From this page, you can easily find the social media and Facebook groups of the youth teams participating in Train the Trainer. If you don’t see your societies youth social media on the page, please email trainthetrainer@ham-yota.com
This is a first ever “Train The Trainer” summary report by Youngsters On The Air. Gathering answers and ideas from more than ten societies’ youth teams into one short text, to give you an idea what youth work within ham radio all over the world is about. The report is divided into two categories: “General observations” and “What to learn?”.
General observations
This summary report contains answers from July 2020 to January 2021. The main thing that reoccurred in nearly every report from that time is that the activities were nearly completely down. This is a shame, as community and meeting people are one of the biggest parts of our hobby. Luckily for us, we hams can also always communicate on radio frequencies. This was the case for some, but unfortunately as radio clubs were closed in many countries, others completely lost their ability to operate.
From the reports you can see that ham radio related activities have quickly leaped into online activities. Most of the societies answering the report have had at least some online activities, most common ones being courses and (club) meetings. Some of the societies took online to next level by even having online exams. Several societies also used messaging software’s such as Telegram and WhatsApp to communicate among them. Also skeds, which are scheduled contacts, and other on air activities such as NOTA (Nordics On The Air) Easter activation were organized.
DYM – short for December YOTA Month – was the main activity during December 2020. With Covid restrictions given, DYM seemed to be a success for many societies under those circumstances. Multiple societies said in their reports that they saw a lot of new faces operating DYM callsigns, as well as several answers said that they had made QSOs using QO-100 satellite. The remote operating possibility of 9A0YOTA also made an on the air activity during DYM possible for many youngsters around the world. Every youngster under the age of 26 with a CEPT license had the chance to operate from this big gun station in Croatia. Unfortunately, the flipside of DYM was, that some societies were not able to have any activity at all this year.
(Report continues after picture)
Kids On The Air camp in Czech Republic was one of the only camps arranged last year. Picture: Team Czech Republic
What to learn?
Looking at the past TTT reports, it is easy to say that during the current Covid pandemic online events have been “the thing”. However, this is a time to evolve and improve. Community and communication is one of the key ways to get people involved with the hobby. Therefore, to improve this, it’s highly suggested that every society would have at least some way for youngsters to communicate. This could for example mean having a chat group for youngsters. If your society does not have a chat group and you don’t want to establish one yourself, you’re always free to join the big YOTA Telegram group having more than 200 youngsters! Just get in contact with us at pr@ham-yota.com to get access for your youngsters.
Further, online events are easier to approach if they interact the viewers somehow. Having a possibility for participants to comment something or even speak with the organizers is a huge benefit which makes having online events near to “real-life” ones. As said before, there are a lot of different kind of activities that are possible to be held online or directly on the air). Presentations, courses, club meetings. You name it! Everything is possible. If you want to see what YOTA has come up with, please see our YOTA Online sessions on www.youtube.com/hamyota.
Moreover, feel free to see every report on our website at www.ham-yota.com/ttt for full and detailed information about their progress within youth work.
Now I want to wish everyone good luck with the future activities. Hopefully, we will soon be able to meet in-person again. Until then, we will have to do our best, innovate, and show that there’s youth in ham radio!
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73,
Otava Tuomi, OH3OT
Train The Trainer Coordinator
If you have anything to ask about Train the Trainer, please contact trainthetrainer@ham-yota.com
Beginning from 2021 there are some changes to Train the Trainer reports. The biggest of them being that the participating countries are from now on asked direct questions in order to make answering the report easier. The answers in this particular report are from member(s) of YOTA team Finland
Main Questions:
How was the last summer in your country when it comes to youth work within ham radio? Did you come up with any new exciting ideas?
Last summer we had very little activity compared to last year. We activated the Finnish youth on-air with skeds and we had Instagram live sessions. We also did some research and had polls for our members. Instagram lives were something that we tried for the first time and they were nice add to our activity.
How have your activities changed in the past six months? Have you been able to hold e.g. online events or activities within a smaller group of people?
Youth activities in Finland have changed in the past six months. When covid stopped us from planning activities and events we had to rethink our plans. We have now slowly started to organize activities on social media and also on-air. Online activities have been our main focus.
What kind of activities and operating possibilities did you have during the recent December YOTA Month? How did your activities differ from last year, and how did people respond to them?
