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.

For 2024, the IARU is very pleased to adopt the theme of: “A Cen­tu­ry of Con­nec­tions: Cel­e­brat­ing 100 years of Ama­teur Radio Inno­va­tion, Com­mu­ni­ty, and Advo­ca­cy”.

IARU cel­e­brates its cen­te­nary in 2025. Since its found­ing in Paris, France, IARU has worked tire­less­ly to pro­mote inno­va­tion in ama­teur radio and to encour­age the growth of the ser­vice in com­mu­ni­ties through­out the world.

IARU has rep­re­sent­ed the Ama­teur Ser­vices at inter­na­tion­al and region­al reg­u­la­to­ry bod­ies by rely­ing on our vol­un­teers who come from many coun­tries and com­mu­ni­ties. IARU has been a sec­tor mem­ber of the ITU since 1932 and the work of our vol­un­teers has con­tin­ued since that date with unmatched suc­cess; as was high­light­ed with the accom­plish­ments at WRC-23.

Lead­ing up to our cen­te­nary year, we should take time to reflect on the remark­able achieve­ments of radio ama­teurs over the last 100 years. While the Ama­teur Ser­vices have been in oper­a­tion for over a cen­tu­ry, 1924 was the first year that inter­con­ti­nen­tal ama­teur com­mu­ni­ca­tion became more or less com­mon­place. Since that time radio ama­teurs have made unpar­al­leled advances in tech­nol­o­gy relat­ed to the  Ama­teur Ser­vices that play a crit­i­cal role today in sus­tain­ing world-wide com­mu­ni­ca­tions and allow us to respond to glob­al emergencies. 

World Ama­teur Radio Day is an oppor­tu­ni­ty to reflect on our achieve­ments since 1924. We should cel­e­brate our diverse com­mu­ni­ty and the advances and inno­va­tions we have made as we look for­ward to cel­e­brat­ing the IARU cen­te­nary next year.