Category

YOTA Month

December YOTA Month is here!

By | YOTA Month 2024 | No Comments

Every year, for the entire month of December, several youngsters under 26 become active with their national YOTA callsigns.
This will continue in the 12th edition of December YOTA Month (DYM) starting from today!
We have already 48 active YOTA callsigns from different countries participating this year.

Check out active stations at events.ham-yota.com/spots.

Remember to follow us during DYM and listen in on the air for all the YOTA stations.
Everyone can support the youth worldwide by collecting QSOs with YOTA stations on as many bands and modes as possible.
Collecting QSOs can make you eligible for Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum awards.

Take note: Awards are not live yet, they will become live later in the competition.

December YOTA Month Celebrating youth the whole December on air!

December YOTA Month is here!

By | Publication, YOTA Month 2023 | No Comments

Every year, for the entire month of December, several youngsters under 26 become active with their national YOTA callsigns. This will continue in the 11th edition of December YOTA Month (DYM) starting from today! We have already 40 active YOTA callsigns from different countries participating this year. Check out active stations at events.ham-yota.com/spots.

Remember to follow us during DYM and listen in on the air for all the YOTA stations. Everyone can support the youth worldwide by collecting QSOs with YOTA stations on as many bands and modes as possible. Collecting QSOs can make you eligible for Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum awards.

December YOTA Month 2022 – Plaque Winners

By | Publication, YOTA Month 2022 | No Comments

We are glad to announce the winners of the December YOTA Month 2022 wooden plaque winners within the following categories:

  • Most stations contacted (CW)
    First to contact the most unique active YOTA stations in CW mode within the award program

    • F5MQU

 

  • Most stations contacted (SSB)
    First to contact the most unique active YOTA stations in SSB mode within the award program

    • OE8MKQ

 

  • Most stations contacted (DIGITAL)
    First to contact the most unique active YOTA stations in DIGITAL modes within the award program

    • HA7XL

 

  • Most stations contacted
    First to contact the most unique active YOTA stations overall within the award program

    • OM3CND

 

  • Best overall score OM
    Best overall achieved award score by an OM

    • F4EZJ

 

  • Best overall score YL
    Best overall achieved award score by a YL

    • DL7PIA

 

  • Best overall score Youngster
    Best overall achieved award score by a Youngster (< 26)

    • 9A2ZI (born 2001)

 

The IARU R1 Youth Working Group will reach out to all winners shortly with an invite to join the awarding ceremony to be held during HamRadio fair 2023 in Friedrichshafen, Germany.
If a winner will not be able to attend in-person, the wooden plaques will then be shipped via mail accordingly afterwards.

Congrats to all winning entries and we hope to seeing you all active again within the upcoming 2023 edition of DYM – the December YOTA Month.

Train The Trainer report – Team USA – DYM 2022

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Wow, what a fun DYM 2022!

We had about 37 operators from not just the United States, but all over the world. For the first time ever, we welcomed many operators from outside of the U.S. that not only were amateurs in their respective countries, but had U.S. callsigns, meaning they could run remotely into U.S. stations using the K8* callsigns without violating any CEPT agreements. With many youths hooked up with the Remote Ham Radio Youth Program, this made it very easy for them to get on the air.

We were active on pretty much all modes, including satellites, with KE8RJU and others activating the satellites when necessary. In the past, we had many repeat volunteers to operate the callsigns, but this year saw many new licensees and youth willing to participate. We definitely advertised more this year that we were looking for more new operators, which definitely helped our cause to get more youth on the air. This increase of the number of operators from different areas of the United States and the world made it difficult to schedule operators to operate at particular times. Therefore, we pretty much just sent schedules out via Google Sheets to the interested operators that wanted to participate, making the process more automated and up to the youth operators on when they wanted to get on the air.

It was fun to get to know many of these youths that have the same interests as me, and I can’t wait for this year’s DYM 2023.

Train The Trainer report – Team France – DYM 2022

By | Publication, Train the trainer, YOTA Month 2022 | No Comments

“Overall, this December YOTA Month was a great experience for me. I had plenty of opportunities to have fun on the air. So much that I took part in… 7 special calls! In France, I used to operate TM22YOTA during weekends and TM4YOTA during weekdays from my local radio club station or my school. When I was at home, I managed to use the four american special calls K8Y/O/T/A and 9A0YOTA remote stations. Besides, I was in charge of organizing the YOTA contest with this 9A0YOTA special call. It sounded like a mess at first but it actually went pretty well. There were 3 operators: me, Darije 9A3BYW and Ryan EI8KW. As I was on vacation, I also had to set up a log server remotely a few days before and between two ski slopes ^^. The craziest part of this contest was during my shift turns, I had to do most of the contacts in my car, laptop on knees while going back home! The whole month was an amazing adventure with a lot of surprises, friends heard on the air, experimental modes (SSTV, FREEDV, PSK31…) and last but not least, massive pileups! My hype was so high for this year and all went so well that I hope to get the same hype for next year.”

