Monty

After the YOTA camp in Bulgaria our team was very motivated to continue working on presenting our hobby to young population. We’ve shared the experience we had in Bulgaria with several other young radio amateurs from our country.

On request of our young members in our radio club in Stip, this year we have shortened the summer break and restarted the courses a little bit earlier. Almost every day there is youngsters in the radio club who are exploring our hobby.

L-R Bobi (Z33BOB), Ivan (Z33ROC), Ivan, Darko(Z33JBT), Filip, Meto (Z33MED), Ivan (Z33IMS)

We have organized many portable VHF activities, where youngsters had chance for making QSOs on repetitors. Morse code courses are held every time when we are in the radio club.

In Bitola after successfully held course for ham radio and passing the exams, there are two new young licenced radio amateurs. Dimitar Z33DBX and Viktor Z32VIK.

On the ham radio meeting organized by our society, me Veljan (Z33C) and Andrej (Z33RTF) held one presentation about all the activities we had in Bulgaria.

It was very nice view to see many new young radio amateurs from all over the country attending the meeting. Beside the presentation of our activities at the camp, our society organized ARDF competition.

All the youngsters entered the competition, it was much fun.

Also there was HF radio station equipment setup where everyone had chance to see how operating on radio station looks like.

Train The Trainer report

EA team: EA1IXD, EA1JAY & EA1JBE.

First of all, we would like to tell about our experience at the YOTA camp in Bulgaria past August. Our team was composed by three members, for two of us it was the first time ever at a YOTA camp, and we really had a great experience that we would like to repeat (and we’ll try if next year it’s possible). The time in Bulgaria really helped all of us to understand, learn and share technical things and procedures on the radio amateur world. The TTT sessions helped us to share with others what we had been doing in Spain and what we were going to do and learn from the other teams too. These are only few reasons why we think the YOTA camps should continue to be held.

Second, we can by now tell that we’re getting ready for the December YOTA month, which we are expecting with enthusiasm.

After the camp URE, the national Spanish society got in contact with us in order to prepare a report for the monthly magazine, which was published this month (October). They also told us to prepare a presentation to expose our experience in Bulgaria during the IberRadio ham radio fair, which is the biggest amateur radio fairs in Spain and one of the biggest in the South of Europe. There, we made the presentation and the society decided to present the new Youth Committee, which will be preparing the upcoming Youngster activities. By now, we’ve sent the callsign request for the December YOTA Month to the Telecommunications authority.

Also, during IberRadio, youngsters without callsign could enjoy some workshops where they learned more about the radio, and some of them showed high interest on getting a callsign!

At this moment, we’re working with the Youth Committee to get everything ready for December YOTA Month and planning more youth activities yet to announce.

Until next report,

Regards from Spain!

Albanian radio ham youngsters.

Our team participated for the first time in a YOTA activity and was an honour for me to be the leader of the albanian team. This experience motivated us to keep going and better ourselves. As difficult as it is to be a radio amateur in Albania we are committed to push forward and to bring more people in. With the help of all the presentations and the tips that were given we now are trying to implement those to our reality. Also thanks to YOTA we know have friends from different countries and are so happy to share experience and learn from each other .

Our group consists of 10 licensed youngsters, from which just 5 of us are active. We try to find a day in which we can come together to operate on the radio. Now it has become more hard as we go to different universities.

After YOTA I have come with some ideas and I have communicated them to the rest of the  team. To make those ideas come true we need funding and that’s what we have tried to do .

We went on the open sports day and presented our sport to the locals. Which were curious enough to listen to us and showed interest in it.

We have found it difficult to make those ideas reality because of the wrong idea people have for our sport and the lack of funding from the government.

For now we are just focusing on creating new time tables with the days and the hours of the week in which we can operate from the radio station( for lack of our own radios) and also on the new classes for beginners who were intrested from the open sport day.

We look forward for any tips.

73

Ledina Kamami, ZA1LK

When the YO team returned from this year’s YOTA camp, the girls were very excited and eager to learn more and to help spread the word about this hobby. The HST world championships were approaching though and the first month was a bit of a slow burn because even though some people from the society (the ones who made it possible for the team to take part in YOTA this year) were interested in doing more and helping the youngsters do more, championships at the moment still take priority since they require quite a bit of funding.

Still, right after the camp, the YO team wrote a report on their experience there which was posted on the society’s Facebook page and it was also published in the society’s magazine. The article covered all that was done during the week, how the girls felt about learning more and it had a positive tone and pictures – both taken by the participants and that were posted on the YOTA page. All of the girls also posted about the camp on their social media, pictures and impressions, since the YO YOTA does not have social media, yet.

The HST competitors that were part of the camp did operate the station that was available during the world championships from Albena, mid-September. The other youngsters on the HST team were interested in the stories they heard about YOTA and some have started going to their local club stations. Our YOTA participants are also more acquainted with this hobby now than they were before.

At the moment, this is what is in store from the YO youngsters:

• Mihaela Macsim (YO8TLK) is writing an article about ham radio that will be published in the magazine of her university, the school year has just begun a couple weeks ago. Other youngsters have already written for their school magazines.
• A youth committee is in the talks, there are more youngsters that are interested, however the committee has to be elected and that will take place around the end of the year. Still, the youngsters are going to operate and find other means to spread the word.
• During national training camps for HST there will now be stations (or more, if there were any before) available for the youngsters to work while taking a break from practice. HST competitors must be licensed, so that part is already taken care of for them to work the radio.
• We want to maybe start holding presentations in high schools, this however will take a bit of time to prepare.
• There will be an awarding ceremony at the end of the year for winning contesters in all fields (HST, ARDF, etc.) where people from various television channels will be present and the youngsters will be interviewed/will interview various people and thus discuss YOTA and future YOTA activities.
• Presently, the society does have social media and youth activity is being posted there.
• Recently, holding a subregional camp was discussed between members of the society and some youngsters, however nothing has been specifically decided yet. Still, there is a possibility that that will take place at the end of the next year and is definitely something the youth wants to take part in.

