The Japan Ama­teur Radio League, Inc. (Head­quar­ters: Toshi­ma-ku, Tokyo; Pres­i­dent: Koji MORITA, JA5SUD), here­inafter “JARL,” is proud to sup­port “Expo 2025 Osa­ka, Kan­sai, Japan” as an offi­cial Site Oper­a­tion Sup­pli­er. In this role, JARL is oper­at­ing a spe­cial com­mem­o­ra­tive ama­teur radio sta­tion, 8K3EXPO, at the Expo venue to pro­mote the event.

 

JARL’s Con­tri­bu­tion to the Expo

By oper­at­ing an ama­teur radio sta­tion at the Expo site, JARL will pro­mote the event not only across Japan but all over the world through the glob­al ama­teur radio com­mu­ni­ty. This ini­tia­tive aims to enhance pub­lic aware­ness and excite­ment on the Expo, and to fos­ter inter­na­tion­al exchange.

 

Details of the Spe­cial Com­mem­o­ra­tive Station

Oper­a­tion period	April 13 (Sun) – Octo­ber 13 (Mon), 2025, 184 days (Full dura­tion of the Expo)
Call­sign	8K3EXPO (for both fixed and mobile stations)
Fre­quen­cy and Power	1.8 MHz – 10 GHz, up to 1kW (planned)
Instal­la­tion Site	Yumeshi­ma, Osaka Park­ing lot for staff at the Osa­ka-Kan­sai Expo site (12 hectares reclaimed land south­east of the venue) Near Yumeshi­ma-Naka 1‑chome, Yumeshi­ma, Kono­hana-ku, Osa­ka-city, Osa­ka, Japan
Anten­na System	10-meter-high tow­er (ele­va­tor kit man­u­al winch) 7–29MHz 4ele Yagi (7‑RDP), 10/18/24MHz Rotary Dipole, 50MHz 6ele Yagi, 144MHz-10GHz GP, etc. (1.8/3.5MHz will be con­sid­ered dur­ing the event) (Pro­vid­ed by Nagara Elec­tron­ics Co., Ltd. (Nagara Anten­na))
Radio and Periph­er­als	IC-PW2, IC-7760(200W), IC-7300(100W), IC-7300M(50W), IC-9700(50W), IC-705(10W), IC-905XG(10W), TS-890D(50W) Acces­sories (head­set, Morse key, etc.) Pro­vid­ed by Japan Ama­teur Radio Indus­tries Asso­ci­a­tion (JAIA) and CQ Pub­lish­ing Co., Ltd.
Oper­at­ing Booth	1F, “EXPO Nation­al Day Hall [Ray Gar­den],” East Gate Zone Offi­cial map E12, near No.73 of “The Grand Roof” All radio equip­ment installed at the instal­la­tion site is remote­ly con­trolled via opti­cal fiber lines.

 

This is the first ama­teur radio sta­tion in his­to­ry to be assigned a call sign start­ing with “8K” — a pre­fix sym­bol­iz­ing Kan­sai and Kin­ki —.

 

JA3XPO: A Mobile Com­mem­o­ra­tive Station

In addi­tion to 8K3EXPO, JARL will also oper­ate JA3XPO, a mobile com­mem­o­ra­tive sta­tion that will trav­el to each of the Kan­sai pre­fec­tures. This call­sign, orig­i­nal­ly used for the 1970 Japan World Expo­si­tion in Sui­ta, Osa­ka, has been revived after 55 years. We would like to express our sin­cere grat­i­tude to every­one who sup­port­ed us.

 

How to Oper­ate 8K3EXPO

The oper­a­tion booth is staffed by vol­un­teers main­ly from JARL’s Kan­sai Region­al Head­quar­ters and branch­es. Licensed ama­teur radio oper­a­tors are wel­come to oper­ate the com­mem­o­ra­tive sta­tion.
For those with­out a license, “tri­al oper­a­tions” under super­vi­sion are available—everyone is wel­come to try. Please don’t hes­i­tate to speak with the staff on site.