– Jules F4IEY / K4IEY

Erasmus in Sweden of Maxime F4IQN

“I was in Sweden in Erasmus during December YOTA month so I couldn’t take part in the french DYM calls. During my stay, I was a member of ETA, Chalmers university radioclub and electronic club (SK6AB). It seems the club is not connected to YOTA activities organized by the national member society so I didn’t get to participate in the DYM in Sweden. The members are more interested in the DIY side of things and not the operating part. This is due to the very old and half functioning equipment of the station; it appears that the hobby is generating more interest among members after a prolonged period of disinterest. I participated a bit in DYM using remote stations in the US and Croatia but I was seriously limited by the slow wifi in my room and the exam and project reviews period in december/january.”

– Maxime F4IQN

 

The downside of this year was the lack of people operating the French callsigns due to something really relevant for a semester’s end: exams! Even if there were more activities in general than in previous years, the French young team mostly studied for an engineering degree and everyone was not available because of this exam period. Furthermore, adding the fact that most radioclubs are closed during holidays and because of the lack of personal HF gear, people cannot operate at all! A solution to this downside could be setting up an HF remote station, available 24/7 so that French operators can use it anytime, anywhere.

Train The Trainer report – Team Switzerland – DYM 2022

By | Publication, Train the trainer, YOTA Month 2022 | No Comments

For the December YOTA Month in 2023, we tried to contact as many Youngsters as we could. From the about 25 contacted, about 8 were interested to participate in the DYM. With these 8 people, I was regularly in contact throughout the whole month of December and I tried to set up some meetings. On different occasions, I met with 2 licensed young Hams to go to the local club station of HB9W and do some QSOs under our special call sign HB9YOTA. Also, I met with 2 people interested in ham radio to inform them about what exactly ham radio is and how it’s done. Also, I explained to them how to get their license.

On December 15, 2022, I held a presentation about ham radio at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. This evening, I exchanged contact information with several interested fellows, with some of whom I’m still in contact. Some of them are going to take their ham radio exam at the Federal Office of Communications this February. I’m looking forward to introducing them to other young hams and doing some activities with them also.

From December 16 to December 17, 2022, Philipp DK6SP from the IARU Youth Team visited us in Switzerland. We went to HB9W and did about 860 QSOs in SSB, CW, FT4, and FT8. On December 17, 2022, Andy HB9JOE, Head of Radiosports of the USKA, visited us at the club station and we talked a lot about the future of ham radio in Switzerland as well as all over Europe. Furthermore, on several occasions, I activated the HB9YOTA call from the HB9W club station as well as my home station.

 

Jan C. Helfenberger, HB9GWQ

Youth Coordinator USKA, The Experimental Wireless Technology Society of Switzerland

 

Train The Trainer report – Team Bosnia and Herzegovina – DYM 2022

By | Publication, Train the trainer, YOTA Month 2022 | No Comments

In 2022 Team Bosnia and Herzegovina had a record amount of youth stations on the air, 9 stations! In the report, team tells about their experiences in DYM 2022 including a presentation in a local high school and future plans. Read more from the report down below!

Read Team Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Train the Trainer report for DYM 2022 from here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1trQ3LL3LNjBijDxYVEiLfP0KRzjfOum7/view?usp=sharing

Train The Trainer report – Team Thailand – DYM 2022

By | Publication, Train the trainer, YOTA Month 2022 | No Comments

Team Thailand participated in December YOTA Month 2022 in multiple ways such as by offering youngsters a chance to operate from stations, and to take part in the 3rd round of the YOTA Contest 2022. They also offered trainings and workshops to local youth.

Read Team Thailand’s Train the Trainer report for DYM 2022 from here: https://www.ham-yota.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Thailand-December-YOTA-Month-Report.pdf 

December YOTA Month | 10th DYM Activity 2022

By | Publication, YOTA Month 2022 | No Comments

Press Release by International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 – Youth Working Group

Erding, Germany – Tuesday, 04.10. 2022

The entire month of December, several youngsters under the age of 26 will become active with YOTA suffixes in their callsigns. The idea behind this is to show the amateur radio hobby to youth and to encourage youngsters to be active on the ham radio waves.

