WIA: Amateur Radio and Citizen Science: Helping Advance Science One Signal at a Time

National Science Week, Australia’s annual celebration of science and technology, will be held from 15 to 23 August 2026. Across the country, thousands of events will showcase how science improves our lives and how everyday Australians can become involved in scientific discovery. It is the perfect opportunity to recognise that amateur radio has been contributing to citizen science for more than a century.

While many people think amateur radio is simply about talking to other operators around the world, it has always been much more than that. Radio amateurs build equipment, conduct experiments, collect data and work alongside universities, research organisations and government agencies to better understand our world. Many amateurs are scientists, engineers, teachers, technicians and IT professionals in their working lives, while countless others make significant scientific contributions simply through curiosity, experimentation and a willingness to learn.

Across Australia and internationally, amateur radio operators are involved in an extraordinary range of citizen science activities. They monitor HF propagation and the changing ionosphere through projects such as HamSCI, receive weather satellite imagery from polar-orbiting satellites, track amateur satellites and CubeSats, contribute observations to meteor scatter research, experiment with microwave propagation, participate in weak-signal studies using WSPR, FT8 and Q65, and help develop new digital communications techniques. Others contribute to radio astronomy, environmental monitoring, high-altitude balloon projects, electronics design, software-defined radio development and emergency communications research.

Read more – Wireless Institute of Australia: https://bit.ly/4fYeE6W