Values – WWBOTA

WWBOTA VALUES

What is WWBOTA?

Worldwide Bunkers on the Air (WWBOTA) is an amateur radio activity that brings together two powerful human instincts — the desire to communicate across borders, and the impulse to understand and preserve our shared history. Bunkers are among the most visceral physical remnants of the conflicts and tensions that shaped the modern world. From coastal fortifications to Cold War command centres, from anti-aircraft emplacements to civil defence shelters, they exist in almost every country — silent witnesses to moments of national and international significance. WWBOTA exists to draw attention to these structures, to promote interest in them as part of our collective heritage, and to connect the amateur radio community across the international boundaries that those bunkers were so often built to defend.

WWBOTA is not a competitive programme. We do not publish league tables or rankings. What we do is driven by the spirit of shared endeavour rather than a contest. WWBOTA is about more than numbers.

WWBOTA operates as a two-tier system. At the international tier, WWBOTA rewards and promotes cross-border bunker activity — contacts between operators in different countries, activations across multiple nations, and the building of relationships across the worldwide bunker community. At the national tier, affiliated schemes provide domestic awards and activities calibrated to the realities of their own country’s bunker landscape. Together, the two tiers form a complete ecosystem — one that welcomes the newest activator visiting their first local bunker, and the most experienced operator chasing contacts across continents.

Every activation is an act of historical engagement. We invite you to join us — and to know a little about the bunker you visit, not just its reference number.

Our Values, below, are the explicit expression of the principles set out in our Foundational Statement above.

WWBOTA: Our Shared Values

The following are the fundamental values of WWBOTA. They are not rules, regulations or operating procedures; they define what WWBOTA stands for and the principles on which the international programme is built.

These values are fixed and are not subject to change through the Governance Council. The Council may develop and amend the rules and procedures required to operate WWBOTA, but those rules must remain consistent with these fundamental values.

The Governance Council is intended to bring national schemes together around a shared purpose and common principles. It follows that any national scheme wishing to join the Council must agree with and support these values.

If we cannot agree on what WWBOTA stands for, we cannot meaningfully agree on how WWBOTA should be governed.

1. Our Origins

a) WWBOTA grew from the development of the Bunkers on the Air concept within national amateur radio communities.

b) The modern UKBOTA programme was revived in 2023, building renewed interest in combining amateur radio with the exploration and appreciation of bunker and fortification sites. The concept quickly demonstrated that there was an opportunity to connect operators not only within individual countries, but across national boundaries.

c) During 2024, the concept developed into Worldwide Bunkers on the Air (WWBOTA), with the aim of bringing national Bunkers on the Air schemes together within a common international programme and encouraging cooperation between them.

d) WWBOTA therefore recognises the contribution of the national schemes and communities from which the concept developed, while being clear that WWBOTA is an international programme in its own right.

e) The development of WWBOTA does not establish a hierarchy between national schemes. No national scheme is the parent or governing authority of another, and no country is entitled to determine how another national scheme operates simply because it participated earlier in the development of the concept.

f) The relationship between WWBOTA and its national schemes is one of cooperation, partnership and shared purpose.

g) National schemes retain their own identity, leadership and appropriate national autonomy, while contributing to the common international WWBOTA programme.

h) From one idea to a worldwide community the history of WWBOTA is therefore not a story of one country directing others. It is the story of an idea that developed within a national community, demonstrated its potential, and was then expanded through the participation of operators and national schemes from around the world.

i) UKBOTA provided an important starting point. WWBOTA is the international community that grew from that idea.

j) WWBOTA exists to bring people together through amateur radio, while encouraging an appreciation of the bunkers and fortifications that form part of our shared history.

k) WWBOTA is more than an award or activity programme. It is an international community built around communication, heritage, cooperation and shared endeavour.

l) Our values define what WWBOTA stands for and provide the principles that guide the international programme, its national partners, its activators, hunters and those involved in its development.

2. Communication Without Borders

a) At its heart, WWBOTA is about bringing people together.

b) Amateur radio has the unique ability to connect people across national boundaries, cultures and languages. WWBOTA uses that ability to build connections between operators and communities around the world.

c) Bunkers were often constructed to defend borders, territories and nations. WWBOTA uses those same structures as a means of connecting people across the boundaries they once represented.

d) We believe communication should bring people together, not divide them.

3. Respect for Our Shared Heritage

a) Bunkers and fortifications are physical remnants of the conflicts, tensions and events that shaped the modern world.

b) From coastal defences and anti-aircraft positions to Cold War command centres and civil defence shelters, these structures form part of the historical landscape of the countries in which they exist.

c) WWBOTA seeks to promote interest in these places and encourage people to understand their history rather than simply treating them as activation locations or reference numbers.

d) Every activation is an opportunity to engage with history.

e) We encourage activators to know something about the bunker they visit, its purpose and its place in history.

