Nordics On The Air 19. – 22.4.2019 in Finland – a YOTA sub-regional ham camp open for all youngsters

This year, the annual Nordics On The Air ham youth camp will be held in Finland during Easter, the 19^th-22^nd of April. We invite all the Nordic youngsters to take part in a fun weekend full of radio related activities, meeting new friends and having a great time! Since this is a sub-regional YOTA camp we have some extra seats reserved also for you outside of the Nordic countries!
Want to learn more? Check out this link.

New year, new YOTA Subregional Camps:
The first one in 2019 will take place from the 15. — 17.03. at the DARC HQ in Baunatal, Germany
Applications are open until 2^nd February!

Find more detailed info by clicking on this link.

Another December came and went, and with it another edition of December YOTA Month did as well. We are happy to host an event which brings young people – licensed HAM radio operators and youngster who are new to the hobby and are making their first QSOs alike, and inspires them to be more active on the bands and shows them there are many people listening on the other side. For a better overlook on the past month we make sure to keep statistics; this is not to say that the joy isn’t in the experience, but rather to confirm it. This year as many as 44 participating stations made 82,938 QSOs in December, proving once again that neither the weather nor the holidays can keep a radio amateur away from the station. And while December YOTA Month is not a competition, for the truly devoted to catching as many special calls as they can, there were awards and in 2018 there were 1516 awards downloaded throughout the DYM period. Most active this December were II5YOTA with the whopping 8,387 QSOs made from their station, whereas the 28^th of December proved to be the most active day for the participating stations as 5,326 QSOs were made on that day alone. The most popular mode remains SSB with 46,989 QSOs made in this mode, followed by 28,064 QSOs made in CW, while 40m (30,280 QSOs) and 20m (31,004 QSOs) were the preferred bands. You can find the respective charts under https://​events​.ham​-yota​.com/​s​t​ats where a more detailed presentation might be entertaining for you, but while the numbers are important to keeping track of things, what has been the most important to us from the very first December YOTA Month and will keep being the prime goal for the future as well, is that it continues to be an event that is awaited with excitement and concentrates on bringing young people in a world they might have not known anything about, yet might find themselves mesmerised by. So to all of you who show them the way to their first QSOs, keep up the great job and we can’t wait to hear from you next December. 

The 5^th of January it’s again Kids Day. This event is especially created to promote Amateur Radio to youth. This is a moment where you can share your amateur radio hobby with your family, grandkids, friends, scouts or even to the general public. This day can be the first time for youth to experience a real radio QSO, hopefully they get interested in becoming a licensed amateur radio operator.

You could make use of this suggested exchange: Name, age, location and favourite colour. Be sure to work the same station again if an operator has changed. To draw attention, call “CQ Kids Day.”

Suggested frequencies IARU R1:
10 Meters: 28.350 to 28.400 MHz
15 Meters: 21.360 to 21.400 MHz
20 Meters: 14.270 to 14.300 MHz
40 Meters: 7.080 to 7.120 MHz
80 Meters: 3.650 to 3.750 MHz

Other suggested frequencies by ARRL:
12 Meters: 24.960 to 24.980 MHz
17 Meters: 18.140 to 18.145 MHz
40 Meters: 7.270 to 7.290 MHz
80 Meters: 3.740 to 3.940 MHz

Next Kids Day will be 15 June 2019.

We are proud to announce that the 9^th edition of Youngsters On The Air will be held in Bulgaria, close to the capital city Sofia. BFRA (Bulgarian Federation of Radioamateurs) will be hosting the event, which will take place in the summer of 2019.
In this YOTA Camp we will be continuing with our train-the-trainer (TTT) program, which will be the main theme of the week. Participants will be working on the future of amateur radio and will be involved in workshops where they gain skills to start similar amateur radio youth events when they are back home. With this we are aiming to create a snowball effect, there will be more and more YOTA events all over the world. This also allows other youngsters and newcomers to enjoy amateur radio.
Last YOTA we kicked off our train-the-trainer program, the first outcomes are available on the TTT website.

TTT will not be the only topic of the event, there will be time to enjoy amateur radio as well, think about visiting LZ9W, kit-building or visiting the factory of ACOM. We will be enjoying Bulgaria and get the opportunity to see a part of the beautiful country. Since there are many nationalities visiting the event, there will cultural elements in the event. One of them will be the intercultural evening, where all participants bring foods and drinks from their home country.

Previous events have shown that all participants are having an unforgettable week, where many new friendships are started. To obtain a better understanding of such an event you are encouraged to have a look at the gallery and video clips from previous YOTA camps at www​.ham​-yota​.com.

Participants
Each IARU R1 member society is invited to take part with a team, of maximum 5 persons. The final team size will be dependent on the number of total applications. A team consist of a team leader and team members. We request member societies to select motivated youngsters with an organisational and hands-on mindset. This request requires a commitment from member societies to support these youngsters when they return home after the event.

Team leader
- Age 18 – 30 years, since we are highly focussing on a train-the-trainer program, it is preferred to select a youth coordinator or person who is eager to organize amateur radio youth events.
A person that already attended to a previous YOTA Camp is preferable.

Team member
- Age 15 – 25 years
- Have not been on previous YOTA summer camps
If a member society has a valid reason to select a participant who has been to a previous YOTA event, the IARU R1 Youth WG needs to be aware of this and will make the final decision.

All participants, including team leaders, should take part in the entire program.

When: 11 to 17 August 2019
Location: surrounding of Sofia, Bulgaria
Fees: €25 per participant
All other costs (accommodation, food, activities) are covered.
Teams will be picked up at the airport/railway station and transported to the venue, or shall come the venue with own transportation.

After the event
It is expected from all participants to take after the event actively part in the TTT program of IARU R1 and that they submit their youth programs and plans. This will be shared as well on the TTT website. All participating teams are committing to write an article about the event for the magazine and/or website of their member society.

Should your member society be interested to participate, please respond by filling in the form (https://​goo​.gl/​f​o​r​m​s​/​E​z​e​j​a​q​n​T​i​T​A​Y​v​h​t83) before 1 February 2019. Remember, there is a limit of 80 participants. Make sure that you apply in time. We will announce the participating countries, including number of team members, shortly after the deadline date.