 

Oper­at­ing Eli­gi­bil­i­ty for Over­seas Visitors

Vis­i­tors with ama­teur radio license that was issued by coun­tries that have a rec­i­p­ro­cal license agree­ment with Japan may oper­ate the 8K3EXPO sta­tion. For details, please refer to:
https://www.jarl.org/English/3_Application/Annex.htm

Even if you do not have such a license, you may still enjoy oper­at­ing the sta­tion through a super­vised tri­al experience.

For inquiries, feel free to con­tact JARL’s Inter­na­tion­al Divi­sion at intl@jarl.org well in advance of your arrival in Japan.

 

Impor­tant Notice

Please note that “Radio com­mu­ni­ca­tion equip­ment such as ama­teur radio equip­ment, spec­i­fied low-pow­er radio equip­ment, walkie-talkies, etc.” are pro­hib­it­ed with­in the Expo site (exclud­ing mobile phones, radios, PCs and tablets). While it may be tempt­ing to use hand­held radios inside the venue, we ask for your coop­er­a­tion in not bring­ing such equip­ment, while only sta­tion staff are grant­ed spe­cial per­mis­sion to do so.

 

Open­ing Cer­e­mo­ny Held on April 13

The com­mem­o­ra­tive sta­tion opened on April 13, 2025, with an open­ing cer­e­mo­ny at 10:00 a.m. After the first QSO by JARL Pres­i­dent Koji Mori­ta (JA5SUD), 8K3EXPO made con­tact with many domes­tic and inter­na­tion­al stations.

 

For Updates

For the lat­est news about com­mem­o­ra­tive sta­tions 8K3EXPO and JA3XPO, please visit:

Offi­cial Web­site: https://jarl.gr.jp/jarl-kansai_expo2025/

Face­book: https://www.facebook.com/jarl.osaka.kansai.expo

 

About Ama­teur Radio

Ama­teur radio is a long-stand­ing glob­al hob­by in which licensed indi­vid­u­als use radio waves to com­mu­ni­cate across bor­ders.
Before the inter­net, it was hailed as the “king of hob­bies,” con­nect­ing enthu­si­asts around the world. Today, its appeal endures through tech­ni­cal exper­i­men­ta­tion, space com­mu­ni­ca­tions, and fos­ter­ing inter­na­tion­al friend­ship. In addi­tion to its depth as a hob­by, ama­teur radio is also char­ac­ter­ized by its abil­i­ty to play a part in con­tribut­ing to soci­ety.
With hun­dreds of thou­sands of licensed oper­a­tors in Japan, ama­teur radio con­tin­ues to attract par­tic­i­pants of all ages and back­grounds, dri­ven by the unique pow­er of wire­less tech­nol­o­gy to con­nect people.

 

About JARL

The Japan Ama­teur Radio League (JARL) is a gen­er­al incor­po­rat­ed asso­ci­a­tion pro­mot­ing the healthy devel­op­ment of ama­teur radio and the advance­ment of radio sci­ence and cul­ture, both in Japan and worldwide.

JARL will cel­e­brate its 100th anniver­sary in 2026, with Japan’s ama­teur radio licens­ing sys­tem mark­ing its own cen­ten­ni­al in 2027. A vari­ety of com­mem­o­ra­tive events are planned in col­lab­o­ra­tion with part­ner organizations.

 

<Con­tact for inquiries regard­ing this matter>

Japan Ama­teur Radio League

Chair­man, the Osa­ka-Kan­sai Expo Com­mem­o­ra­tive Stat­en Committee,

Toru TANAKA, JR3QHQ

Email: jr3qhq@jarl.com

Pub­lic Rela­tions bureau, Gen­er­al Affairs Depart­ment, JARL

Email: pub@jarl.org

The orig­i­nal doc­u­ment can be found here: 20250414_News_Special Sta­tion for Osa­ka-Kan­sai EXPO