10/22/2020

International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 1 President Don Beattie, G3BJ, urged member-societies attending the virtual Region 1 General Conference on October 16 to keep an eye on future issues affecting amateur radio and IARU Region 1 (Europe, Africa, and the Mideast). In closing the 6-day meeting, Beattie said he looked forward to the planned in-person workshop on the future of amateur radio, set for next year, and expressed the hope that the COVID-19 situation would allow the event to go forward as early as possible.

Beattie also challenged member-societies to increase their focus on "'tomorrow' issues - tomorrow's people, tomorrow's technologies, tomorrow's activities, and tomorrow's ways of communicating with those we represent." He also asked member-societies to communicate with their younger members and "take account of their views to help reshape their societies for the future."

The week-long virtual assembly included discussion of papers submitted by member-societies, the Executive Committee, and other IARU components. This resulted in some 50 recommendations to the Final Plenary Meeting in areas of finance, HF, VHF, EMC, youth, and IARU Region 1 governance. Some 120 delegates were present for the Plenary, and heads of national delegations considered and voted on these recommendations, which will result in actions and policy changes in IARU Region 1.

Some new appointments were made in IARU Region 1, to succeed people who were retiring from their roles. The new appointments were:


o Dick Harms, PA2DW, chair, IARU Region 1 VHF Committee


o Wolf Mahr, OE1MHZ, chair, IARU Region 1 EMC Committee


o Barry Lewis, G4SJH, chair, IARU Spectrum and Regulatory Liaison Committee


o Philipp Springer, DK6SP, chair, IARU Region 1 Youth Working Group


o Gaspar Mir­, EA6AMM, IARU Region 1 Monitoring System (IARUMS) Coordinator



Beattie thanked those retiring and recognized their contributions.

"Looking back on our first Virtual General Conference delegates agreed that it was different from General Conferences held in the past," Beattie said. "Although we did not have opportunities for social interaction between delegates, we can look back on a successful and very effective meeting. We are already looking forward to our hopefully in-person workshop in Novi Sad, Serbia, in 2021.

Papers[1] discussed at the conference are available for download.­ - Thanks to IARU Region 1.­


[1] https://conf.iaru-r1.org/part-1/documents/

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