Specialty organizations

Most of what you actually use day to day is run by a specialty group rather than by a regulator or a national society.

Satellites and space

• AMSAT — builds, launches and operates amateur satellites, and publishes the pass and

transponder information operators depend on. National AMSAT organizations exist worldwide.

• ARISS — coordinates amateur radio on the International Space Station, including scheduled

school contacts. See satellites.

Digital and technical

• TAPR — the Tucson Amateur Packet Radio corporation, behind much of the digital and

software-defined radio work amateurs use.

• WSJT development group — the open-source project behind FT8, WSPR, JT65 and the rest of the

weak-signal suite. See FT8.

• Winlink Global Radio Email — the volunteer-run network and gateway system for email over radio,

heavily used in emergency communications. See Winlink.

• Open-source projects — from Direwolf and fldigi to GNU Radio, most of the software in a modern

shack is volunteer-maintained.

Examinations

US testing runs through Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (VECs) — several exist, including the ARRL VEC, the Laurel VEC (known for charging no exam fee) and others, each accrediting the volunteer examiners who actually run sessions. See volunteer examiners and exam day.

On-air programs

• Parks on the Air (POTA) and Summits on the Air (SOTA) — award programs that got a

generation of operators outdoors with portable stations. See parks and summits.

• CW clubs — SKCC, CWops, FISTS, the Long Island CW Club and others, most offering free training.

See CW and QRP awards.

• QRP groups — QRP ARCI, G-QRP, the Four State QRP Group and the Flying Pigs. See

QRP.

• Contest sponsors — clubs and magazines sponsor the major contests; the rules are theirs, not a

regulator's. See contesting.

Emergency communications

• ARES and RACES in the United States, and their equivalents elsewhere, organize amateurs who

serve served agencies during emergencies.

• MARS — the Military Auxiliary Radio System, a Department of Defense program staffed by licensed

amateurs.

• SKYWARN — the National Weather Service's trained severe-weather spotter program, which relies

heavily on amateur operators and repeaters.

See emergency communications for how these fit together, and clubs and community for the local level, where nearly all of this work actually gets done.