Two blog posts are written from this day, keep on scrolling for the pictures!

This blog post is written by YOTA Team Italy

We woke up in the morning and after having a very tasty breakfast we went to the conference room where the first lesson of the day took place.

In the conference room, we found Sylvain waiting for us to teach us what is behind a Software Defined Radio (SDR). Although there are plenty of people who know about electronics and technical stuff, the lecture was easily understandable for people who do not know much about that. Alessio, in particular, found it a bit difficult to follow it as he is a high school student.

After that, we had Tibi, OM3RM who held the lecture about the CR3DX contest station showing us all the equipment in the shack (e.g. antennas, towers, main radios, amplifiers [legal limit “always”] ). He also mentioned they had a 5400km (3400 mi) QSO with OM in VHF! He moves roughly 5 times a year for major contests such as CQWW / WPX. Furthermore, they are trying to set up a fully functioning remote station to be able to work even longer, anytime, anywhere.

Lessons finished early so we had plenty of time to play some sports together and go for a swim in the river nearby. After a quick snack with some gelato, we went to the outside station where *insert guy’s name* from Mastrant showed us some of his products and how to use them to hook the antenna on the ground. At the end of the demonstration, we were also given some gadgets such as a 12 meters-thin rope and a cute keychain. It was really interesting because we had the opportunity to see and touch everything with our own hands.

At 5 pm, it was time for *presentations by youngsters, for youngsters*: Two teams prepared topics in order to share their experience and inspire the others to follow suit.

To begin with, the French talked about their “beta test” gathering at Provins for their TM45KOP activation. It consisted in explaining what and how the weekend went at F6KOP top gun station.

Then, Team ON showed us their project about a weather balloon that they launched. The purpose of the balloon was to measure some weather information such as temperature and humidity and to transmit them back to Earth with a radio signal. It also has GPS tracking that makes localization a lot easier and it’s very useful when you have to retrieve it. They told us that you should inform the local air force before launch so that it won’t be a threat to anybody and even showed us how to build our own since it’s very simple. Apparently, that circuit is very durable and can be reused or reprogrammed for other activities such as a transmitter for ARDF.

The last presentation was quite a surprise, Jules F4IEY and Bastien ON4BCY showed us something that we did not even think existed: the Meme Appreciation Month (MAAM) event! Everyone was hyped up to see that a group of young youngsters are putting fun special callsigns on the air, just for fun! By doing this, they spread the internet culture and give a more modern image of amateur radio. One of the outstanding proposed ideas was to make an SSTV meme contest, which Sylvain, IARU R1 president, approved! Now we are just hoping this funny event can actually happen.

If you have any ideas of special calls to be activated between July and August 2024, feel free to fill this form

The fifth day of the annual YOTA Summer Camp was again a day full of fun and activities. This blog post gathers the feelings of the fifth day into 10 pictures!

The day began with a presentation about SDR radios by Sylvain F4GKR

Many of the participants found one of the more technical presentations of the camp really interesting!

YOTA Camp is also about having fun together with new friends! Before the next presentations some of the participants were playing with a ball outside of the lecture hall.

The next presentation of the morning was about OM Power

During the free time, after lunch, the most enthusiastic operators were already on air with HG23YOTA!

The next activity was about Mastrant ropes at the outdoor station

At the same time, there was also an opportunity to be on the air. Look at how shiny the YOTA key looks!

The afternoon consisted of the last presentations of the camp.

Team Belgium told us about radiosondes!

Soon after Belgium, we were introduced to Meme Appreciation Month, after which it was time for Dinner!

In the evening many participants went swimming in the river nearby, operated the HG23YOTA, and enjoyed the company of likeminded hams all around the world!