Regional Activities

This blog post is written by Team Germany!

After a long trip day to Krk the day before, on the fourth day different workshops have been on the schedule. Breakfast was served from 7 to 8 o’clock and after a short team leader meeting, there were some energizer games such that everyone will get awake. The main activities for the day were workshops, again four in total in a rotating setting such that every group will get into every workshop during the day.

The first workshop for one of the groups was about the International Space Station ISS. Rather than being a tiring lecture, the youngsters were given some project work. They were supposed to create a poster about the ISS. But in the end, it was incredible to see what they created within one and a half hours! The posters either contained greatly structured information about the ISS or have been in a super creative style with really great drawing skills!

One workshop slot was reserved for operating time at the station. They have been using not only all the stations which are set up during the camp anyway, but they also had the chance to help each other and give some guidance to the newbies in more detail. Thereof, they especially encountered searching and fixing technical difficulties around the radios.

In between the workshops, there was a short break, but after the first two ones, it was time for a longer lunch break! Lunch was served and due to the amazing weather in Croatia, it was possible to have the meals like any other day outside at prepared tables under some trees.

In the afternoon, the schedule continued with the third workshop. It was time to program! The wabbits, the ARDF transmitters from the second day, were about to come alive. The participants installed Arduino software and connected their wabbits to their laptops. The start has been a pretty simple program, which just brings one LED on the board into blinking mode. This was extended such that the wabbits were able to blink in morse code and send CW signals.

The last workshop for the day was about carbon-neutral DXing. Renewable energy becomes more popular and is also prominent among the youth. The youngsters learned what is needed in order to set up power for a ham radio station using solar panels and batteries. They got to know how it works and what to take care of. Many have been surprised by the simplicity of the whole setup, especially once they got to experience it themselves outside in the practical part.

Solarpanels at carbon neutral DXing workshop

After all workshops, it was time for the daily train the trainer sessions. It included two presentations about youth activities in Italy and Croatia, which have been held by some participants of the camp. They included hands-on examples and explained the steps they have taken in order to set up these activities.

Dinner was served afterward and the activity for the night was prepared. A group from the Zagreb School of the film came and created an outdoor cinema. They showed a selection of award-winning films which have been made in Croatia. It ended with a surprise for one of the organizers: since it was his birthday, everyone joined singing a birthday song for him after the film. Cupcakes were served until people slowly started to go to bed to get some rest for the next day.

This blog post is written by Team Germany!

The hardest part of the third day has directly been the very first task of the day: getting up such that one will be in time for the meeting at 6.15 o’clock to start the excursion. Everyone managed to do so! A little later the bus started its route heading to the coast. Until arrival, it was nearly 3h to go, but everyone used the time to eat the packed breakfast and get some more rest.

Once arrived, everyone was excited to check out the site for the day. It was located in Baška, a city on Krk island. A team of organizers went to the place even earlier in the morning in order to set up a station. So the youngsters were able to activate the IOTA island EU-136 directly from the beginning. They set up several beams, vertical antennas, and a satellite station, such that there was an HF station, a 6m station, and a QO100 station available.

The youngsters have been using the station a lot! But since there was also outdoor sports equipment provided, they also used the change to energize and do some physical movement. It is a great refreshment after sitting and listening at a station. But the greatest part here was to see, how all the different nationalities and cultures, no matter if younger or older, smaller or taller, played together outdoor games. They agreed and adapted all the rules automatically and made sure that everyone is integrated! Everyone was considerate without exception, if someone fell down, he was immediately helped up by others and no one, literally no one, was interested in a competition. For everyone the game and the community stood in the foreground, no one wanted to be the fastest or best. This is the spirit we want to have in our hobby and we can be proud that our youngsters are spreading exactly this spirit!

One of the stations on the air from the island of Krk was 9A1ØØQO.

The whole site was prepared with cozy seating so if youngsters weren’t at the station or in a sports game, they sat down to connect with each other or used the group’s laptops in order to get on air remotely.

After lunch, it was time to enjoy the Croatian summer at the beach! The swimmers within the participants enjoyed the beautiful turquoise water of the Adriatic sea while the non-swimmers got an ice cream or took a sun bath at the beach. At that point, we also need to mention, that some youngsters even skipped the beach part in order to stay at the station and operate there. Is anyone still in doubt that the youth is not interested in our hobby? Choosing to be on air rather than enjoying a beach with beautiful torques of water gives a clear answer!

After the beach time, it was time for the daily Train The Trainer session. This time, each of the four groups should think of two small activities that can be done with a group of youngsters. This could range from energizer or icebreaker games to fun educational activities, but all somehow related to ham radio. They should provide the ideas in an activity card, mentioning not only how it works, but also how long it will take, what needs to be provided, and what are or knowledge the players should have. We still don’t know all the ideas that came up, since the presentations of them will be done next time. Later on, they will also be available on our website.

After that, pizzas were served, so it was a relaxed dinner time. The bus left at 20 o’clock to get back to the campsite. Once arrived, most of the participants went for a shower to remove the salt from the sea. Being tired and being back in the room, going to bed was the first option for most of the youngsters. Nevertheless, a few resisted the tiredness and so the evening ended with some music and guitar jamming.

This blog post is written by Team Germany!

