Hello, Thank you for your interest in the International Amateur Radio Union. I retired from fulltime employment at ARRL HQ in April 2016 and reassumed the position of IARU Secretary, which I had held previously for 17 years, as a volunteer. My involvement in the IARU is actually continuous since 1972 when I began to conduct the IARU News column in QST as part of my duties. The ARRL has asked me to moderate this discussion group. It’s a new experience for me and I look forward to learning right along with you. The Federal Communications Commission says one purpose of its rules is “Continuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill.” International goodwill is not just a slogan. It is an essential contributor to a century of success in developing and protecting amateur radio and continues to be to this day. International cooperation paid off soon after the First World War. In 1921 amateurs in North America and the UK proved that signals could be sent across the Atlantic. Soon Leon Deloy voyaged from France to the United States to learn American techniques. He returned home and in November 1923 accomplished the first transatlantic two-way communication by amateurs. Hiram Percy Maxim formulated his vision for the IARU within weeks of that event. With the discovery of the remarkable natural phenomenon of ionospheric propagation he knew it was essential for there to be an international organization to represent the interests of amateur radio experimenters. Otherwise the discovery would be put entirely to the service of commercial and government interests. He made an exploratory visit to Paris in 1924 to meet with like-minded individuals and in 1925, also in Paris, the IARU was born. At the time there were only a few national organizations like the ARRL. The initial concept of the IARU included membership by individuals, who – as soon as there were enough of them in a country – would form a section of the IARU. That model was soon abandoned in favor of today’s federation of national member-societies with their own identity but an integral part of the regional and global IARU organizations. There is an IARU member-society in nearly every country with a resident amateur population. Earlier this month (October 2019) we added two more: Saudi Arabia and Seychelles. On October 28 the ITU World Radiocommunication Conference opens in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. I will be there along with other members of a volunteer IARU team from a dozen countries with three main goals: Global harmonization of the amateur 50-54 MHz band by adding a Table allocation in Region 1 Maintenance of existing spectrum access for amateurs Strengthening protections for radiocommunication services against interference from other generators of RF energy, particularly WPT-EV (wireless power transfer to electric vehicles) I look forward to chatting with you! 73, Dave Sumner, K1ZZ