means “dad.”
2 Responses to “World Amateur Radio Day”
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Julian,
The ARRL has done some publicity of World Amateur Radio Day here in the States, through its website, publications and email bulletins. Here is their Web page, which includes a listing of special event stations:
http://www.arrl.org/news/2013-world-amateur-radio-day-april-18-celebrates-100-years-of-disaster-communications.
BTW, the actual date of the event is this Thursday, April 18. Some of the stations, like CR5IARU, are on the air for several days, including some in advance.
I also worked CR5IARU yesterday, and I did get a bit of information from Mike about the special event. He was working a bunch of people on PSK31 that day.