I was able to participate in the YOTA (yougsters on the air) summer camp in Györ, Hungary from the 5th to the 12th of August 2023. For those who don’t know the YOTA camp is a camp where younger HAM’s from different countries (depending on the IARU region) meet each other and are together for one week, where they can participate to multiples activities such as operating a superb radio station (this year’s callsign was HG23YOTA) or doing ARDF ,soldering a radio kit, and many other activities.
Day 0 – Arrival and opening ceremony
The first day was dedicated to waiting for all the participants to arrive from their different countries, and explaining the different rules, the map of the youth camp, and participating to the opening ceremony where we heard greetings from the YOTA management but also IARU representatives and the President of MRASZ (the Hungarian Radio Amateur Society).
Day 1 – ARDF, and many others
During the first day, each country presented their youth activities. Then we had an informational meeting on ARDF (Amateur radio direction finding -also known as fox hunting) and then applied the knowledge acquired just before and did some ARDF in the near woods, trying to find 5 tags on the 80 meters band, with my team we only managed to find three. After the ARDF, we had to choose between several activities, from kit building to relaxing on the nearby beach, but also working the HG23YOTA station or learning morse code.
Picture: Me,ON4BCY, and ON6RF searching a beacon in the nearby park with other teams .
In the end of the day, we had the intercultural evening, where every country prepared original food, for instance we, as the Belgian team, we took the responsibility to prepare Belgian waffles and make. There were a lot of different foods. We could also get signed QSL cards by another om’s such as the one made by DS3QGH who was invited from the R2.
picture: Our Belgian stand, with waffles from Liége, chocolate, cuberdons and speculoos.
Day 2 – Lectures and workshops
We started with lectures on High-Speed Telegraphy, which let us learn how to receive and transmit Morse code at inhuman speeds. After that, lunch was served, followed by some sightseeing in Győr. We visited the beautiful town, including the Roman citadel.
Finally, we got to have dinner and a Train the Trainer lecture and learned from it. Mario EA1JAY gave his lecture about the Spain Subregional Camp, and Leon DL3ON presented the YOTA Region 2 camp.
During the day we also had a chance and continue the workshop that we started last time.
After the lectures, there were many people at the camp station, and some really nice QSOs were made. Somebody did a great QSO with satellites at 70 cm, and on 2 m, we even caught some moon signals. We just lacked the amplifier, so we could not get into TX. Alex DL2ALY explained about satellites to us.
Day 3
After a double lecture with F4GKR from IARU until 11:30, it was really clear how good he could deliver and connect to the younger generations.
In the early afternoon hours, we joined one of the traditional sessions for taking pictures with flags.
pictures : multiple pictures showing, the whole YOTA team, or the Belgian team.
As darkness came, the fun didn’t go away. A bunch of us, headlamps ablaze and full of adventure, had gone to look for 5 hidden beacons in an ARDF challenge, again.
Finally, later in the evening, the outdoor station was up on its feet and firing. The cheers kept spreading about with contacts being made from our side. The day ended with 600 QSOs on different bands before the night hit.
Day 4
The day started with the lecture by Josipa 9A3GVJ right after breakfast. She shared basics and ideas on organizing youth events in our countries. We then broke up into 15 groups, planning a youth activity based on given statements within each group. It was a nice moment for me, as I had my group members from different countries; they all gave me various opinions on how youth activities are carried out in our respective countries.
Zoli HA1AG continued the morning with explaining tricks and advice about operating digital modes in day-to-day use and contests. After his recommendation, we reached midday and had lunch. Then we went to the radio station to get on the air with the special camp call sign HG23YOTA. We also had some nice pileups or the activities like kit building and Morse learning.
The next activity was the Off-air contest. There were no radios involved;we are the radio’s. We had to break through the pileup of the rest stations, simulating the rare or fake DX stations.
The schedule ended with Kahoot quizzes about Hungary and some concepts from previous lectures. After this, it was time for dinner, and later on, there was free time to get on the air and enjoy the camp together with the other teams until sunrise.
picture: this picture was taken during the off air contest,we can see mutiple people whit a paper writing the callsign of the other station, sometimes there was 86 Db of literal QRM.
Day 5
The next day, Sylvain awaited us to teach on Software Defined Radio (SDR). Though easy for those who don’t have good knowledge in electronics, it looked like a piece of cake for the rest of us. But this seemed kind of hard for a high schooler like Alessio to follow.
In the end, Tibi OM3RM lectured over the CR3DX contest station, showing us all of the equipment like antennas, towers, main radios, and amplifiers. The classes finished early, so we were able to play sports and go swimming in the nearby river. We visited the outdoor stand; a Mastrant representative explained how their products work when mounting antennas. We also got some souvenirs—a 12-meter thin rope and a keychain.
picture : ON6RF and ON4BCY speaking about weather ballons
At 5 pm, it was time for “presentations by youngsters, for youngsters.” Two teams presented their stories to inspire others. The French team wrote a description of their “beta test” meeting in Provins for the TM45KOP activation and how the weekend went from the F6KOP top-gun station. Then, Manoel and Bastien showed us there was a weather balloon project. The balloon measured weather data—such as temperature and humidity—by sending such data back to the earth.
The last presentation was a very good surprise. Jules F4IEY and Bastien (ON4BCY) did a presentation about the Meme Appreciation Month (MAAM) event! Everybody was excited to learn that young radio amateurs were having fun putting special fun calls on the air to spread internet culture in amateur radio.
picture : CW kit and FM radio receiver only kit
Day 6 – A trip to Budapest
On the last full day of the YOTA Hungary camp, we went to visit Budapest. The visit started early, with two buses full of youngsters leaving Györ. Arriving in Budapest at around 10 am, we were divided into three groups and shown the gothic Matthias Church. At Trinity Square, everybody needed water. Tomi HA8RT was our tour guide and shared some history. After a rest, we headed down, enjoying panoramic views of the Pest side of the city.
An impressive highlight was the Liberty Bridge, connecting Buda with Pest. The architecture was from the 19th century, and the Donau River was full of tour boats and yachts. We lunched in the Pest part of town near a market where we bought souvenirs like magnets and some local sausage.
picture: a part of the yota team
We went for a walk in the city center after lunch, staring at nice buildings from different eras. We also took a stop next to the Hungarian National Museum to take group pictures. The last one was Kossuth Square; we took the metro from there to the bus pick-up point. The way back home was fairly noisy. It ended loudly, even by setting some of the hand-watch alarms, and was followed by an after-party in the cafeteria.
picture : Us receiving a certificate, next to Philipp DK6SP and Tomi HA8RT.
Informations
Firstly I would like to say thank you to the UBA, for sponsoring us and letting us participate to the YOTA summer camp.
I would also say thanks to all the people who have helped to put in place such an event.
All photos are from here, we had a really nice photograph.
This aren’t all the activities because so much happened that week.