ARABiH HISTORY

The Association of Radio Amateurs of Bosnia and Herzegovina was founded in 1947 in Sarajevo. About the same time, local associations were established in the republic's major cities.
Through 1950, activities consisted largely of building simple devices. This helped establish conditions for more complex communications throughout the country and beyond. The first ham-radio contact in B&H was made on July 6, 1950. This sparked further development of amateur radio in B&H, starting with creation of the Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina Amateurs to organize federal, republic, and club competitions.

By the 1970s, Bosnian amateurs had more sophisticated equipment and substantial antenna systems, and were winning many awards in national and international contests.

When war broke out in Croatia in 1991, B&H amateurs started sending messages about events there via HF and VHF.

When the war in B&H began in 1992, telephone service was cut off to many areas of the country, and entire regions were under complete blockade. Amateur radio operations became vitally important under such conditions.

Amateur radio was used for the first time in April 1992 for sending information to the rest of Europe and the world regarding the situation in Bosnia. Messages were transmitted to individuals, governments, media, humanitarian organization and religious communities. In many cases amateur radio was the only way for bosnians to stay in contact eith loved ones outside the country, and the only way for people in the rest of world to get news about their family and friends under siege. It's estimated that
during the war, more than 3 million messages were transmitted, and 1,500 young people passed their examinations to become amateur radio operators. Hams from neighboring countries, the rest of Europe and elsewhere in the world helped in transmitting humanitarian messages during the 1992-96 war.

The Amateur Radio Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARABiH) became a permanent member of the IARU on May 12, 1993, and received the prefix T9 for the independent nation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ARABiH was recognized by the International Humanists League on November 16, 1999, in Trieste for its work and contributions during the war.

Today the ARABiH has about 3,500 licensed radio operators, a repeater network and a digital communications network that connects them with other stations in the world. Every year there are organized meetings of B&H amateurs and B&H championships.

B&H amateur radio operators participate in the work of all major international radio organizations, and our competitors usually finish near the top in the world in major contests. The ARABiH was the first organization among those in the former republics of Yugoslavia to become a member of CEPT. In 1999, B&H began publishing a specialized magazine for electronics and telecommunications, "RADIO T9," that is also distributed in other European countries. It is considered one of the best specialized amateur radio magazines.