| 1923 | The first amateur radio contact was made with Australia on April 26, between Frank Bell at Shag Valley in Otago (using callsign BELL) and Charlie Maclurcan 2CM in Sydney, on 160 m. |
| 1923 | Dan Wilkinson 2AB, in Motueka the first licensed ZL amateur. |
| 1926 | The New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters formed in Auckland, |
| 1927 | Sangster Shield contest starts. Look here for the latest results. |
| 1929 | NZART QSL Bureau established |
| 1930 | Myrt Earland ZL3AG first licensed YL operator. |
| 1934 | First contact between aircraft and ground station, established by Casey Harris ZL4CA and Ray McConnell ZL4BV in Otago, on 5m (60 MHz). |
| 1935 | VK/ZL/OC contest started. Now the contest name is Oceania DX Contest. |
| 1938 | Dave Brown ZL1HY first ZL awarded DXCC. |
| 1952 | First SSB contacts, between Jack Mason ZL1QS and Maurie Walker ZL1AU, using homebuilt equipment. |
| 1953 | New Zealand has more amateurs per capita than any other country. |
| 1956 | First two-way RTTY contact between NZ and USA, ZL1WB and W0BP. |
| 1969 | World record 144 MHz E-M-E contact between John Morgan ZL1AZR and Kjell Rasmusson SM7BAE. |
| 1960 | Jock White ZL2GX achieves world first DXCC 300. |
| 1971 | Two-metre FM repeaters established at Whangarei and Waikato. |
| 1972 | Ted Thorpe, ZL2AWJ is elected to CQ DX Hall of Fame |
| 1974 | First full-colour ATV test-pattern transmitted, by Doug Ingham ZL2TAR. |
| 1978 | First two-way contact on 24 GHz, by Peter Williams ZL2ARW and John Yaldwyn ZL2TRV. |
| 1979 | Jim Jackson ZL2BCG then Graham Alderson ZL3AAD set 432 MHz E-M-E world record when contacting I5MSH. |
| 1982 | Tasman Sea crossed on 1296 MHz by ZL1AVZ and VK2BDN. |
| 1982 | First ZL-ZL E-M-E contacts between Graham Alderson ZL3AAD and John Shorland ZL2AQE, on the 432 MHz and 1296 MHz bands. |
| 1984 | Chatham, Kermadec, and Auckland/Campbell Islands became ZL7, ZL8, and ZL9 respectively. |
| 1985 | Ronald Wright, ZL1AMO is elected to CQ DX Hall of Fame |
| 1987 |
World record 2304 MHz E-M-E contact between John Shorland ZL2AQE and Tom Clark
W3IWI. Guy Kendall ZL2BIV first amateur to communicate from hang-glider. |
| 1992 | Dave Brown ZL1HY hands in call sign after becoming world top DXer, having contacted all 323 countries on current DXCC list and 375 out of 377 on the all-time list. |
| 1997 | Rebecca Butcher ZL3URB youngest-ever licensed amateur, aged 8. |
| 1999 | Campbell Island Dxpedition, ZL9CI, organised from New Zealand, makes world record 96,004 contacts. |
| 2001 | NZART 75th Anniversary Year. ZL75 callsign is used by various branches to commemorate the event. |
| 2001 | ZL6QH transmitted a low speed frequency shift keyed test signal in the 136 kHz band. John VE1ZJ, being 15,645 km away managed to receive and positively identify signals from ZL6QH. |