What: Ham Radio Open House for World Amateur Radio Day 2025 

Who: All amateur radio operators worldwide  

When: WARD is Friday, April 18, 2025, at 0000 UTC until Saturday, April 19, 2025 at 0000 UTC but the Ham Radio Open House can be held any time in April, as works best for your local club.  

Where: A global event covering all regions of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU)  

Why: World Amateur Radio Day, held on April 18 each year, is celebrated worldwide by radio amateurs and their national associations which are organized as member-societies of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). It was on this day in 1925 that the IARU was formed in Paris. American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Co-Founder Hiram Percy Maxim was its first president. A major theme for 2025 is celebrating 100 years of IARU.  

How:  

Get Ready for "Ham Radio Open House" for World Amateur Radio Day 2025

To help promote amateur radio science and technology, and to honor the 100th anniversary of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), ARRL is inviting radio clubs and schools to organize a Ham Radio Open House in April, centered around World Amateur Radio Day on April 18, 2025. The event is intended to highlight the Amateur Radio Service for its development and practice of the latest radio communications and technology, and as a hands-on pathway into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields for the next generation. In April 2025, amateur radio clubs, school stations, and other groups will have the opportunity to advance public knowledge about ham radio by welcoming their communities into their stations for the Ham Radio Open House, around World Amateur Radio Day. The focus will be on scientific advancement and demonstrating cutting-edge technology. This is a chance to not only shape the conversation about modern ham radio but also to show how it serves as a steppingstone and testbed for many young people pursing future STEM education and high-tech careers.  

One Million Acts of Science

ARRL has teamed up with HamSCI -- Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation -- and the science community organization SciStarter to invite the public to participate in One Million Acts of Science during April, which is Citizen Science Month. By hosting a Ham Radio Open House at your group’s station on April 18, you'll introduce individuals who might never otherwise find out about today’s amateur radio where science and technology intersect with fun and learning. Clubs are encouraged to showcase the latest weak-signal modes, such as FT8 using WSJT-X or other digital modes. This could be a great opportunity to explore new areas of amateur radio and demonstrate how the service is at the cutting edge of electrical engineering.  

HamSCI and SciStarter Collaborations

HamSCI (hamsci.org) has built a community by connecting radio amateurs and citizen scientists in ionospheric research. The Solar Eclipse QSO Parties held during the 2023 annular eclipse and the 2024 total solar eclipse provided significant data for researchers studying the ionosphere's response to the eclipses, wrapped into fun operating events.   SciStarter is working to engage people from all walks of life in one million acts of science during Citizen Science Month in April (scistarter.org/citizensciencemonth), to promote public participation in scientific research. ARRL’s Ham Radio Open House provides a unique opportunity to help achieve that goal.

Imagine your open house visitors seeing a Software-Defined Radio (SDR) waterfall display and then hearing what the signal they see on the screen sounds like—that’s an act of science! Taking it a step further, let them take a Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) measurement of an antenna, modify it slightly, and take another reading. They’ve just gathered data, made a physical change, and measured the impact of their modifications. Not only is that an additional act of science, but it's also a great way to engage people in hands-on learning about ham radio. With this kind of involvement, visitors will be more likely to return for a club meeting or participate in future events. Clubs will be asked to track those acts of science and submit a report to ARRL detailing the number of acts and the total number of visitors.

Amateur radio experimenters were the first to discover that the short-wave spectrum could support long-distance radio signal propagation. In the rush to use these shorter wavelengths, amateur radio was “in grave danger of being pushed aside,” the IARU’s history has noted. Amateur Radio pioneers met in Paris in 1925 and created the IARU to promote the interests of amateur radio worldwide and to protect and enhance its spectrum privileges. Today, the IARU is a federation consisting of more than 160 national amateur radio organizations in as many countries and separate territories. The International Secretariat of the IARU is ARRL  The National Association for Amateur Radio® in the United States.

On World Amateur Radio Day, all radio amateurs are invited to take to the airwaves to enjoy our global friendship with other amateurs, and to show our skills and capabilities to the public.

World Amateur Radio Day is not a contest but rather an opportunity to “talk” about the value of amateur radio to the public and our fellow amateur colleagues. It is also a great opportunity to talk about your radio club and amateur radio in local media as a lead-up to ARRL Field Day (held each year during the fourth full weekend in June) and another ham radio related activity in your community – such as volunteers who serve in local emergency communication readiness including the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service^®.

Here are just a few ways to participate in, and promote, World Amateur Radio Day:  

• Get a station on the air! Create your own personal “event” to talk about amateur radio to others, including family and friends.
• Find out more about World Amateur Radio Day by checking the IARU website and other Resources listed below.
• Create and hold a special net or on-air event on World Amateur Radio Day to raise the level of attention for the celebration, and to encourage other hams to talk about our hobby. Consider creating and offering a commemorative certificate for contacting your special activation. It can be an electronic one as these are cost effective.
• Get the word out! If you are an ARRL Public Information Coordinator, Public Information Officer, or responsible for radio club publicity, send a press release and conduct some public relations outreach to highlight the day and/or events. Talk about all of the activities radio amateurs have continued to support during the pandemic, and how amateur radio serves our communities. Find recent examples of amateur radio in-the-news at www.arrl.org/media-hits.
• Promote your personal World Amateur Radio Day activity(ies) on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook by using the hashtag #WorldAmateurRadioDay. Make sure you send it to various clubs, reflectors, and media.

Join us in celebrating World Amateur Radio Day and all the ways amateur radio brings us together!

Resources

ARRL  The National Association for Amateur Radio^®
www.arrl.org/world-amateur-radio-day(this page)

IARU
www.iaru.org/on-the-air/world-amateur-radio-day

IARU Region 2: The Americas
www.iaru-r2.org/en/on-the-air/world-amateur-radio-day/

Article: "World Amateur Radio is April 18," ARRL News
Article: “Why World Amateur Radio Day is key to highlight crucial service,” ITU News Magazine