The last time YOTA callsigns hitting the air waves was from the 10th annual YOTA Summer Camp in early August 2022. Nearly 100 youngsters were activating various bands and modes. This shall be continued in this year’s 10th edition of the December YOTA Month activity.

Every ham radio operator can support the youth worldwide! By making a QSO with them, they can improve their skills on air and learn more about geography and ham radio abbreviations, among others. The youngsters will be happy to get some attention and exchange information. Licensed and unlicensed youth will be making QSOs, be aware this could be their first radio contact ever and give them a chance to experience a possible new hobby.

Help your local youngsters to get on the air throughout the December YOTA Month. Either you are a supporting elmer or under 26 years yourself, contact your society’s youth coordinator to be active with your national YOTA callsign(s). If your society did not apply for one yet, feel free to encourage them to do so of course. It will be a pleasure to work a lot of new youngsters on the bands for sure!

As every year, there is again an award program available. Work as many YOTA stations on as many bands and modes as possible and be eligible for your Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum award for free. Furthermore, there will be wooden plaques for the best achieving radio hams worldwide available once again. The various categories will be announced once we are getting closer to the event itself.

The DYM program promotes the radio activity on the air waves and shows that there is and will be activity in the future. Visit our website events.ham-yota.com for more information about the award rules.

Last year the worldwide participation of IARU member societies in all three regions was at a never seen high while counting 62 active stations. The youngsters achieved nearly 120.000 QSOs and over 2.000 free awards were downloaded from the DYM website. Therefore, let’s participate in December YOTA Month, and achieve big numbers together once again in December 2022!

Feel free to follow the activities on our homepage as well as on our social media channels @hamyota and @hamyota_official and update yourself at events.ham-yota.com.

On behalf of the DYM Organizing Committee,


Mit freundlichen Grüßen | Kind regards | 73

Philipp Springer, DK6SP

Chair
Youth Working Group
International Amateur Radio Union
Region 1

 

Download Area:

Press_Release_DYM_2022_en_20221004

UPCOMING: December YOTA Month 2021

By | Publication, YOTA Month 2021 | One Comment

Press Release by Youngsters On The Air Youth Working Group International Amateur Radio Union Region 1

Wednesday, 24.11.2021

December YOTA Month – DYM Activity 2021

The entire month of December, several youngsters under the age of 26 will become active with YOTA suffixes in their callsigns. The idea behind this is to show the amateur radio hobby to youth and to encourage youngsters to be active on the ham radio waves.

Normally, YOTA stations are active throughout the year from YOTA summer and subregional camps. This year, however, due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, all scheduled camps and other in-person events had to be cancelled again. As a result, there were only few opportunities to hear YOTA stations on the bands.

Hence, we as Team YOTA want to show the world that the youngsters still want and can be active on the bands during this difficult time. Help your local youngsters to get on the air throughout the December YOTA Month following your national health guidelines. Either you are a supporting elmer or under 26 years yourself, contact your society’s youth coordinator to be active with your national YOTA callsign. If your society did not apply for one yet, feel free to encourage them to do so of course. It will be a pleasure to work a lot of new youngsters on the bands!

Every ham radio operator can support the youth worldwide! By making a QSO with them, they can improve their skills on air and learn more about geography and ham radio abbreviations, among others. The youngsters will be happy to get some attention and exchange information. Licensed and unlicensed youth will be making QSOs, be aware this could be their first radio contact ever and give them a chance to experience a possible new hobby.

As every year, there is again an award program available. Work as many YOTA stations on as many bands and modes as possible and be eligible for your Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum award for free. This program promotes the radio activity on the air waves and shows that there is and will be activity in the future. Visit our website events.ham-yota.com for more information about the award rules.

Last year we had high hopes with the QSO goal of 130.000 QSOs. With the help of our global youngsters within amateur radio, we absolutely crushed the goal with nearly 138.000 QSOs achieved by 46 stations. This year we are aiming for the same target. So, participate in December YOTA Month, and help us to achieve this goal again in December 2021!

Feel free to follow the activities on our homepage as well as on our social media channels @hamyota and @hamyota_official and update yourself at events.ham-yota.com.

On behalf of the DYM Organizing Committee,

— 73 Philipp, DK6SP

Chair Youth Working Group International Amateur Radio Union Region 1

 


 

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Press Release as PDF document:
Press_Release_DYM_2021_20201124