Over the past decades, concerns have grown about a relatively small number of radio amateurs on the bands, whose on-air behaviour was in danger of spoiling enjoyment of amateur radio for the majority. Amateur radio relies on a strong level of self-discipline in on-air operating and the new ways of acquiring amateur licences could sometimes bypass the traditional ways of passing on operating skills from generation to generation.

In 2008 John ON4UN and Mark ON4WW wrote a comprehensive document entitled “Ethics and Operating Procedures for the Radio Amateur”, document aiming to become a universal guide for newcomers and old-timers alike on the subject of operating ethics and operating procedures. In 2008 the principles of this document were accepted by the IARU Administrative Council. During further regional IARU meetings it was emphasized that the document be made available via all means, and at no cost, in as many languages as possible to the ham radio fraternity. You can read more about the background to the document John and Mark wrote here.

Such was the acceptance of the document that within two years, it had been translated into more than 25 languages.  In some countries the document is also offered in printed format and a large number of amateur radio sites have a link to the document on their site, either in English or in the local language(s). Our most sincere thanks go to all our friends who spent hundreds of hours to prepare these translations. You can access all the versions of the document here.

In 2016, the responsibility for maintaining and developing the document was taken over by IARU. IARU will build on the work of the authors to ensure that the document continues to be relevant in the future and remains a reference for good operating practice in Amateur Radio

What can you find here?

To achieve easier access to all of the existing versions and languages of the document, this section of the website contains a listing of all versions / languages, sorted by country, where you can download the document from either one of two sources:

• from the IARU Region 1 website, where these documents are continuously kept updated
• from a link to the Radio Societies that make the document available on their site

You can also download a Powerpoint presentation intended to help people who want to gives talks on the subject in their radio clubs. The .ppt version is available in four languages (English, French, Portuguese and Dutch).

IARU Region 1 provides a few links to websites that pursue the same goal as we do: make our bands a better place to enjoy our fantastic hobby. Please feel free to feed back your comments about this site to the President of IARU Region 1 – Don Beattie, G3BJ. He can be contacted at president@​iaru-​r1.​org.