Swiss Interest Group Future of Amateur Radio
Consultation on the proposed
Restructuring of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU)
how come this seems not to interest anybody? Member Societies suppress any discussion! Yes, IARU global is intellectually bankrupt
Let us get rid of IARU global covert operations completely and immediately (both 1989 and 2017 constitutions).
Let us continue with the three functioning, independent IARU R1, IARU R2 and IARU R3.
Attention:
There is no Financial Plan in this vague proposal full of illusions and unsubstantiated romantic promises!
About Us
We have been witnessing the decline of IARU during the last few years.
In April 2025, IARU distributed this document, apparently as a result from a twenty year long process, to IARU’s Member Societies, globally.
They were given an extremely short time to answer until end of May 2025.
For a full description on what happened in IARU and in USKA during the first years of this millenium, see our website www.iaru.ch.
People have no idea what IARU (global) actually does. They never had. IARU never published annual report, financial statements, audit report, budget, strategy, commissions, committees and the like.
What we do know is that all Member Societies are obliged to make a tribute payment of 1,80 Swiss Francs per member per year. What for? Why does IARU global act as a covert operation and why do Member Societies tolerate this?
In 2017, IARU global incorporated in Cham/Switzerland and hence is an association under Swiss Law. Please consult www.iaru.ch for all details.
Important: currently valid constitution is in text here, and as signed officially registered document here.
Let us analyze the situation
all warnings have been ignored by IARU:
Here are the main findings of the IARU R1 2021 Workshop
«Shaping the Future» (StF):
- Fact: Amateur Radio is not relevant (our fault!)
- Don Beattie: Refrain from “marketing” before you have repaired the product!
- Amateur Radio failed to adapt activities to modern ICT in time
- Therefore, Amateur Radio lost its appeal for young people completely. No benefit in socialising with ICT-knowledgeless senior citizens with their boring beer clubs.
- Today’s amateurs have become mere consumers – in contrast to the experimenters we once were.
- Senior Citizens form the majority in the Member Societies and fiercly prevent any change
- Not one, but two generations of club leadership are missing
- IARU R1’s «Shaping the Future» initiative ultimatively failed, mainly due to obstruction by Member Society and IARU bureaucrats
When you discover you're riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount
As SM0AOM states on QRZ: Reorganising the IARU can be compared to "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic"".
i.e. completely idiotic and totally useless !
Proposed IARU Restructuring
is a diversionary manoeuvre to distract from the real causes of the failure.
would be a time consuming alibi exercise with no use whatsoever, a waste of resources and time we do not have!
the dead horse remains dead! regardless of «structure»!
IARU and Member Societies miss on answering the question:
where did the masses of young STEM people go ?
Fact is:
young STEM people do NOT need us.
but without them, we cannot exist!
do we want today’s arrogant and dishonest “IARU global”?
No!
Public Discussion
Terrifying
no Member Society has invited its members to comment IARU Administrative Council’s proposal. Why this secrecy ?
Please contact your Member Society directly for appropriate action.
A public discussion takes place on QRZ Forums, but draws little attention.
Why is no one interested in this important matter?
YOU SHOULD !
IARU global did not fail because of its structure, but because of its dishonest management team at global level.
IARU global is superfluous. Needed work can be easily accomplished by mutually cooperating R1, R2 and R3, including representation at international bodies.
No one trusts both IARU AC and legal board anymore, caused by the 2017 scandal to clandestinely start a parallel covert IARU.
Recent failures to defend 1,2 GHz and 3 GHz bands. One man show instead of allowing teamwork with qualified people. Wrong management decision, not wrong structure.
Our recommendation
Let us get rid of IARU global covert operations completely and immediately (both 1989 and 2017 constitutions).
Let us continue with the three functioning, independent IARU R1, IARU R2 and IARU R3.
The Challenge
A much larger community (we call them “experimenters”) than just “radioamateurs” needs to defend its interests, such as
- frequency allocations for all citizen radio activities (ISM, Family, Personal, Amateur, Rescue, Wifi, etc)
- Right to technical experimentation (both hardware and software)
- Protection from manmade electromagnetic disturbance (EMC, intruder)
- Protection from non-tariff barriers in international exchange of experimental material of all sorts
click to enlarge
