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October 2, 2019
0

Subregional camp Czech Republic – Saturday

By | Community Written, Czech Republic 2019, Publication, Subregional Activities | No Comments

On Saturday the program started at 6 a.m. –  kids are unstoppable! A lot of them couldn’t stay in bed and started to operate the radio in the early morning. The official program started with workshops. The participants were divided into 4 groups which rotated between five stands –

1) Fox hunting theory

2) J-Pole antenna building workshop

3) Electronics basics (taught by using a game)

4) Satellite operation

5) DX and contest basics

Dividing the participants into groups allowed the presenters to make their presentations more interactive and interesting for the participants, for example by using a game.

 After lunch we went out and tried ARDF, this was connected to the SOTA activation. Each youngster was given a receiver and their task was to find the fox hidden three kilometers from the camp. Despite our assurance that there is no need to leave the roads, of course the youngsters decided to follow the signal exactly and set off straight into the impassable forest! The finish was close to the look-out tower where the HF and VHF SOTA set-ups were prepared in advance. The lookout tower was the perfect place to test the J-pole antennas made in the morning. Unfortunately, it started to rain very heavily on the way back, the outside activities scheduled for the rest of the day were cancelled.

In the evening there was an “Off-Air contest”. First the participants learned how to make a contest QSO and how to log it correctly. After some time practicing, Honza OK1JD announced that he is satisfied with the contesters performance and that the big Off-Air contest could start. It was a great success! Considering that most of the youngsters had never had a QSO before the start of the camp, it was simply unbelievable how they were suddenly able to make 3 – 4 QSOs per minute.

The day ended with a presentation about all the activities organized by YOTA, for example the December YOTA Month, the Youth Contesting Program and the summer camps by Martina OK2YLQ. The participants were enthusiastic about participating in more of the YOTA activities in the future.

 

October 2, 2019
0

Subregional camp Czech Republic – Friday

By | Community Written, Czech Republic 2019, Publication, Subregional Activities | No Comments

The first Czech YOTA Subregional camp started in the afternoon of Friday the 27th, with the arrival of the first participants. The registration of newcomers lasted until 7 p.m.. The program was started by Martin OK1VHB who made a presentation to introduce the participants who are new to hamradio to HAM radio and the HAM spirit. The program continued with a lecture by Honza OK1JD about physics, antennas, radios and QSO basics. All of the participants learned how to make a SSB contactsand in the end of the day everybody was able to understand the principles, so during the night 80 m operation using OL19CAMP could follow.

After a little stress before the first CQ calls, the small expectations of the organisers were quickly exceeded. The Youngsters were really comfortable operating the radio and their enthusiasm and open mind were a big surprise.What makes this camp different to previous YOTA subregional camps is that a large part of the participants were not yet ,for many of them it was the first time learning about amateur radio.

 

September 30, 2019
0

OL19CAMP – Day 3

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September 30, 2019
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OL19CAMP – Day 2

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September 30, 2019
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OL19CAMP – Day 1

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August 21, 2019
1

YOTA Summer Camp Bulgaria 2019 – Looking back

By | Publication, YOTA Bulgaria 2019 | One Comment

From the 11th to the 17th of August 2019 around 80 youngsters from 27 countries met in Bankya, near Sofia, the capital city of Bulgaria to connect and learn from each other. The event was organised by the Bulgarian Federation of Amateur Radio as part of IARU Region 1’s “Youngsters On The Air” program, abbreviated as YOTA. The summer camp is held in a different country every year, over the last years it has been held in Austria, the United Kingdom, South Africa and many more. YOTA is growing quickly, this year’s summer camp demonstrated this especially well. The great majority of participants had never participated in a YOTA summer camp before, they are a new generation of young amateur radio enthusiasts. Another thing showing YOTA’s success is the number of girls at the camp, 40% of the participants were YLs, a percentage not often seen in amateur radio.

During the week youngsters did a variety of workshops such as building VHF and HF antennas, electronic kits, and much more. However the focus of this week’s presentations was on learning from each other: YOTA is shifting more and more towards a “youngsters for youngsters” approach where youngsters teach each other, rather than relying on older generations for input.  A number of participating youth teams presented their youth activities. For example, the Finnish team gave an insight into the Nordics On The Air sub-regional camp, they not only showed how successful it was, but gave great tips and a good guide to organising such an event. The main goal of the YOTA summer camp is to give youngsters the ideas, knowledge and experiences they require to go back to their home country at the end of the week and start their own youth activities. The practical workshops are mostly easily reproducible so that youngsters could use them to introduce new young people into the hobby. For example youngsters might do a kit building workshop at a local school or use the antenna built at the camp to do a SOTA activation together with some new youngsters.

Sub-regional camps like those held in Finland, Italy and Germany in the last years are being organised more and more. For example, the next one is already being held in September in the Czech Republic, followed closely by a camp in the Netherlands in December. The idea behind a sub-regional camp is to bring together around 30 youngsters for an extended weekend, for example from Thursday until Sunday. Other than the YOTA summer camp, these camps are also used to bring new youngsters into the hobby. Un-licensed youngsters who know relatively little about amateur radio are invited to these camps to show them how interesting and fun amateur radio is.

The Italian youth team’s presentation showed very well that a sub-regional camp can be organised on quite a limited budget, their camp only cost 25 euros per participant per day. Furthermore they showed how such an event can re-vitalise a local radio club. The radio club supporting the event gained many new members as many of the participants of the camp did their license after the camp and joined the club. Furthermore the existing members of the club became more active as they organised the camp together.

A large number of youth teams now want to organise such an event, and during the coming months there will be many applications to IARU to hold a YOTA sub-regional camp. What the participants learnt at the YOTA summer camp will be an invaluable resource for organising sub-regional camps and youth activities on any scale.