As usual, in DYM 2020 we offered the OH2YOTA callsign for our society’s youth members. We also planned skeds for youth members to participate on-air. Also we had social media activations. 2020 activities were partly different from what we have done in the past years. Usually we have organized a weekend event during DYM to kickstart the month. So people’s response was a little different.
People were more active towards the possibility to operate the YOTA callsign at their own home’s as well as in flora & fauna area. The weekend event has usually been the way to bring youth together during DYM. Because it was missing, we lacked about 4000 QSOs from usual amount. However, we were happy to hear some new voices behind OH2YOTA this year.
Other Questions:
What kind of problems are you facing with youth work in your member society?
Our current youth members have been quite passive somewhat maybe also due to covid. It’s a challenge to keep our current youth activated and to offer new interesting activities.
We recently had an opinion poll for our society’s member clubs. We asked questions about their youth activities, how many youth members do they have and would they be interested in organizing activities for youth. These were the answers and conclusions we got from the polls:
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- 80% of the clubs that answered did not have active youth activities
- Only 48% of the clubs were interested in organizing youth activities
- 13,5 % were interested in working with the society’s youth team in the future to organize some youth activities together.
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Many of the clubs that answered felt that they needed more resources for organizing youth activities and for improving their club activities to support youth and other new members. Lots of clubs needed presentation materials and people that would be interested in leading/organizing youth activities.
Clubs that had youth related activities usually organized training for the amateur radio licence or were doing collaboration with scouts. Some interesting ways few of the clubs were organizing youth activities were electronic building club nights for kids and e-sports activities. Overall, the poll gave us ideas for the future of youth activities as well as co-operation with the clubs.
Anything else that comes to your mind or you want to share?
This year and in 2020 one of our goals has been and will be to improve work with scouts. We see scouts as a big potential for ham radio to find more youth and interested people.
If you have anything to ask about Train the Trainer, please contact trainthetrainer@ham-yota.com
Beginning from 2021 there are some changes to Train the Trainer reports. The biggest of them being that the participating countries are from now on asked direct questions in order to make answering the report easier. The answers in this particular report are from member(s) of YOTA team Iceland
Main Questions:
How was the last summer in your country when it comes to youth work within ham radio? Did you come up with any new exciting ideas?
April: NOTA on the air, got TF3YOTA to be active 13th of April with TF3VD and family as operator. Contacted them as PA/TF2EQ.
June: CQ Kids Day activation, Youth on the Air(Region 2) online participation&activity on air, YOTA promotion within IRA
Last summer wasn’t very active but some youngsters participated in regularly scheduled IRA summer activities.
How have your activities changed in the past six months? Have you been able to hold e.g. online events or activities within a smaller group of people?
No. Earlier this year I (EF2EQ) had planned to go to at least 3-4 YOTA activities but due to the situation everything has been at a standstill. I tried to have some activation in the summer and then a little bit during December YOTA month. So yes, less than I would have liked.
What kind of activities and operating possibilities did you have during the recent December YOTA Month? How did your activities differ from last year, and how did people respond to them?
The IRA clubhouse was closed but I was allowed to operate in December alone, I was active on Dec 1st and 29th a total of 149QSO’s all through the Oscar-100 satellite. It was well received, I was very busy on the air and the activity was also streamed through the Icelandic Radio Amateurs facebook group page.
Other Questions:
What kind of problems are you facing with youth work in your member society?
I have the full support of the IRA and the IRA members. Main problem I have is time, I am not in Iceland but when I am I try to prioritize HAM radio and being active within the community. We are very few and I haven’t had the time to promote youth work as much as I’d have liked within, for example, our universities.
Anything else that comes to your mind or you want to share?
Iceland is a very small community but even here there is youth in Ham Radio.
If you have anything to ask about Train the Trainer, please contact trainthetrainer@ham-yota.com
Beginning from 2021 there are some changes to Train the Trainer reports. The biggest of them being that the participating countries are from now on asked direct questions in order to make answering the report easier. The answers in this particular report are from member(s) of YOTA team Sweden
Main Questions:
How was the last summer in your country when it comes to youth work within ham radio? Did you come up with any new exciting ideas?
