This year during HAM Radio Friedrichshafen a Finnish youth team and SSA youth team from Sweden were present. They manned the stand of their member societies at the fair. The Finnish youth stayed at HAM CAMP like many other young radio amateurs. Here a photo gallery of the Swedish youth team and the blog about their trip and stay together with the SSA Youth Coordinator Johan SM5F.

Also this year was the first International Youth Meeting and Meeting of Youth Supervisors during HAM Radio. After introduction youth and others grabbed the microphone and told their stories. With a drink all attendees had a chat afterwards.

On the occasion of the Radio Amateur Kids Day on 16^th June 2012, there will be a special activity that could be especially interesting as a means of promotion of amateur radio amongst young operators and young potential radio amateurs. The matter is that a tropospheric balloon will start on 16^th June (Saturday) at 11.00 UTC from Włocławek, Poland, and it will carry out a cross-band repeater with the callsign SR0FLY.

145.587,5 MHz (downlink)
439.512,5 MHz (uplink)

The cross band repeater is a part of payload and mission of stratospheric balloon. Real range is a radius of about 600 kilometres. So, is a real chance to realize QSO between stations located at the distance of 1200 kilometres from each other.
Remember:
1. Only short QSO with your callsign and report,
2. Cross band repeater is working without any tones,
3. We will confirm all QSO by special QSL card.
Please report your QSO or SWL using our on-line log:
Click here for more information.

Kids Day is an on-air event to encourage young people (licensed or not) to have fun with Amateur Radio. The Kids Day operating event is not a contest. It’s a way to tell young people worldwide about the magic and mystery of two way hobby radio communications. To do this, Amateur radio stations are being asked to devote this short time window to promote the terrestrial hobby and ham radio satellite operations to youngsters. This, by providing a place to make contacts with other Kids Day stations around the world. It is designed to give on-the-air experience to youngsters and hopefully foster interest in getting a license of their own. It is also intended to give older hams a chance to share their station and love for Amateur Radio with their children.

Date and Time: 1800 UTC through 2359 UTC on Sunday, January 8 and Saturday, June 16. Operate as much or as little as you like.

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:

10 Meters: 28.350 to 28.400 MHz
12 Meters: 24.960 to 24.980 MHz
15 Meters: 21.360 to 21.400 MHz
17 Meters: 18.140 to 18.145 MHz
20 Meters: 14.270 to 14.300 MHz
40 Meters: 7.270 to 7.290 MHz
80 Meters: 3.740 to 3.940 MHz

You can also use your favourite repeater (with permission of the repeater’s sponsor). Be sure to observe third-party restrictions when making DX QSOs.

Young HAM Christos Kakoutas (5B4AIP), is the Asian Winner of Junior in the category of “Single Operator” in the 2011 ALL ASIAN DX CONTEST.
Here an interview with Christos also about his work as chairman of the English School Radio Club (5B4ES).

Congratulations to Christos!

At what age did you obtain your radio license?
I obtained my HAREC Certificate in November 2008, at the age of 14, after succeeding in the examination organised then by the Cyprus’s Ministry of Communications and Works. When the results were announced I immediately applied for a license which unfortunately did not come until the spring of 2009. 

What made you become a radio amateur?
I must say that it was a combination of reasons that made me become a Radio Amateur. First of all, my school’s Radio Club had no licensed operators at that time. It was therefore difficult for the club to work in this way and a licensed operator was urgently needed. Also, beyond this practical reason, I was myself very much attracted to this wonderful hobby. I enjoyed very much communicating with people using transceivers and aerials and constructing such equipment. Above all however I was mostly fascinated by contests. I watched other licensed operators contesting and the feeling of competing alone or with your friends against everybody else in the world thrilled me. 

Which parts of the hobby do you like the most?
I am extremely pleased when I manage to work a DX station. In much the same way I take pride in my collection of received QSL cards. They are a very romantic way of remembering old QSOs. You can also learn a lot by looking at pictures of operators, their QTHs and their country.
Of course, my best experiences are from contests. The feelings one gets when working a rare multiplier but especially when achieving a top rank or a high score are fantastic. 

You are also Chairman of the English School Radio Club. What are your responsibilities as chairman?
Because of the wide range of activities of the English School radio Club (5B4ES) many are indeed the responsibilities of its chairman. They are mainly organising in nature.
At the end of each academic year, the chairman needs to organise a meeting where the members elect the council for the following year. At a following meeting, the elected chairman will propose to the council possible contests and activities so that they decide which contests and awards to aim for in the coming year.
At the beginning of each academic year, the chairman makes a presentation to the new students of the school, introducing to them the club and the hobby of Amateur Radio. The chairman also needs to decide with the council when the weekly meetings of the club will take place and who will be giving the theory lectures to the members who wish to acquire the HAREC Certificate.
As part of the club’s social work, every year during JOTA (Jamboree on the Air), the chairman and other members who are interested give lectures to scout groups about the hobby of Amateur Radio. We also invite scouts to our QTH so that they can watch us operating.
Last but not least, when the club receives a certificate or a plaque in a contest, this is presented in assembly by the headmaster of the school to the chairman and the other operators who participated in that particular contest. 

