The Union of Swiss Short Wave Amateurs (in German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, Union Schweizerischer Kurzwellen-Amateure, in Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

, Unione Radioamatori di Onde Coret Svizzeri, in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 Union des Amateurs Suisses d'Ondes Courtes) is a national non-profit organization

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 for amateur radio

Amateur radio

Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...

 enthusiasts in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. The organization uses the German language acronym USKA. USKA is incorporated under Article 60 of the Swiss Civil Code and lists as its missions representing the interests of the amateur radio operators of Switzerland before national and international regulatory agencies, advancing the scientific art of radio, supporting emergency communications

Amateur radio emergency communications

In times of crisis and natural disasters, amateur radio is often used as a means of emergency communication when wireline, cell phones and other conventional means of communications fail....

, and sponsoring contests

Contesting

Contesting is a competitive activity pursued by amateur radio operators. In a contest, an amateur radio station, which may be operated by an individual or a team, seeks to contact as many other amateur radio stations as possible in a given period of time and exchange information...

. USKA is the national member society representing Switzerland in the International Amateur Radio Union

International Amateur Radio Union

The International Amateur Radio Union is an international confederation of national amateur radio organisations that allows a forum for common matters of concern and collectively represents matters to the International Telecommunication Union...

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Publications

The USKA has published a membership journal since 1932. From 1932 to 2007, the magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

 was called old man

Old man (magazine)

old man was a bimonthly magazine published by the Union of Swiss Short Wave Amateurs as the membership journal of the organization. The magazine covered topics related to amateur radio. The magazine was published with articles in three languages: German, Italian, and French. The magazine drew...

. From 2008, the magazine has been published as HB Radio.