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Dear friends and colleagues in our common hobby - amateur radio!
I made my first QSOs 43 years ago, way back in 1979. My elmers raised me in the spirit of "Ham spirit". And I absorbed into myself that amateur radio is outside of politics.
We have always greeted each other regardless of nationality and personal beliefs, passing on friendly 73 to all our correspondents. Over the years there have been many different conflicts between different countries, but there was no place for politics on amateur radio. But now we see that some of our amateur radio brethren have decided that today we can forget about it. And some amateur radio organizations began to make politically motivated decisions.
I created my resource as a place for all radio amateurs - adherents of contesting from all over the world. And now I want to declare that no matter what, the site ua9qcq.com is declared a territory outside of politics. And I urge all radio amateurs of the world to remember that amateur radio should unite people regardless of nationality, religion and political views.
And with the permission of the well-known radio amateur Alfred Laun (K3ZO), I want to quote his statement on this issue:
"Gentlemen:
In recent years it has been my role in the CQWW Committee to provide some overall knowledge of international affairs to bear on what CQWW means to the world.
This very much includes the fact that the international friendships we develop through participation in our chosen hobby transcends the differences of opinion that particular
political events may try to foist on us.
...
My long experience as a ham in several different countries has convinced me that, no matter how we personally may feel about a particular political
situation, it is NEVER a good idea to use our Amateur Radio institutions to push a political point of view. I was posted in Vietnam in 1971-1972. There have been wars going on since then in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria to name only a few.
It is a sad aspect of humanity that even in modern times wars continue to be used to settle accounts. This does not mean that we should allow our emotions of the moment to
distract us from the peaceful, forward-looking, example that we as radio amateurs can exhibit to the world. Let's not allow any of our actions to lead to unintended
consequences.
Sincerely,
Alfred A. "Fred" Laun, III (K3ZO)"
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