Could you give more information about the English School Radio Club?
The English School Radio Club (most commonly known as 5B4ES from its callsign — Special contest callsign P39P) is located in Nicosia, the capital city of the island of Cyprus, an island located in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The club is a part of the English School of Nicosia, which is a secondary education school founded in 1900. The club was founded in 1969 being the 3^rd 5B4 callsign issued in Cyprus.
The club is run by the students of the school, with the younger members being taught by the older ones. Lessons start from the basics of amateur radio and go on into advanced electronics theory and the practical operating of the equipment. The younger students evolve to able ham operators, keeping alive the club as well as amateur radio.
Being a very active amateur radio club, DXing and Contesting are two of the most important activities of the club. The members who have a license participate together in contests making the club a major contester across the world. 5B4ES has occasionally organised some successful and very memorable DXpeditions. The members are also engaged in interesting practicals (especially making aerials).
Apart from this, 5B4ES is the only club in the school providing insight into physics and electronics, helping many students deciding about their studies after school concerning these subjects. It serves as a meeting place for students and is a trademark for the school symbolising the school’s pioneering in complete, all round education.
We are also proud to say that the station of 5B4ES is considered by the Cyprus Amateur Radio Society (CARS) as a model station. Hence it is used by CARS for many lectures, especially to young Radio Amateurs.
Currently the club boasts thirty-three members, where only students of the school can join. These range from 1^st form to 7^th form students (eleven to nineteen years old). Currently six members are licensed Radio Amateurs with a handful working towards acquiring their own Amateur Radio operating license. 

Is it easy to recruit young radio amateurs?
When I obtained my Amateur Radio operating license, it was very difficult to recruit young Radio Amateurs. The reason being, the examination for obtaining the HAREC was very challenging. One needed to have an in-depth knowledge of electronics. Part of the theory was of University level. Today the examination has changed. It has become extremely easy and thus more young people are willing to attempt to obtain a license.
The main problem however in Cyprus is that the hobby of Amateur Radio is not widely known. The English School of Nicosia is the only educational foundation that has its own Amateur Radio club. The only other clubs in the island are regional, one for every district of the island. Hence they are not very successful in attracting young people to the hobby. Scouting brings many teenagers in contact with Amateur radio but only superficially.
As a result, the only place in the island where young people truly come in contact with Amateur radio is 5B4ES (where most of the islands HF operators come from). Since there are no other similar clubs, it is very difficult to bring youth in contact with the hobby.

The Egyptian Radio Amateurs Society ERASD, is the officially recognized membership organization for radio amateurs in Egypt. One of ERASD’s main objectives is to promote and improve amateur radio services and youth activities in Egypt through the participation in international and regional activities. ERASD prepared a plan for three years from 2011 until 2013 to Youth Activities. 

The plan divided into four points as Radio Activities, Education, Society’s Station, Media, in this subject will talk about the first point Radio Activity. First it’s great chance for youth to get useful information about Amateur. During the radio Activity ERASD providing educational programs and materials to promote amateur radio and develop the scientific and technical skills of the youth.

Last SU8JOTA activity was a great chance to the youth Boys and Girls to participates in the world youth event and see the Radio Amateur communications Technology in this context, ERASD is currently focused on simplifying science and technology to youth in general, and more particularly in areas related to emergency and Natural Disasters ERASD and the Cairo International Scout Center came together to organize the participation of junior Scouts in this international Scouting event.

The theme of the 54^th Jamboree On The Air was: Peace, Environment and Natural Disasters. It was a great chance for youth to learn about the use of modern means of communications to help in saving lives, and to know how each and every Scout can prepare to intervene to save people in their communities during great natural or climatic disasters. Scouts have shown that they know how to quickly and efficiently react. Scouts are often of great help for rescuers working on the ground, thanks to their self-sacrifice and determination; they are often on the front line during disasters that affect their immediate environment.

Simulated Emergency Test Why are Radio Amateurs and Scouts always there first when disaster strikes? During the JOTA weekend we organized a small-scale emergency test. It was a challenging activity in which an Earthquake emergency was simulated and Scouts responded using radio communications, techniques, materials and skills that they learned during this JOTA, such as how to install an amateur radio station and antennas. 

Many youngsters have no clue about the radio hobby. An opportunity to change this is to exhibit at a local high school. For example in the Netherlands VERON section Breda exhibited at the open day of Radius College in Breda last January.

Their goal was to show youth that there is more than only internet and WhatsApp. First they started with making promotion material, like flyers, banners and pens. The committee of section Breda made the decision what they wanted to show. They choose to show in an active way what the radio amateur hobby is about. Also showing something about self-building and that the PC is important in our hobby. Because it was the first time they were exhibiting, they did choose for a set-up.

The next step was to ask members of the VERON section to help during the exhibition. It seemed during club meetings that many members wanted to participate and help. Also some younger members, which is nice when you are promoting on a school.

Before the start of the exhibition, which was two days in total, local radio amateurs helped with the preparations. A pump mast was placed at the schoolyard together with a X300 and FD4. Inside there was a stand next to the electrical engineering faculty of the school. There was also a self-build SDR-radio, self-build radio’s, MKARS 80 meter QRP transmitter and much more.

During the open day the call PI4BRD was activated on several HF bands and 2 meter. Many youngsters visited the stand, remarkable was that SDR radio gained a lot of attention. Even some youth asked which study the stand was part of. Interested youth received a map with information about radio amateurism. With this exhibition the radio amateurs of Breda gained more interest in the radio hobby amongst youth. Hopefully it will be an improvement to the number of (young) radio amateurs. This exhibition was a great success, VERON Breda will be organizing more exhibitions like this. This could be an inspiration for other local clubs to organize similar or maybe other activities.

Crew: Bert PA1BM, Kees PA3AJN, Edwin PA7FRN, Jan-Willem PA7JWC, Henk PE0SSB, Kees PE1KL and Monique PD7DB.