As I write this the world is in the midst of bat­tling the COVID-19 cri­sis. A few short weeks ago many of us could not imag­ine the lev­els of iso­la­tion that we are now deal­ing with and the sac­ri­fices of many on the front­lines of the pan­dem­ic. As we have done in past chal­lenges to our soci­ety, Ama­teur Radio will play a key part in keep­ing peo­ple con­nect­ed and assist­ing those who need support.

Hav­ing come off my own 14-day iso­la­tion after return­ing from an over­seas trip, I am touched by the kind­ness of strangers who assist­ed me when I was unable to leave my house. It strikes me Ama­teur Radio oper­a­tors, who give so much dur­ing these times of cri­sis, are not lim­it­ed to assist­ing over the air. Ama­teurs are true vol­un­teers and I would encour­age every­one to assist in the com­mu­ni­ty as they are able to.

My wish for this World Ama­teur Radio Day, April 18, is for every­one to stay safe, fol­low the advice of med­ical pro­fes­sion­als and use Ama­teur Radio and your skills to help us through this crisis.

– Tim Ellam, VE6SH, IARU President