YOTA Month

The December YOTA Month team is pleased to announce a few things:

We are able to provide awards for ham radio operators as well as SWLs from now on.
While nothing has changed for the on air contacts between YOTA special event stations and radio operators, SWLs can log their heard QSOs directly on our event website.
SWLs have to register themselves on our website to be able to obtain their awards. If you don’t have an official SWL callsign yet – no worries!
You can also use your nickname to obtain the awards in bronze, silver, gold and platinum.

Furthermore, SWLs can request QSL cards on our website soon as well.
You will have to enter the heard QSO data to a form and we will be happy to provide you a card as requested.
To get the requested card(s) you have to have your own SWL callsign and be a member of a national society and its QSL service, though.

Moreover, we are offering 7 different wooden plaques after the DYM activity in the following categories:

• Most stations contacted (CW)
  First to contact the most unique active YOTA stations in CW mode within the award program
• Most stations contacted (SSB)
  First to contact the most unique active YOTA stations in SSB mode within the award program
• Most stations contacted (DIGITAL)
  First to contact the most unique active YOTA stations in DIGITAL modes within the award program
• Most stations contacted
  First to contact the most unique active YOTA stations overall within the award program
• Best overall score OM
  Best overall achieved award score by an OM
• Best overall score YL
  Best overall achieved award score by a YL
• Best overall score Youngster
  Best overall achieved award score by a Youngster (< 26)

Only one plaque will be awarded per entry.
A station winning a plaque will not be considered for a sub-area award; the plaque will be awarded to the runner-up in that area.

Example:
If you are the station who contacted the most stations overall, you cannot be considered for most stations contacted (CW, SSB, DIGITAL) as well as best overall scores anymore.
This applies to all categories.

The DYM team will announce the winners based on the award calculation on the YOTA Social Media Channels as well as contact them via their email address (as on QRZ.com) after January 20th 2021.
If there is no response by the winning ham within 7 days after the announcement, we will shift the plaque to the runner-up in that area due to missing shipping details.

Enjoy the last week of DYM 2020 and get those YOTA stations into your logbook!

The entire month of December, several youngsters under the age of 26 will become active with YOTA as suffix in the callsign. 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.

Usually you hear YOTA stations on air from our summer and subregional camps throughout the year. This season has been an exception. Due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, nearly all our camps and events had to be cancelled. Therefore, nearly no possibilities were left 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 100.000 QSOs. With the help of youngsters within amateur radio, we absolutely crushed the goal with nearly 130.000 QSOs achieved by 47 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 2020!

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 www.events.ham-yota.com.

73 de YOTA PR Team

Picture: Youngster operating during December YOTA Month.

The entire month of December several youngsters under the age of 26 will become active with YOTA as suffix in the callsign. The idea for this is to show the amateur radio hobby to youth and to encourage youngsters to be active on the ham radio waves.

You won’t hear YOTA stations often during the year. Thus, the only chances are the camp stations during YOTA summer and subregional camps. And of course, an extended presence during the December YOTA Month activity. Over 40 stations signing YOTA suffixes will be qrv in about 2 months of time.

Give a demonstration in a school or local club, gather together with your friends, grab a pizza and make some QSOs or enjoy a great pile-up. Let us all show this great hobby to the world. Because we know that there is youth in hamradio!

Feel free to make a QSO with the youngsters, they are 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.

There will be an award program available as well. Work as many YOTA stations on as many bands 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 awards rules.

If you are under the age of 26 get in contact with your countries youth coordinators and get on the air with these special calls during upcoming December. It will be a pleasure to work a lot of new youngsters on the bands!

We hope to crack 100.000 QSOs this December for the first time ever, so help us to achieve this goal set by the future of amateur radio – the Youngsters On The Air!

Feel free to follow the activities on our homepage as well as on our social media channels @hamyota.

73 de YOTA PR Team

Apply now for December YOTA Month.
Make sure to register before December starts!

The last few months of 2018 are approaching and we are excited to announce that our famous December YOTA Month will happen this year. We would like to invite you to take part with a callsign with YOTA as the suffix, for example, HA6YOTA. The idea for this is to show the amateur radio hobby to young people and to encourage youngsters to be active on the amateur bands.

This is a great moment to show amateur radio to the world and to invite newcomers. Give a demonstration in a school, local club or scouting group, gather together with your friends, grab a pizza and make some QSOs or enjoy a great pile-up.
Feel free to make a QSO with the youngsters, they are 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.

This year we will have new diplomas and rules!
Diplomas can be achieved by working our YOTA suffix special stations which are run by young operators throughout December! We changed a bit on the general rules; 2 points can be achieved per worked stations and 1 extra point for every valid (not dupe) QSO per band per mode!

This is of course not a contest, but getting many youngsters on air from many countries. Be helpful on the bands, maybe these young operators are just making their first ever contacts!

The aim is that YOTA stations are in general operated by young people, with the age of maximum 25 years. The event will take place from 1 December 2018 00:00 UTC till 31 December 2018 23:59 UTC.

Are you interested? Would you like to take part or want to know more about the new diploma rules? Find more information on https://events.ham-yota.com/

You can also find us on social media platforms, like #hamyota on Facebook and @hamyota Twitter. You can also join our Facebook group by facebook.com/groups/youngstersontheair where you can find up-to-date information during December.

It is finally December and we are excited to announce, that December YOTA Month has officially begun! It is time to get on the bands again to spread the YOTA spirit and have fun while showing young people how amateur radio is not only alive, but also active and ready to grow as an activity even in a world, where communication is by other means faster. December YOTA Month also encourages us who already have our licenses to come together as a community and interact even more actively. The readiness and eagerness of societies around the world to partake is each year proved by the number of registered stations that we have; this year more than 35 stations with a YOTA suffix were registered and will be on the bands for all of us to try and make a QSO with.

If you are interested in knowing more about the stations that are taking part in DYM you can check the main website www.ham-yota.com or the event’s website https://events.ham-yota.com/ for more information about them.

Last but definitely not least, we always love to receive feedback on your experience during December YOTA Month as it is a mirror of our work and helps us improve! Furthermore it’s a great way to share impressions with fellow HAMs and everybody who for some reason is not able to get on the bands to feel included in the event. This is why we encourage you to send us your stories and of course pictures that we will share on our page.

With all the formalities out of our way, we wish you a December full of QSOs in the local club or at home and perhaps many new editions to the local amateur radio society. Don’t forget that December YOTA Month is not a competition – it’s all about having fun and spreading the spirit here!

See you in the log during December!

Article: Gergana, LZ1ZYL
Picture: Claudia, DC2CL