Even though it is slow, things are changing in Romania too and hopefully the youngsters won’t lose energy nor momentum.

First off, Iceland is small. Like tiny. My ham radio license is number 434, from the beginning. I am the 18th YL to have a callsign, since 1960ish. We are very few but also very close. The Icelandic way of doing things is “Doing a lot but no planning involved because that’ll scare people off.”

The youth team in Iceland is technically just me and TF8RN. But in reality it is us and mainly radioscouts. There are 1-4 people involved and they have a supporting network of IRA members, scouts and family around them.

Next week is going to be the biggest JOTA/JOTI of the past 10ish years. There’s a team of YLs and IRA members that will help the scouts with the shack and TF8RN is going to try and activate TF3YOTA from his own station. This is solely planned by scouts, a lot of people who attended the JOTA/JOTI last year and saw its potential (it hadn’t been very active in a long time).

I plan activities by calling one person and asking if they’d like to do something, like would they be up for activating TF3YOTA with me from the IRA club station in December? If yes, then we let other people in the society know when and where and invite them to come and meet us there.

Second, I live in the Netherlands and I have voiced my concern to the IRA of how I can help there by being here but I have their full support and say that they actually think being in mainland Europe gives me more opportunity to network, which is true.

Next year, I plan to assist in any way I can with NOTA 2020, I am also laying groundwork for NOTA Iceland 2021. This will be presented at the IRA main meeting in February and I will propose that a % of the membership fee goes solely towards youth activities.

The main focus now is to build up events in a consistent manner so that the environment for youth activities is there if anyone is interested. Planning NOTA 2021 is a big step in doing that. Getting youth into the hobby in Iceland is still an issue that needs to be addressed. I have inquired about holding presentations in schools but so far they have fallen through since I am only there about a month of the year.

I discussed this with the head of the IRA and I regret to say that I will not be making bi-monthly reports when there is nothing to report. I will of course inform you when we have news but for now it’s going to be sporadic.

YOTA summer camp was on the front page of the CQ TF this month.. if that helps. And there will be an extended article on what I’ve done in the past year in the next magazine. (I attended NOTA/FHN/YOTA Bulgaria and will participate in PI4DEC/J next week)

73 de Elín, PA/TF2EQ

Maker Faire Prague June 13th-14th Prague

Czech Radio Club took place in the biggest maker fair in the Czech Republic. Because of the large number of parents with children we decided to prepare games for youngsters together with the National Technic Museum. They had the opportunity to try out morse code or their task was to light up as many lightbulbs as possible using different circuits and other fun activities. At the fair we met two boys who are interested in and excited about HAM radio, we are still in contact with them. One of them has already done the license, the other wants to take the exam soon. 

Electro camp 1st-12th August 2019

As we already mentioned in past reports, Electro camps have been  held every year since 2012. This year 48 youngsters 13 years and older participated. They soldered electronic kits, learned theory and also took part in a HAM radio contest. As always, it took place in Olbramkostel. Although we increased the capacity with a second camp date – Electro camp Junior which is for youngsters from 10 to 13 years old, the number of applicants was so great that we still had to refuse some of them. It’s a voluntary project organised for children to get them interested in and make them fall in love with (electro)technology and to show them the wonderful radio amateur world. Most participants are unlicensed, and have their first experience with amateur radio at the camp.

http://www.elektrotabor.cz/2019/

Summer Radio-electro camp Akademik 13th-17th July 2019

This camp is for youngsters 15 years of age and older, who are interested in electronics and radio technology. They learned the basics, met new friends and much more. We tried QSO by satellite and talked with people from all over the world, we built a light based walkie-talkie and learned the morse code. They had a lot of fun and made many memories. For some participants it was the first experience with amateur radio.

http://www.letni-tabory.info

YOTA Subregional OL19CAMP – Weekend of Experiences with Czech Radio Club 27th – 29th September 2019

The whole event was made possible by the youth commission: OK1VHB (IARU R1 Youth coordinator) and Líba OK1LYL (secretary). The decision to organise the YOTA subregional camp was made 3 months before the start of the event, which meant we had to work extremely hard and fast to get it ready in time. Because everyone lives somewhere else, we had to discuss everything by group chats and calls. First of all, we split the tasks among us. The most important things were finding a place where we could accommodate approximately 30 participants, come up with a program and find sponsors. We also contacted experts from different fields to make presentations for youngsters about HAM radio. After that the real work began, Honza OK1JD came up with different games for children and also prepared a presentation about the physics side of amateur radio, antennas, radios and QSO basics. Martin OK1VHB made an introduction presentation about HAM radio and the HAM spirit, showed them ARDF. Jindra OK1NOR did a J-Pole workshop in which each participant built their own antenna. Vlada OK2ZKR taught the kids basics about electronics in a form of a game and Leo OK2UUJ taught them how to make contacts via satellite. Liba OK1LYL and I decided to deal with the paperwork and I also had a presentation about all the events and activities which YOTA organises.

You can find more information about the event here.

We plan to do a weekend meeting during the December YOTA Month using the callsign  OL19YOTA, on the weekend of 6th-8th December 2019. It will be a chance for youngsters to get together and get on the air. We will also organise other fun activities, more details about that in the next report.

We have a lot of plans for the future so stay tuned! We will talk about them in the next report once we have finalised them!

Martina OK2YLQ