After a long arrival day for some teams, the first day was rather kept short. For the second day of YOTA Summer Camp 2022 many activities had been planned. The day started with breakfast at 7 am. Due to the great weather conditions in Croatia during summer, the food at the camp is served outside. Since everyone gathered for breakfast, the chance has been taken to make a few announcements for everyone. After a short team leader meeting for further alignment, the activities started at 8.30 o’clock with energising games.

For the energisers, the participants gathered in their group for the first time. Each country is assigned to one of four groups and many activities throughout the week will be done within these smaller groups.

After getting to know the group members better as well as getting awake through the energisers, it was time to start with the first workshops. There have been four different workshops each of the same length, so each group was rotating along.

In the first workshop, the youngsters have been thinking about sustainability in ham radio. They have been thinking about sharing a station and that working remotely will help overcome some issues of sustainability. But they also came up with limitations of it. Nevertheless, they were interested in the opportunities it offers them. Especially, since many youngsters are limited in space and money if it comes to setting up a station. They have practically experienced the delay arising from being on air remotely.

After a break, the groups continued with the next workshop. In another one, FT8 has been introduced. The first part consisted of a lecture where they learned about what you need and what to take care of in order to do FT8. Besides the necessary hardware, they learned about WSJT, such that they are well prepared for the practical part. The lecture was continued outside at the station such that the youngsters could also experience the theory at hand!

Before the groups continued with the third activity, there was time for some well-deserved lunch. After some food and a longer lunch break, the workshops continued.

The next part for the group was to learn about the history of the first overall satellites as well as ham radio satellites. Through a combination of theory and practice, the group was learning how to work on satellites, their orbit, and which equipment is needed. The group also learned about the satellite QO-100, a Qatari geostationary. It is reachable from nearly all home countries of the youngsters attending.

After a break, the last workshop for the day has been a soldering project. Each participant was given a “wabbit”, a small ARDF beacon setup. It is a self-designed kit based on an Arduino component. The main part of it has been assembled in the workshop. All youngsters enjoyed the kit building quite much. It was also great to see that not only did supervisors help if something within the kit-building was unclear, but also the participants did so among themselves. The workshop finished with the built main part and the microcontroller will follow in an upcoming workshop.

After all the workshops the youngsters had another well-deserved break. Before the dinner, it was time for the first TTT session.

It started with some history about how TTT started. Of course, also a general introduction has been given and a short overview of the TTT Web page, such that everyone understands the concept behind it better. In order to give more concrete hands-on examples, two teams gave a presentation about youth activities in their country.

Last but not least, it was finally time for the traditional intercultural evening! Every team brought various national food or something that is typical for their countries. To get a rough idea, every team shortly introduced what they have on their table. After that, everyone could walk around to check out everything themselves! Some stayed at their booth while others started to walk around. So that way everyone could get in touch with each other throughout the evening.

And simultaneously you got to know many different peculiarities, some even brought some souvenirs or wear their traditional clothing, and QSL cards were exchanged. And with all these different flavors and impressions, the second day of YOTA summer camp came to an end.

The long awaited and unfortunately twice postponed 10^th edition of a YOTA Summer Camp has finally started this evening. From August 6th to August 13th the event will be held in Karlovac, Croatia, in the south of Zagreb. After two long years of no in-person events, we are more than happy that the Croatian Amateur Radio Society (HRS) in cooperation with the IARU Region 1 Youth Working Group put all the effort once again into making a YOTA Summer Camp in 2022 finally possible. The camp is now attended by nearly 100 participants from 24 countries.

Throughout the week, several workshops and activities have been planned for the participants. They will learn a lot about various topics of our common ham radio hobby as well as being able to directly connect with mind-liked youngsters in the same age group.

The first day was dedicated to three main activities.

Firstly, teams travelled from their home countries to the venue in Croatia by train, bus, car or plane. After their arrival they were greeted and picked up by a big group of volunteers at the various locations around the Zagreb area. Shuttle busses then carried the participants towards their final destination, the YOTA Summer Camp. Thus, lots of smaller groups arrived in Karlovac throughout the entire day and checked-in to their rooms. Every participant received a YOTA 2022 branded backpack with lots of useful and needed gear for the upcoming week and its activities upon arrival.

In the afternoon the first presentation with an introduction of the earth-surrounding planets and the in the radio world well-known sunspots took place. The youngsters were able to observe all these planets and the sun later in the outside area as well.

From 8pm local time sponsors as well as guests of the camp were welcomed to the venue to tour the camp location including the set up radio stations. Afterwards they were invited to attend the official Opening Ceremony which was streamed live to the YOTA YouTube channel. You can re-watch the event here. Guests and speakers were Mr. Tomić (Croatian Association of Technical Culture), Mr. Vincetić (Croatian Amateur Radio Society), Mrs. Šćulac (Karlovac County) and Mrs. Fočić (City of Karlovac). The whole evening was moderated by Croatian organizing committee members Mihaela Šišul (9A3WW) and Petar Papoči (9A7PP). After a short welcome by Philipp Springer (DK6SP), Chair of the IARU Region 1 Youth Working Group, Emil Balen (9A9A), Head of the Croatian Organizing Committee, announced the 10^th edition of YOTA Summer Camp 2022 open.

The evening ended with more stargazing at the location and social activities among all the youngsters. First contacts and even more QSOs were made, and we are looking forward to an amazing week ahead.