Pedro Rodriguez Perez, president of the Cuban radio amateurs’ federation, told the Cuban News Agency that as soon as the strategy to counter the effects of the pandemic was enacted, the organization began to enforce measures about its work in the different venues where their government structures are located.

The campaign against Covid-19, he explained, has led us to reorganize our job and implement initiatives to increase radial activity regarding interesting and pleasant topics about the current epidemiological situation that the members could prefer because of the content and the way in which it is conveyed. He also added that such content should encourage people to stay at home and contribute to physical distancing.

He highlighted that from the start all social, technical and radial activities that involved gatherings were cancelled, including important events, such as the meeting of the National Council, which was scheduled to take place in April.

According to Rodriguez Perez, who has led the Cuban Federation of Radio Amateurs (FRC) for several years, the General Members Assembly session, which is the highest governing body of this organization, was also postponed until the first quarter of 2021.

The work of radio amateurs is aimed at increasing their scientific-technical knowledge, and fostering research and social entertainment, in support of community activities and international solidarity without any personal, commercial, proselytizing or lucrative purposes, he remarked.

The FRC, which was founded on July 15, 1966, he recalled, is a member of the International Amateur Radio Union, and it is an organization of social interest whose goals is to gather all radio amateurs and facilitate their vocational and technical training, as well as their incorporation to the defense of socialist society.

It features almost 8 thousand affiliates, which are distributed into the First, Second and Third categories, according to the Regulations of the International Telecommunication Union. They are organized in Municipal and Special Radio Clubs, subordinated to the 16 province branches and the one from the Special Municipality of Isla de la Juventud (Isle of youth).

In its ranks there has been a noticeable increase of youngsters, and women, who are now a force to be reckoned with in their Female Front.
Cuban radio amateurs are called upon by the FRC and the Ministry of Communications twice a year to pass the ministerial admission and category change exams.
To achieve that goal, they are given the proper training at the designated academies and in some of them, due to social distancing measures in which we are right now, such classes are taught via radio, substituting the conventional method.
One of the peculiarities of this process is that the members carry out this radial activity from their homes and it is common for them to participate in Radial Rounds, or in national or international skills contests.
In addition, they also participate in technical, social, medical or meteorological debates, the latter being one the most common ones because of the strong influence of hydro-meteorological phenomena on the quality of short, middle or long distance communication.
Rodríguez Pérez also mentioned the recent celebration of the exercise Radio 2020, which is a space to check and deepen the training of radio amateurs every year to accomplish their missions and participate in the Meteoro exercise before the beginning of the hurricane season.
Such season takes place in the geographical area of the tropical Atlantic Ocean, which includes the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, from June 1st to November 30th.