Japanese amateurs are marking a double anniversary - both spanning 100 years: They're celebrating the establishment of the Japan Amateur Radio League in June of 1926. The league was created to assist innovators and experimenters who were conducting their radio research without benefit of a licence. That changed in September of the following year, when the callsign JXAX was assigned by the government to the first of what would soon become a handful of radio telegraph and telephone stations. Ham radio kept growing so that just before the Second World War, the nation had 300 such stations.

Hams in Japan will be marking those two formative moments in history during a celebration designed to last 16 months -- the same time period between the events 100 years ago. Awards, ceremonies, special event stations, contests and an anniversary book are among the activities planned.

Clearly there's a lot to celebrate in that 100-year stretch which last year landed Japan in the Guinness Book of World Records for putting JS1YMG, the first amateur radio station, on the moon.