Best of Moscow Region: A Constellation Beyond the Capital

Moscow’s political centre is well known; less familiar is the intricate web of amateur radio life that surrounds it. The Moscow Regional Branch of the Union of Radio Amateurs of Russia serves as the connective tissue for dozens of local districts, stretching from the commuter towns of Domodedovo and Podolsk to the far reaches of Klin and Orekhovo-Zuyevo.

A Network in Many Nodes

At the helm is Oleg Anatolyevich Zhabin (RA3D), a man whose leadership covers both the regional council and the qualification commission. He is flanked by a constellation of deputies, each overseeing their own municipal territory: RV3DA in Kolomna, UI3D in Naro-Fominsk, R2DY in Pushkino, RD2D in Serpukhov, and others — a living atlas of the oblast’s radio geography.

The council’s diversity mirrors the region’s topography: industrial towns with strong club traditions, leafy dachas where portable antennas sprout in summer, and urban satellites where younger operators cut their teeth on VHF.

Certifying the Airwaves

The Qualification Commission is an unusually granular operation, with chairmen appointed for each major municipal branch. From Korolyov’s space-heritage operators to the more rural Klin district, exams and callsign allocations are handled locally, ensuring both accessibility and a personal touch.

The Paper Trail of the Ether

QSL cards — the postcard proofs of on-air contact — are managed by Sergey Bogdanovich Yatskiv (UA3RQ) from the bureau’s base on Chasovaya Street in Moscow. Open weekdays from 10:00 to 16:00, it is as much a social checkpoint as a logistical hub, where operators might swap both cards and stories.

A Region Without Borders on the Bands

No fixed “round table” frequency is published, but the region’s operators are fixtures across the HF spectrum and VHF repeaters, their signals radiating far beyond oblast boundaries. For all the formal structure — the councils, commissions, and bureaux — the essence is still a simple one: a human voice, a call sign, and a shared space in the air.