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01 Nov, 2024

 

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Who we are

Who we are ?
 FIRAC  
„Fédération Internationale des RadioAmateurs Cheminots“
In English:
International Federation of Railway Radio Amateurs

© DK 9 VB / 09/01   Translation  G 3 FIB
 
 Beginnings
The railway radio amateurs of Europe have maintained regular contacts for more than 40 years. Ever since the beginning, in the sixties, it has been apparent that there was an inclination to gather together internationally. The first international meeting took place on the 18th of September 1960 in Geneva, then followed the meetings of 1962 in Bischheim (France) and of 1963 in Paris.
The FIRAC was founded during the fourth international meeting in Hamburg on 20th and 21st of Sep-tember 1964 at which there were 183 OM’s from 7 countries participating. In the same year, the first FIRAC call book appeared, containing members from 10 countries.

Uniting
The FIRAC is affiliated to the „Fédération internationale des sociétés artistiques et intellectuelles de cheminots (FISAIC)“, in English, the „International Culture and Leisure time Association for Railway People”.

Aims and Purposes of FIRAC
FIRAC aims to:  achieve the main objective of radio amateurs
                   Friendship without Frontiers
 promote and support the cooperation of railway radio amateurs of all countries and international organisations  encourage and support the creation of  national groups of railway radio amateurs in all countries  help to build a partnership between the different groups an national associations  prepare, organise and help to prepare and organise the international meeting and events  (Congresses, but also regional meetings such as the Benelux or ‘theme’ meetings)  prepare and conduct international contests, establish and publish the rules of these contests and promote them  setup international nets (networks) for the whole World and appoint responsible persons  foster and expand the association with new members  coordinate and circulate technical activities of national groups  promote internal and external publicity by appointing a special committee member to progress/announce a calendar of events publish/update a FIRAC handbook of information for railway radio amateurs  publish a list of callsigns of railway radio amateurs.

FIRAC does not follow any political, union or denominational purpose and discussions on these subjects or their evocation are not wanted. It is recommended that members stay within their national society, as in the IARU (International Amateur Radio Union).

Organisation
The officers of FIRAC are:
 President
 Vice President
 Secretary
 Treasurer
 Public Relations Officer

Additional members can be appointed for particular tasks. The officers are chosen every year by the FIRAC Congress. The voters are the Presidents of the national groups and the representative of the individual (miscellaneous) members, with one vote each.

Members
Members can be  national associations of railway radio amateurs  individual members (MC) in countries where there is no national association of railway radio amateurs at the decision of person who is responsible for MC members. This means that in countries where there exists a national association (in Gt. Britain it is the BRARS British Railways Amateur Radio Society), membership of that association means automatic membership of FIRAC. The secretary of FIRAC or another officer can give the address of the national associations local or regional group(s).

Subscriptions
The amount of the subscription is fixed for the next year in the course of the annual congress. The subscription per member in a national
organisation includes the FIRAC subscription. Individual members (MC) pay their subscription by credit transfer to the
FIRAC account managed by the Treasurer .

Rights and Duties
These are governed by the rules of the national associations. All members can enjoy the benefits of FIRAC and participate in all the official events of FIRAC. Members should favour and support the aims of FIRAC.

Regular activity
Nets (networks)
Many European countries and overseas also, operate radio nets with the motto
„Friendship without Frontiers“.
A list of nets can be obtained. (see here)

Congress
The tradition of the FIRAC annual congress has been maintained so far . ( see here).

Diplomas
FIRAC issues the diploma   „FIRAC-Award“
to radio amateurs and short wave listeners for radio contacts with members in different classes
(see here).
Most of the national groups issue their own diplomas
French group........................... “Worked French FIRAC“
German group......................... “EFA-DL-Diplom“
Hungarian group.................... “The Hungarian Railway Award“
Austrian group........................ “FIRAC-OE-Diplom“
Belgian group.......................... “The BRARC Award“
Italien group.............................."Diploma GIRF ITALIAN"
Romanian group..........................."FIRAC-YO-Award"
The FIRAC secretary can supply the addresses of the diploma managers.

Contests
Every year FIRAC organises the contests, (see here).
 
FIRAC Manual
This manual, intended only for FIRAC members, contains
 the organisational chart of FIRAC
 the internal rules and regulations of FIRAC
 the list of national and international nets
 the rules of the international contests
 the rules of the FIRAC Award and the national diplomas
 various other information.

Appendix (Present time information about FIRAC)
Rules and regulations
Interior Rules and regulations.
These are the rules dated 31/10/1998, as being valid.

Organisation:
Officers of FIRAC for 2012/2013 are:

National groups:

FIRAC Congresses

Nets (networks)

Contests

Call sign List
One can obtain this list by sending one international reply coupon (IRC) to:
DL8DWL, Detlef Raemsch.
or download form the FIRAC Homepage

International Bank Data