YOTA @HAMRADIO 2018

HAM Radio 2018 was incredible, we have never seen so many youngsters and YOTA friends. We were proud to be part of the IARU booth for 3 days long. In our Flag ceremony at the mainstage the YOTA flag and key were handed over from the UK to South-Africa. And yes, YOTA ZS is coming closer! Florian (OE3FTA) and Lisa (PA2LS) introduced the audience to Youngsters On The Air and gave an overview of all activities and news, YOTA keeps on growing and developing its program.
The IARU R1 International Youth Meeting on Saturday was attended by a group of youngsters and youth coordinators. Koos (ZR6KF) and Nico (ZS6QL) updated of all youth activities in South-Africa as part of SARL (South African Radio League) and Hammies. Followed by a discussion of Alex (IV3KKW), Florian (OE3FTA) and Lennart (PD5LKM), who are part of the IARU taskgroups which are working on the future of amateur radio. Their work is still in a starting point and are going to use the input to their relevant groups working on education and outreach, it’s not an easy task, but an important one.
In the afternoon a train full of youngsters visited all IARU member societies, questioning, does your society have a youth program? We were happy to have Silvio (IZ5DIY) as our train driver.
On Saturday evening we had the famous YOTA dinner, attended by more than 60 youngsters and YOTA friends from more than 10 countries. The family keeps on growing!
And last but not least, we had the chance to think about new future plans and took the time to say thank you to many of our sponsors which were attending HAM Radio. Without them we are not able to host all our many activities.

#hamyota #FHN2018