Consultation on the proposed restructuring of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU)

“Consultation on the proposed restructuring of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU)”
Apr 18, 2025
The IARU Administrative Council has released a paper entitled “Consultation on the proposed restructuring of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU)” (PDF).

The Region 2 Executive Committee is sponsoring TWO informational Zoom meetings to discuss this document. All Region 2 Members Societies are encouraged to join one or both of the Zoom meetings to discuss the paper, ask questions and propose any recommended changes to the document. It is important that society leaders review the paper before the Zoom meetings and be prepared to discuss its contents.

One Zoom session will be conducted in SPANISH on Monday, May 5, 2025 at 2359 UTC moderated by Ramón Santoyo XE1KK, the former President of IARU Region 2.

The second Zoom session will be conducted in ENGLISH on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at 2359 UTC moderated by George Gorsline VE3YV, current President of Region 2.

The Zoom meeting information for both meetings is shown below. Again, please be aware that the Monday May 5, 2025 Zoom meeting will be in SPANISH and the Wednesday May 7, 2025 Zoom meeting will be in English

Link to the meeting in English
Topic: IARU Informational Meeting English language Session
Time: May 7, 2025 2359 UTC
Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86183716447?pwd=7fr0dZEkI2j9n64paDMKwy7Xc7DGnO.1
Meeting ID: 861 8371 6447
Passcode: 062044
73, Rod Stafford W6ROD
IARU Region 2 Secretary

Also available in Español (Spanish).

https://www.iaru-r2.org/en/consultation-on-the-restructuring-of-iaru/

 

From the PDF document here https://www.iaru-r2.org/wp-content/...tion-on-Proposed-Restructuring_march_2025.pdf

1. Executive Summary
1.1 Overview
This consultation document seeks to provide Member-Societies with a clear and
comprehensive overview of the proposed structure of the International Amateur Radio
Union (IARU), detailing its purpose, context, benefits, challenges, implementation plan, and
indicators of success.
This new structure seeks to replace the existing model comprising four entities:
International Secretariat and three regions (IARU Region 1, IARU Region 2, and IARU Region
3) with a global organization better equipped to address current and future challenges and
enhance its service to the global amateur radio community.
3
The goal of this document is to inform Member-Societies of the proposed plan and seek their
feedback.
Transparency and engagement are a priority and IARU plans to provide regular updates on
progress and opportunities for ongoing feedback through email and the IARU Calendar.
​

I hope this is intriguing enough for folks to take a look at the entire proposal. My impression, this is from hard won practical experience, directly affects our hobby, is of crucial importance.

 

Things are changing very fast in the world at least they're trying to keep up. Getting everyone together for committee meetings can be a real challenge, and finalizing things been almost being possible.



73 from, Steve
The K0UO " Rhombic Antenna Farm" 2 miles of wire in the Air & On the AIR daily

 

Making things 'Global' will always solve all the problems. Maybe put Iran in Charge, or better yet, fully automate it with Google AI and no human intervention whatsoever.
What could go wrong. Murphy's Second Law: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

Part of the issue is that hams themselves are not IARU members, only the national organizations, such as ARRL, RSGB. So IARU can seem a bit remote, but it does have an important role to play, especially when it comes to frequency planning and regulation.

I think it's a positive step to move to a global organization, get some consistency and remove a lot of duplicated effort.

 

And, of course, many of us are not members of those national organisations...

Martin (G8FXC)

 

I think the restructure is a good idea. However it did strike me as a concern that a lot of the IARU's burden is in fact taken up by the ARRL on its behalf, because IARU lacks the resource itself. I don't think that is a healthy way to proceed in the long term.

 

The problem with the IARU is the same as for their member societies;
its lacks legitimacy. Only a diminishing fraction of radio amateurs belong to the societies, and they have become more and more self-serving. They primarily work for the benefits of the leadership itself, not the members.

They do not represent the wishes of radio amateurs in general any longer. Also, their membership is ageing, and it is more and more difficult recruiting to leadership positions.

No reorganisation can change the fact that amateur radio nowadays has become an actor on "a market without demand".

 

Let us try to change that. 73

 

Untrue, look at the recent efforts to preserve 23cm access in region 1.

Mild success but what were they up against!!!?!

 

Thanks for the post. We'll be reviewing the document, attending the Zoom meeting, and keeping our members informed.
— Mike, W4OPS

 

As a new national organization, we would love to be a fly on the wall at some of the meetings. We hope one day we will be invited to the table, but we agree with your statement. We see this as a positive move as long as it can be implemented with hams still being represented at the local levels.

 

Reorganising the IARU can be compared to "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic". Currently amateur radio in general is facing systemic issues, which are closely related to aging demographics and to lack of interest from youth. This is reflected in shrinking membership numbers, and in a lot of countries shrinking numbers in general.

Add to this a general disinterest from the spectrum regulators for the requirements of "non-commercial" radio users, which is not surprising when spectrum can be auctioned off for billions. This is also reflected in their disinterest for the general quality of amateur radio.

National societies are, with few exceptions, "top-heavy" and lack actual membership influence on their policies. This is in turn caused by a general apathy and "leave it to George" mentality among the members, which also fits the agendas of the control-freaks who "run" organised amateur radio very well.

I have witnessed this from a very close range, and the chances of seeing an alternative organisation such as the NARA being admitted to take part in IARU work are very slim indeed. All forms of opposition or reform activities, regardless of aims or scope, are usually regarded as "disloyalty".