I recently swapped some e-mail about my Brother Clubs idea with Steve AE6NX. He had asked a question on arrl_prez mailing list about whether or not anyone knew of clubs that had ties to other clubs overseas.
In a subsequent e-mail, he pointed me towards the International Travel Host Exchange (ITHE). According to their website:
The International Travel Host Exchange, or ITHE, is a programme administered by the German national society, DARC. It provides radio amateurs with the possibility of free accommodation with other amateurs around the world in exchange for you offering accommodation to overseas amateurs. Once registered, postal or e-mail addresses are made available so that contact can be established well before any visit takes place. If a trip is planned well in advance, it is possible to travel from one member to another and thus experience a whole region or country.
There are almost 700 ITHE members. About 40% are in Europe, 30% in North America, and the rest scattered around the rest of the world.
The ITHE website has an brochure describing how to join up and some articles on the history of ITHE. Basically, in order to be hosted, you have to be willing to host other amateurs. Sounds like fun to me.
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