ACTIVITIES SINCE YOTA 2018
I participated in providing communications for a large triathlon in Northern Ireland in a town called Derrygonnelly. Over 400 people attended the event to take part, including some young people. As the participants ran, cycled and canoed their way along the course, they were met at each checkpoint by an amateur radio operator, who relayed the race leader and any other information back to the control base station which was then relayed to the event organiser. There were many questions asked about what we were doing, and how we were proving communications using our radios, some young people were at the event and had asked me what exactly I was doing so I explained the basics of amateur radio to them to help spread the word about the hobby to the youth. The British Red cross also participated in the event, which I explained in depth how amateur radio worked and all the different opportunities in the hobby, such as being sent away to South Africa for a summer camp to learn more about the hobby and how to promote it. I also wrote the RSGB daily blog posts as soon as I returned from South Africa, which took a lot of time as I was also trying to sort out my university options at the time, and pressure was on from both sides to meet deadlines. Nevertheless, both worked out well. These blog posts were recently adapted by Peter, to shorten them down to a format where they would be suitable for publication in our UK magazine, RADCOM. I was the lead author in the magazine article as the material was originally in the blog posts, just condensed down a little bit to meet page requirements. The magazine has been published and will be on the way to the doorsteps of RSGB members in both the UK and abroad. I also singlehandedly wrote a magazine article for IRTS, Irish Radio Transmitters Society, in which I outlined and told my adventure of travelling to South Africa, as well as spreading the word about all the activities we completed while we were over there. This article proved very successful and got a good response from the amateur radio operators in the Republic of Ireland.
PLANS IN NEXT TWO MONTHS
In my radio calendar, I have an upcoming presentation which I will be delivering to one of the bigger clubs in Northern Ireland, Lough Erne Amateur Radio Club (LEARC) on my experience as part of the YOTA 2018 team for the UK, mainly representing Northern Ireland. This talk will be delivered shortly (9th November 2018) and I am preparing a PowerPoint Presentation full of pictures and information of our activities, but this is still in the design stages. I have also started my further education and hope to inspire others in my class to join amateur radio and make it more well known in Northern Ireland.
LONG TERM PLANS
As well as my presentation to LEARC, I am also delivering a talk to the biggest radio club in Northern Ireland, Mid Ulster Amateur Radio Club (MUARC). This talk will take place in early February and will use the same PowerPoint presentation mentioned earlier, but with any additions I feel necessary and any improvements I feel I can make to my presentation to make it more fun and engaging. This radio club has a larger proportion of younger people in the audience, so it should be an excellent opportunity to inspire some of the younger people to get active in the hobby. I have also provisionally filled out a Registered Assessor Form, and I will consult my club to get a final opinion as to whether I should send the form to the RSGB, so I can then supervise and help with the practical assessments that the club runs occasionally and also teach the exam theory to new candidates who wish to get their radio license. This will hopefully come in useful in my education environment since I will be surrounded with young adults who are interested in electronics/engineering and are ideal candidates for wanting to learn more about the hobby and hopefully completing an exam to gain their license.
DOCUMENTS
As mentioned previously, I am currently working on the PowerPoint presentation for my two talks, so it cannot be added to this document for release just yet.
OFFICIAL SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES
The blog posts I wrote can be found at the following link, by scrolling down to the bottom and selecting which day you wish to read about.
https://rsgb.org/main/about-us/yota/yota-2018/
You can keep up to date with my local club, LEARC, by using the following link. I have now been enrolled as a committee member in the club, and I am the youngest to take up this role in the club’s history. I am excited to share my ideas with the club, and hopefully let it grow and expand, picking up new younger members along the way.
I also manage this website, so check back regularly for updates. At the moment the main notice is my talk which will take place at the next monthly meeting.
https://learc.eu/
Nathan Prentice
MI0NPR
2018 UK YOTA Team Member
