The Friendship Radiosport Games (FRG) is an international

multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of intern ...

that includes competitions in the various sports collectively referred to as

radiosport Radiosport (or radio sport) is formal competition among amateur radio operators in any of three amateur radio activities: ARDF, DXing, and contesting. The Friendship Radiosport Games is an international multi-sport event that includes all t ...

. The Friendship Radiosport Games began in 1989 as a result of a

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inte ...

agreement between Khabarovsk, Russia and

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, United States. Since then, participation has been extended to other

sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is International relations, a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there ar ...

in the

Pacific Rim The Pacific Rim comprises the lands around the rim of the Pacific Ocean. The '' Pacific Basin'' includes the Pacific Rim and the islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Rim roughly overlaps with the geological Pacific Ring of Fire. List ...

. The Friendship Radiosport Games are generally held in the month of August. The most recent Friendship Radiosport Games were held on August 19–21, 2016, in Portland, Oregon. Planning for the next games in Khabarovsk is starting with a target date of 2018.

History

The first Friendship Radiosport Games were held in 1989 in Khabarovsk, Russia, which was then still a part of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The games were organized as a result of the signing of a

agreement between the Far Eastern Russia city of Khabarovsk and the city of

, on the west coast of the United States. The origination of the idea for a friendly

competition between the two cities can be credited to Yevgeny Stavitsky UAØCA, an active

amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency radio spectrum, spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emer ...

operator in Khabarovsk. Participants from Portland traveled to Khabarovsk to participate in the games, an event that would not have been possible only a few years before, as the two nations squared off against one another in the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. In 1991, the second Friendship Radiosport Games were held in Portland, hosted by the Friendship Amateur Radio Society, and participants from Khabarovsk traveled to Oregon to attend the event. This would start a tradition of holding the event in August of every odd-numbered year. Extending the event to additional

, the host for the 1993 Friendship Radiosport Games was

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

, Canada. In addition to competitors from Canada, Russia, and the United States, competitors from the

of Niigata, Japan also came to the event in 1993. The 1995 Friendship Radiosport Games were held in Khabarovsk, Russia for the second time, and representatives from all four cities were in attendance.

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan became the fourth host city for the Friendship Radiosport Games when the event has held there in 1997. The 1999 games returned to

, United States, where the ARDF event was also designated the IARU Region II Championships, the first such IARU sanctioned championships in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

. The event returned to

, Canada in 2001, where for the first time competitors from

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia were also in attendance. Breaking with the established pattern, the Friendship Radiosport Games were not held in 2003, but were instead held in 2004, again in Khabarovsk, Russia. The invitation to participation was further extended to radio clubs in the

Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...

, China, and

Bucheon Bucheon (; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Bucheon is located away from Seoul, of which it is a satellite city. It is located between Incheon and Seoul. Bucheon is the second most densely populated city in South Korea after Seo ...

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

Events

# 1989 - Khabarovsk, Russia # 1991 - Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. # 1993 - Victoria, British Columbia, Canada # 1995 - Khabarovsk, Russia # 1997 - Tokyo, Japan # 1999 - Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. # 2001 - Victoria, British Columbia, Canada # 2004 - Khabarovsk, Russia # 2008 - Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. # 2011 - Khabarovsk, Russia # 2016 - Portland, Oregon

Competition

The Friendship Radiosport Games have traditionally included events from all of the three activities collectively known as

. This includes HF contesting,

Amateur Radio Direction Finding Amateur radio direction finding (ARDF, also known as radio orienteering, radio fox hunting and radiosport) is an amateur racing sport that combines radio direction finding with the map and compass skills of orienteering. It is a timed race in w ...

, and

High Speed Telegraphy In amateur radio, high-speed telegraphy (HST) is a form of radiosport that challenges amateur radio operators to accurately receive and copy, and in some competitions to send, Morse code transmissions sent at very high speeds. This event is most po ...

. Some competitors participate in only one of these activities, while others have been competitive in multiple events.

Overall Team Competition Winner

:1989 Team Khabarovsk :1991 Team Portland :1993 Team Khabarovsk :1995 Team Khabarovsk :1997 Team Khabarovsk :1999 Team Portland :2001 Team Portland :2004 Team Khabarovsk :2008 Team Khabarovsk :2011 Team Khabarovsk :2016 Team Khabarovsk

References

*Moell, Joe KØOV (1999).
"KØOV's Photo Album of the 1999 IARU ARDF Championships"
Retrieved Nov. 27, 2005. *Moell, Joe KØOV (2005).

Retrieved Nov. 27, 2005. *Stavitsky, Evgeny UAØCA (2004).

Retrieved Nov 27, 2005. *Tyree, Larry N6TR (2015)
"Picture gallery from FRG 2011"
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001121402/http://www.kkn.net/~tree/gallery/khabarovsk-2011 , date=2015-10-01 . *Young, Joe VE7BFK (2001).

Retrieved Dec. 4, 2005. *Stavitskiy, Eugene UA0CA (2016)
"FRG information and photos"
Radiosport Recurring sporting events established in 1989

History

Events

Competition

Overall Team Competition Winner

See also

References