The last summer was very empty. After NOTA had to be cancelled, the youth team decided to await the COVID development before planning more. And since it didn’t ease up. No activitites were done
How have your activities changed in the past six months? Have you been able to hold e.g. online events or activities within a smaller group of people?
No, although, for DYM we invited everybody to run from home and also all OM:s to join the event with children and grandchildren in the correct way. This was appreciated, but not as fun as usual, since we couldn’t meet.
What kind of activities and operating possibilities did you have during the recent December YOTA Month? How did your activities differ from last year, and how did people respond to them?
Usually, we would have three local camps in south, middle and north Sweden. This year, all amateurs were invited to join alone if they were in YOTA age, and with their children or grandchildren (they were all responsible to do this following the local COVID advisements). The response was not the greatest, but it was still appreciated amongst the participants
Other Questions:
What kind of problems are you facing with youth work in your member society?
Recruitment is still a big deal. Youngsters enjoy the hobby when trying but feel that the step to a license is too big. However, we hope to get a novice class, which would make this a lot easier!
Anything else that comes to your mind or you want to share?
I am personally very happy to see, that the YOTA community stays together even in those times. Watching the YOTA group chats give many laughs, and it’s nice to see all the messages about ham radio, projects and anything else. That warms the heart in a cold world!
If you have anything to ask about Train the Trainer, please contact trainthetrainer@ham-yota.com
Beginning from 2021 there are some changes to Train the Trainer reports. The biggest of them being that the participating countries are from now on asked direct questions in order to make answering the report easier. The answers in this particular report are from member(s) of YOTA team France
Main Questions:
How was the last summer in your country when it comes to youth work within ham radio? Did you come up with any new exciting ideas?
Everything has been down here. There was a plan to organize a YOTA WE, as well as maybe oganizing a contest WE. Difficulty came with C19. We had talk with the society about the group who is actually not growing for many reasons. We also had a talk about representativity of the youth from France in the hobby by me with a notice of maybe a lack of it especially with some different views and intersts. It can be hard to find ourselves in a “deadlock” way.
How have your activities changed in the past six months? Have you been able to hold e.g. online events or activities within a smaller group of people?
We kept being active online with talks and many exchanges about how to develop and promote our hobby towards the youth sphere.
What kind of activities and operating possibilities did you have during the recent December YOTA Month? How did your activities differ from last year, and how did people respond to them?
Activating a special call was mainly the goal of those interested in On Air fun. Unfortunately as a small group, in C19 restrictions time, with a limit of 15 days a month of special call possibility of activity, it was a light operation. I personnaly had a great time, few of us tried to be activ as well and I think they enjoyed their time. I had the chance to be apart of 9A0YOTA crew (thanks to 9A1TT!) as well who was such a nice experience to be on, especially during that lockdown period !
Other Questions:
What kind of problems are you facing with youth work in your member society?
15 “members” in the small group of YOTA F on the maybe 30 hams in F under the age of 26. The main difficulty is the non-adequacy between all the interests and the necessity of finding a representativ leader (wich I think I am beginning to not be).
Anything else that comes to your mind or you want to share?
Starting from nowhere is pretty hard, we keep trying!
If you have anything to ask about Train the Trainer, please contact trainthetrainer@ham-yota.com
Beginning from 2021 there are some changes to Train the Trainer reports. The biggest of them being that the participating countries are from now on asked direct questions in order to make answering the report easier. The answers in this particular report are from member(s) of YOTA team Norway
Main Questions:
How was the last summer in your country when it comes to youth work within ham radio? Did you come up with any new exciting ideas?
I myself (LB4IH) did not do much youth work, although some may have been organized by the groups.
How have your activities changed in the past six months? Have you been able to hold e.g. online events or activities within a smaller group of people?
I have not.
What kind of activities and operating possibilities did you have during the recent December YOTA Month? How did your activities differ from last year, and how did people respond to them?
I did not organize DYM in Norway this year.
Other Questions:
What kind of problems are you facing with youth work in your member society?
Getting more people involved, and getting the current people on the air.
Anything else that comes to your mind or you want to share?