4. International Cooperation

a) WWBOTA is an international programme, its strength comes from national schemes working together while contributing to one common worldwide activity.

b) The international tier exists to encourage cross-border activity, contacts between operators in different countries, activations across multiple nations and relationships between the worldwide bunker community.

c) We believe that cooperation between nations makes WWBOTA stronger than any individual national scheme could be alone.

d) Different nations, one shared programme.

5. National Identity and Autonomy

a) WWBOTA recognises that every country has its own history, geography, bunker landscape, operating environment and amateur radio community.

b) National schemes therefore need the freedom to develop activities and awards that reflect their own circumstances.

c) WWBOTA’s international framework does not seek to remove national identity. Instead, the international and national tiers should complement one another.

d) National schemes can be different while still contributing to the same worldwide programme.

e) National identity is a strength of WWBOTA, not a barrier to international cooperation.

6. Shared Endeavour, Not Competition

a) WWBOTA is not a competitive programme and never will be.

b) We do not exist to create league tables, rankings or competition between operators, activators or nations.

c) Numbers and awards can provide motivation, but they are not the purpose of WWBOTA.

d) Our emphasis is on participation, discovery, communication, cooperation and shared achievement.

e) Whether someone is activating their first bunker locally or making contacts across several continents, their contribution is part of the same worldwide activity.

f) WWBOTA is about what we achieve together, not who achieves the most.

7. Accessibility and Participation

a) WWBOTA should be accessible to everyone who wants to take part.

b) Our community includes people discovering bunker activity for the first time, experienced activators, hunters, historians, national scheme organisers and operators making contacts across continents.

c) The international programme should provide opportunities for participation at different levels of experience and ability.

d) We want people to be able to enter the WWBOTA community through their local national scheme while also having the opportunity to participate in the wider international programme.

e) There should always be a place in WWBOTA for the newcomer as well as the experienced operator.

8. Respect and Responsibility

a) Participation in WWBOTA carries responsibility.

b) We expect activators, hunters, national schemes and those involved in the administration of the programme to treat one another with respect and to act in the interests of the wider community.

c) WWBOTA depends on trust — trust between operators, trust between national schemes and trust in the people who participate in the programme.

d) That trust should not need to be replaced by unnecessary bureaucracy or excessive control.

e) We believe responsible participation, honesty and mutual respect are fundamental to the continued success of WWBOTA.

9. Trust

WWBOTA is built on trust.

a) We trust our operators unless there is a reason not to. We do not build a system of suspicion around the actions of the majority because of the actions of a minority.

b) We trust our hunters and participants to act with integrity and to respect the spirit in which WWBOTA is intended to operate.

c) We trust our national schemes to manage their own communities responsibly and to uphold the common principles of WWBOTA.

d) Trust means that honesty and integrity are the starting point, not something that must be continually proven through unnecessary controls.

e) WWBOTA should not seek to impose systems or requirements designed to police participants simply because a small number of people may choose to act improperly. Where there is no evidence of wrongdoing, participants should be treated with trust and respect.

f) Equally, that trust carries responsibility. Deliberate dishonesty, falsification, abuse of the programme or actions intended to undermine confidence in WWBOTA damage the entire community and cannot be accepted.

g) We believe that a strong international programme is built on people doing the right thing because they value the community they belong to.

h) Trust is given with participation, maintained through integrity and strengthened by responsible behaviour.

10. Protecting the Future of WWBOTA

a) WWBOTA belongs to the worldwide community that participates in it.

b) Its future should not depend upon any single individual, national scheme or organisation.

c) We therefore value cooperation, transparency and good governance that allows WWBOTA to develop while protecting the principles that make it an international programme.

d) The decisions made today should protect the programme for those who participate in it tomorrow.

e) We are not simply building a programme for today; we are building something that can be enjoyed by future generations of radio amateurs.

Our Common Purpose

a) WWBOTA exists to:

Connect people across borders.
Promote interest in our shared heritage.
Encourage amateur radio activity.
Support cooperation between national schemes.
Welcome participation at every level.
Celebrate shared endeavour rather than competition.
Protect and develop the worldwide WWBOTA programme for the future.
Our guiding principle
Every activation is more than a contact. It is an opportunity to communicate, discover, remember and connect.

Our Commitment

a) WWBOTA is a shared international programme built on cooperation, trust and a common purpose.

b) We recognise the contribution of every national scheme and the communities that make WWBOTA possible. We respect their individual identities and the different histories, landscapes and circumstances in which they operate.

c) At the same time, we recognise that WWBOTA has a responsibility to protect the integrity of the common international programme and the values on which it was founded.

d) We will therefore seek to develop WWBOTA through cooperation rather than control, participation rather than exclusion, and shared responsibility rather than individual ownership.

Aim

Our aim is simple

a) To connect people, preserve interest in our shared heritage, encourage amateur radio activity and build an international community that will remain strong for generations to come.

b) WWBOTA belongs to everyone who participates in it. Its future is something we build together.

c) Different nations. Different histories One shared community. One WWBOTA.