AT World Meeting 2026

AT World Meeting 2026 - Bari 

Organized by the regional coordination of AT Puglia
Photo collector: 1AT1248 Luciano

Dear friends,

It is with great pleasure, and with the emotions of Bari still in my eyes and in my heart, that I want to tell you about our WORLD ALFA TANGO MEETING 2026.

The Meeting held in Bari on 5 and 6 September was, without any doubt, a fantastic one: one of those events that stay in your memory and remind us once again how special our big Alfa Tango family is.

Everything was organized impeccably by the fantastic Team of Alfa Tango operators from Apulia, who worked for almost a year with great passion, enthusiasm and attention to every detail. The Vittoria Park Hotel in Bari turned out to be the perfect choice for our needs: a welcoming and functional venue that could host every part of the Meeting at its best, from meetings to presentations, from award ceremonies to dinners and time spent together.

But the Meeting actually started even before the official programme.

Friday 4 September – An evening to remember already
On the evening of Friday 4 September, the day before the official opening, as many as 61 Alfa Tango operators attended an extra-Meeting dinner at the "Ristorante Toruccio" in Giovinazzo (BA). It was a wonderful evening, also organized with great care, which gave us the chance to meet up again, say hello and spend the first hours of this great celebration together: the best way to kick off a weekend that would turn out to be truly special.

Saturday 5 September – The Meeting gets into full swing
On Saturday the WORLD ALFA TANGO MEETING 2026 officially began, with friends from as many as 14 DXCC countries. The day started as early as 8:30 in the morning, when a coach carrying 30 Alfa Tango operators set off on a sightseeing trip to Alberobello and Polignano a Mare, two of the most charming and distinctive places in Apulia. It was a wonderful opportunity to spend a few hours together, admire the beauty of the Apulian landscape and share, once again, moments of friendship and good company.

In the afternoon we also had the pleasure of watching excellent presentations about the DX-Peditions 189AT0 Mayotte Is., 341AT0 East Timor and 65AT/DX Sierra Leone, which drew great interest. Thanks to 1AT75 Giuseppe and 1AT754 Fabrizio.
And then, of course, came the evening! At the official Meeting dinner on Saturday evening there were as many as 85 of us: a lovely evening among friends, full of laughter, photos, toasts and fun. Once again it showed that the true value of Alfa Tango lies not only in what we do on the radio, but above all in what we build through friendship.

Sunday 6 September – The big final day
On Sunday morning we gathered for the last day of the Meeting and for the award ceremony. The whole morning was streamed live and watched around the world by 1,260 individual operators. Special thanks go to 1AT1248 Luciano for the excellent live production.

Before we began, I wanted to say a few words to everyone present, words that perfectly sum up the spirit in which we lived these days:

Report of the President 1AT10 Roberto (Sunday morning)
Dear friends, good morning everyone and welcome!

I am truly happy and moved to see so many Alfa Tango friends here in front of me, who have come from different parts of the world to take part in our WORLD ALFA TANGO MEETING 2026. We are gathered here in Bari to share once again what Alfa Tango means to all of us: a great passion, but above all friendship and the wish to be together. So I would like to extend my most sincere thanks to all of you who decided to be here.

Today we have friends from 14 different divisions. To be here today, many of you made very long and demanding journeys, others travelled shorter distances, but all of you made an effort to share this important moment of our big Alfa Tango family.

Of course, a World Meeting like this would not be possible without the work and commitment of many people. First of all, I would like to thank the manager of the Vittoria Park Hotel, Mrs Rosa Vasile, and all the hotel staff for their warm welcome and helpfulness.

A very special thank you goes to the whole fantastic Team of organizers, our Alfa Tango friends from Apulia, who worked for many months to make sure everything was organized in the best possible way. Thanks to 1AT23 Loreto, Team Leader, together with Paola; to 1AT48 Massimo and 1AT1948 Lory; 1AT51 Francesco; 1AT70 Simon and 1AT880 Monica; 1AT73 Silvestro and Liliana; 1AT285 Francesco and Valeria; and 1AT1248 Luciano.

A big thank you also to our Meeting Manager, 1AT41 Lory, for the valuable coordination work. We also thank our interpreter, 30AT48 George, and our sound engineers, 1AT75 Giuseppe and 1AT754 Fabrizio, who also helped create the beautiful DX-Pedition presentations.

Allow me also a personal thank you to 1AT11 Diana for all the work done behind the scenes, day after day, and above all for the great patience shown towards me.

Thank you all, truly!

Friends, this Meeting is also the right moment to talk briefly about the health of our Group, and I must say the figures are very positive. Since 1 January 2026 we have 114 new units: 80 are new members and 34 are returning members. This means that in the first eight months of the year we averaged more than 14 new Alfa Tango units every month.

These are figures we are truly pleased with. They mean that the Alfa Tango Group keeps growing, keeps attracting new operators and, just as importantly, sees many friends coming back to our big family.

Today there are 2,769 Alfa Tango operators in 150 DXCC countries. It is a result that fills us with pride and satisfaction and shows, once again, that the Alfa Tango Group is alive, growing, renewing itself and looking to the future with enthusiasm.

And speaking of pride, there is another important achievement that brings prestige to our Group: the birth of WSJT-CB, a digital-mode program that now lets 11-metre operators make contacts even when signals are extremely weak. The project was started in 2023 by 1AT106 Lorenzo, its lead developer, whom we all thank and to whom a plaque was dedicated. After more than two years of programming, trials and on-air tests, the first public release of WSJT-CB came out this year. A project born from the initiative and passion of an AT operator, which today is a source of great satisfaction and pride for the whole Alfa Tango Group.

Our AT QSL SERVICE is also going very well.

And then there is some big and wonderful news I want to share with all of you: our new website, created by 1AT74 Max with the valuable help of 1AT58 Alex and 1AT104 Ivan. A truly enormous amount of work has gone into it and, in a few minutes, we will hand over to Max, who will show us live on the big screen all the new features of the new AT portal.

But beyond the numbers, the projects and the news, I believe the most important thing is what we are experiencing here today: being together. Seeing old friends again, meeting new ones, shaking hands, sharing experiences and spending time together that, I am sure, we will remember with great pleasure. This, in my opinion, is the true Alfa Tango spirit.

So I wish you all a wonderful day together: have fun, meet lots of friends and enjoy our WORLD ALFA TANGO MEETING 2026 to the fullest. Thank you all and enjoy the Meeting!

After the award ceremony, the day continued with Sunday lunch, which had an extraordinary turnout of 125 people. Three get-togethers, three numbers that capture the atmosphere of these days:

61 operators at the Friday extra-Meeting dinner,
85 people at the official Saturday dinner,
125 people at Sunday lunch.

The WORLD ALFA TANGO MEETING 2026 was not simply a date on our calendar: it was a great international celebration, a meeting between friends who have often known each other for years over the radio and who were finally able to shake hands and spend time together.

Thank you all. 73
See you at the next World Alfa Tango Meeting 2027!!

1AT010 Roberto – President