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If you have anything to ask about Train the Trainer, please contact trainthetrainer@ham-yota.com
Beginning from 2021 there are some changes to Train the Trainer reports. The biggest of them being that the participating countries are from now on asked direct questions in order to make answering the report easier. The answers in this particular report are from member(s) of YOTA team Czech Republic
Main Questions:
How was the last summer in your country when it comes to youth work within ham radio? Did you come up with any new exciting ideas?
We didn’t really work with youth, however, we tried to work with kids and it went really well. Committee for Children and Youth held the first Kids On The Air (weekend) camp.
How have your activities changed in the past six months? Have you been able to hold e.g. online events or activities within a smaller group of people?
They hadn’t. In case there are only a few young ham radio operators we didn’t do anything special. Yes, we are in contact but mainly if there are things moving, it’s mainly during DYM.
What kind of activities and operating possibilities did you have during the recent December YOTA Month? How did your activities differ from last year, and how did people respond to them?
The tradition here in the Czech Republic is that we have been doing a small meeting during the DYM. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do one because of the pandemic situation. Good thing is that they were some new faces calling under OL20YOTA this year.
Other Questions:
What kind of problems are you facing with youth work in your member society?
That there is a lack of young people between 15 – 25 years old. They are kinds (who hopefully will be our future youth) but not youth.
Anything else that comes to your mind or you want to share?
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If you have anything to ask about Train the Trainer, please contact trainthetrainer@ham-yota.com
Kids On The Air 2020
Beginning from 2021 there are some changes to Train the Trainer reports. The biggest of them being that the participating countries are from now on asked direct questions in order to make answering the report easier. The answers in this particular report are from member(s) of YOTA team Thailand
Main Questions:
How was the last summer in your country when it comes to youth work within ham radio? Did you come up with any new exciting ideas?
We schedule to have our first IARU3 international YOTA in October 2020 but postponed it due to Covid-19.
How have your activities changed in the past six months? Have you been able to hold e.g. online events or activities within a smaller group of people?
Yes, Due to Covid-19 we encourage the members to draw their children and youth near the area to QSO from their station and provide accurate information about amateur radio.
What kind of activities and operating possibilities did you have during the recent December YOTA Month? How did your activities differ from last year, and how did people respond to them?
Receive ISS signal by a small youth group from Sirindhorn International Thai-German Graduate School of Engineering on 26 DEC 2020, this year we focus on satellite communication, they are fun and educational.
Other Questions:
What kind of problems are you facing with youth work in your member society?
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Anything else that comes to your mind or you want to share?
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If you have anything to ask about Train the Trainer, please contact trainthetrainer@ham-yota.com
Beginning from 2021 there are some changes to Train the Trainer reports. The biggest of them being that the participating countries are from now on asked direct questions in order to make answering the report easier. The answers in this particular report are from member(s) of YOTA team Spain
Main Questions:
How was the last summer in your country when it comes to youth work within ham radio? Did you come up with any new exciting ideas?
In our case, the COVID-19 pandemic was very strong, and although in summer cases went down, most of the activities were cancelled, including a small camp planned for July.
How have your activities changed in the past six months? Have you been able to hold e.g. online events or activities within a smaller group of people?
As said before, COVID-19 is hitting strongly in Spain, and leisure meetings were very very limited, and now are not allowed (very few provinces maybe are allowed). Also, sadly, everyone from the youth commitee quitted in November. Online events seem to be a pretty good idea, so we may try something. We’ll see if we manage to get some people to participate.
What kind of activities and operating possibilities did you have during the recent December YOTA Month? How did your activities differ from last year, and how did people respond to them?
We usually had 2 callsigns on the air during DYM, this year we had only one, EF4YOTA. Interested people can get on the air if their parents or family have a license, from their personal station, or if the participants themselves have a callsign. In the case that any province could have leisure meetings, people would be able to get on the air with the radioclub station, but with the actual situation seems it was very difficult. Although this year I saw that more youngsters participated in this year’s DYM, so it’s good.
To sum up, this year was be very limited as only people which had relation with amateur radio were able to participate, but well at least we could be on the air.
Other Questions:
What kind of problems are you facing with youth work in your member society?
We have to see who wants to join to create a new youth commitee, as the other one quitted, but this is only a matter of time. We’ll see in the future how it develops.
Anything else that comes to your mind or you want to share?
Not for the moment
If you have anything to ask about Train the Trainer, please contact trainthetrainer@ham-yota.com
