About Us

The Amateur Radio Society of India (ARSI) is a non-profit public service organization, and is registered under the Indian Societies Registration Act

ARSI is the IARU recognized national association for amateur radio operators in India and it represents Indian amateur radio interests in various international forums

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Brief History of ARSI:

The Amateur Radio Society of India (ARSI) is a non-profit public service organization, and is registered under the Indian Societies Registration Act.

ARSI is the IARU recognized national association for amateur radio operators in India and it represents Indian amateur radio interests in various international forums.

ARCI (Amateur Radio Club, India) formed on 15 May 1948, was the national organization before it turned to be ARSI a few years later. ARCI had sister organization exclusively for non-transmittng amateurs, which was called the Short Wave League of India. ARCI region covered India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Burma, Sikkim, Tibet and Nepal where Amateur Radio was promoted. The HQ station of ARCI was VU2ARCI. The Short Wave League of India also had its own callsign, VU2SWL. The ARCI was recognised by the Inter Departmental Wireless Board of the Govt. of India and the Director General of Indian Posts and Telegraph Dept., which were then responsible for monitoring and governing Amateur Radio activities in India.

  • In December 1950, ARCI was accepted as a member of the IARU-R3.
  • The Indian Official QSL Bureau was managed by ARCI with the address, P. O. Box 6666, Bombay-20 during its active days.
  • In the year 1954, ARCI was dissolved and the ARSI was formed with its HQ at PO Box 534, New Delhi-1, and A N Banerjee, VU2CZ as General Secretary. The QSL Bureau was managed by J S Nicholson VU2JP from P.O.Box-1, Munnar, Travancore, S. India.
  • ARSI was accepted as a member of IARU-R3 in July 1958.

  • The society has a growing membership from all over India and several amateurs from other countries are also members.

ARSI - Amateur Radio Society of India

Our Journey

How it started as a Hobby

The hobby of Amateur Radio operation was introduced in India by some officers of the Signal Corps who were issued the Amateur licences and an Amateur Radio club was also started by them at Mhow, Madhya Pradesh which is the head quarters for the Signal Corps of the Indian Army. In the 1920’s and 1930’s, Government of India gave Amateur Radio licences mostly to persons from the Indian Army. A few civilians also managed to get licences in the 30’s. In 1942 some of the civilian Amateur Radio operators took part in the Quit India movement and their licenses were cancelled. After independence a few Defence personnel and civilians managed to get an amateur radio licences and the hobby started growing.

First Indian amateur radio operator

The first Indian amateur radio operator in India was Amarendra Chandra Gooptu (callsign 2JK), licensed in 1921. Later that year, Mukul Bose (2HQ) became the second ham operator, thereby introducing the first two-way ham radio communication in the country. By 1923, there were twenty British hams operating in India. In 1929, the call sign prefix VU came into effect in India, replacing three letter call signs. In 1954 a group of them founded the Amateur Radio Society of India and registered it in Delhi. This Society continued to function from this address till the late 80‘s, when the club and office were transferred to Chennai.
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In 1995 Amateur Radio Society of India and the Federation of Amateur Radio Society of India (FARSI) were merged retaining only the name of (ARSI). After the merger, the Amateur Radio Society moved to Mumbai and functioned at the premises of VU2ST, Saad Ali, till he was alive. After his demise the society functioned from Mumbai and Delhi.

The Annual General Body Meeting of the Society is held every year where the annual accounts and a report of all the activities of the society are presented to the members. Elections of the office bearers is done every 2 years during the AGM. The current Registered Office of the society is:

Amateur Radio Society of India
c/o Ramesh Kumar VU2LU
635, 6th Main Road, Next to Bank of India
Hanumanthnagar, Bangalore-560019.
ARSI Club Callsign is VU2ZH

ARSI promotes the general advancement and diffusion of knowledge of science and practice of Electronics and Radio Communication and to facilitate these aims ,coordinates with the Governmental Agencies like the WPC with regards to rules and regulations.

Many changes in the rules and regulations and the allocation of spectrum to Indian Radio Amateurs has come about due to the constant interaction by ARSI with the governmental agencies.

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Amateur Radio Society of India

ARSI publishes a quarterly newsmagazine Ham Radio News which is available on this site as a PDF file.

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