ARLA/CLUSTER: 18 de Abril é o Dia Mundial do Radioamador

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Amateur Radio: Your Gateway to Wireless Communication

World Amateur Radio Day is celebrated each year on April 18 in
recognition of the anniversary of the founding of the IARU in Paris in
1925

At the IARU Administrative Council meeting in September 2013, the
theme 'Amateur Radio: Your Gateway to Wireless Communication' was
adopted by the Council for World Amateur Radio Day, Friday, April 18,
2014.

Amateur radio has truly entered the 21st Century. In less than 100
years amateur radio communications has evolved from crude spark-gap
technology to digital signal processing and software-defined radios.
The amateur's HF choice between voice and CW has been expanded to a
broad range of communication choices from television to spread
spectrum.

Amateur digital communications has evolved. At the end of World War II
until the early 1980's, radioteletype, also known as RTTY, was the
only HF digital mode available to amateurs. In the 1980's, AMTOR made
its debut along with the increased popularity and availability of
personal computers. AMTOR was the first amateur digital communication
mode to offer error-free text transmission.

>From the early 1980's, the rate of change increased dramatically.
Packet Radio emerged and for a period of time was the most popular
form of amateur digital communication. As microprocessor technology
became more sophisticated, there was a rise in modes such as Clover,
PACTOR, and G-TOR that were capable of error-free exchanges under
marginal band conditions. In the late 1990's, there was an invention
that harnessed personal computer technology to create PSK31.

In the VHF-UHF frequency ranges, Packet Radio had less activity at the
close of the century than it did in the 1980's and 1990's. However,
Packet Radio was reborn as the popular Automatic Packet Reporting
System (APRS) and traditional packet systems still exist to support
public service activities with greatly enhanced functionality.

Thanks to individual amateurs, hams now enjoy digital meteor scatter
contacts and even moonbounce on VHF and UHF frequencies with modest
stations. An ordinary computer sound device and software that can be
downloaded free from the internet is all that is needed.

The Japan Amateur Radio League developed the D-STAR digital voice and
data standard and there has been significant amateur growth as
amateurs establish D-STAR repeater networks on the VHF, UHF and
microwave bands.

All of these development have inspired amateurs around the world to
experiment in their own HF, VHF, UHF and microwave band digital
communication.

Activities on the occasion of World Amateur Radio Day  can be a great
opportunity to spread the word about what the "hams" are doing in the
21st Century.

This year, April 18 is a weekday. However, that doesn't prevent the
public activity from taking place on the weekend after April 18. The
idea is to gain as much exposure and publicity for amateur radio as
possible.

WARD 2014 is an opportunity for amateurs to give presentations about
ham radio to such groups as civic organizations, charitable groups,
etc. For example, Rotary Clubs and Lions Clubs are only two of many
worldwide organizations who have weekly meetings and these
organizations are always looking for interesting and informative
programs to present to their membership. There are very few
experienced hams who can't talk for 15 or 20 minutes about ham radio
in a positive fashion.  Don't make the talk too technical.  Stress the
fun aspects of ham radio and the opportunity to assist in times of
disaster. Keep the presentation to about 20 minutes to allow time for
questions.

Amateurs can also show their expertise in digital and wireless
communications, to those in the community who have “wireless
communication” interests, but haven’t considered the association with
Amateur

Fonte: IARU