August 17, 2019
0

YOTA Summer Camp Bulgaria 2019 – Day 7

By | Publication, YOTA Bulgaria 2019 | No Comments

Saturday marked the day of departure, some participants had very early flights and already departed in the early morning, whilst others stayed at the hotel until the afternoon, waiting for their flights. All participants were sad to leave, surprised that the week had ended so quickly. Looking back at the last 6 days, the participants have learnt a lot, from the organisers and presenters as well as from each other. The summer camp is all about learning, but of course also many new friendships were made. YOTA connects youngsters from all over Region 1, from the very south of Africa to the very north of Europe, even youngsters from New Zealand joined the camp.

The camp was a great success thanks to the organisers, the Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs, and all of the sponsors who supported the event.

The next big YOTA event coming up is December YOTA Month where each participating country will have special YOTA callsigns on the air, operated by youngsters all through the month of December. Furthermore there will be a subregional camp held in the Netherlands in the beginning of December. The summer camp will also be followed by many regional activities by the participants.

By connecting and teaching young hams, YOTA is helping to create the next generation of amateur radio, so that the hobby continues to grow. Youngsters like those who met in Sofia this week are the future of amateur radio!

August 17, 2019
1

YOTA Summer Camp Bulgaria 2019 – Day 6

By | Community Written, Publication, YOTA Bulgaria 2019 | No Comments

The last full day of the 2019 YOTA summer camp began with the last session of teams presenting the youth activities they have done in the last year and their plans for the next year. For the morning workshop the teams were split into two groups again, whilst one group built a vhf antenna and learnt about the theory behind it, the other learnt about ropes and knots and practiced a number of useful knots, fore example for putting up antennas at field days . After lunch the hands on workshops were continued with building an HF antenna, as before the youngsters also learnt about the theory behind how this antenna works. The wire dipole for the 20 metre band is a great tool for field days, SOTA activations and more. Furthermore this antenna enables a lot of youngsters who do not have access to other antennas to get on the air from their home. Combining the theory with hands on building made it very interesting and more intuitive.

After the last workshop there was a grand ceremony including a magic show to mark the end of the YOTA camp. Followed by a small  farewell party where all participants enjoyed the last evening together.

The special callsign LZ19YOTA was on the air nearly 24 hours a day. Youngsters who had never before had a HF QSO were helped by those who have experience. It was also a great opportunity to exchange contest experience and learn from each other.

August 15, 2019
1

YOTA Summer Camp Bulgaria 2019 – Day 5

By | Community Written, Publication, YOTA Bulgaria 2019 | No Comments

Just like the last few days, the day began with a Train the Trainer presentation, this time the Finnish team gave an in depth view in to one of YOTA’s  most successful subregional camps, the NOTA – Nordics On The Air, which has already been organised twice. They gave many great ideas which can be used at other subregional camps and some great recommendations on organising such an event. Again this presentation was great motivation for the other youngsters to organise something once they get back from YOTA.

Amateur radio is different in different countries, for example in Austria Hamnet is popular, in other countries it’s VHF contesting. Today the Bulgarian organisers showed us what is popular in their country: ARDF and HST! The morning workshops featured some explanations of ARDF, especially interesting for those participants who have not done ARDF before, but also those who have some experience learnt a lot from the experienced Bulgarians. In the afternoon we had the chance to put what we learnt into practice. Some ARDF beacons were set up around the location of the camp and the participants had fun finding them with their ARDF receivers. Other participants chose to practice their high speed telegraphy skills with a variety of different morse keys.

The afternoon ended with another session of short presentations by the participating countries, they showed which youth activities they have done in the past year and what their plans are for the next year.  The purpose of these presentations is to exchange ideas for youth projects between countries. Furthermore the successful projects of some countries motivated those with relatively young youth groups that it is possible to grow a large and active youth group. For example the participants told about their visits to technical schools

After these presentations there was still some time to operate using the callsign LZ19YOTA late into the night.

August 14, 2019
4

YOTA Summer Camp Bulgaria 2019 – Day 4

By | Community Written, Publication, YOTA Bulgaria 2019 | No Comments

The 4th day of the YOTA summer camp started with a Train the Trainer presentation by the German team, having recently organised a very large and successful subregional camp, they had a lot of interesting ideas and experiences to talk about. More and more subregional camps and activities are being organised by youngsters all over IARU Region 1 and this presentation motivated many of the youngsters to organise some activities of their own.

Following the presentation by the German team, the hands on workshops of the day started. The participants were split into 2 groups, one group began building a vhf wire antenna with a very interesting design, along with learning about how the antenna works in theory. The other group began a great interactive lecture about ropes and knots, skills which are essential when putting up an antenna. Aside from learning different knots and when to use them the participants also learnt about types of rope and their uses in amateur radio and some useful tricks for SOTA or field day activities and putting up antennas at home.

The afternoon was different from the other days, today the youngsters got on a bus to go the beautiful city centre of the capital city of Sofia, just 30 minutes drive from the camp location. The trip brought the youngsters to many famous places, for example the famous Alexander Nevsky cathedral or the beautiful national historical museum.  This excursion was a great chance to see the culture and architecture of a different country. YOTA is not only about amateur radio but also about cultural exchange between youngsters and bringing the teams which are from all over IARU Region 1 closer together. After all amateur radio is a passion which brings people from all over the world together.

After returning from the city trip, the youngsters began with their own short presentations. Each country had about 5 minutes to tell the other participants what youth activities they have done in the past year and how successful these were. But maybe most importantly they explained their plans and ambitions for the next year. This was a great opportunity to learn from each other and exchange experiences.