PA2LS

ERTC 2014 FINAL RESULTS ARE NOW PUBLIC

Congratulations to Czech Republic Team of Sarka, OK2SVA (21); Jindrich, OK1NOR (24) and Jan “Honza”, OK1JD (20)

ETRC 2014 (European Radiosport Team Championship), the youth version of WRTC 2014, was held in Virrat, Finland one week after the Boston WRTC event with 15 three-person youth teams seated in one room in front of their computers and connected to the global Amateur Radio simulator over the internet, all in Virtual Reality. Once again, the latest technology was utilized in Amateur Radio for the benefit of Amateur Radio’s future and by Amateur Radio operators themselves.

In total, ERTC 2014 activated hundreds of young people and licensed radio amateurs in full harmony within the participating 44 countries. ERTC 2014 was a huge success bringing youth and seasoned hams together around the same fireworks in the spirit of international Amateur Radio.

But Mother Nature added to the excitement as a thunderstorm knocked off electricity in the area and power was restored only 5 minutes prior to the start of the contest. It was a Le Mans type of hectic start leaving many teams in the starting grid. The Head Judge, Hans, PB2T, President of IARU Region 1, ruled the first 22 minutes out to give a level playing field to those slow in booting their contest machines and putting their racing helmets on.

When the dust had settled, the following three teams stood on the podium with their medals:

GOLD MEDAL, CZECH REPUBLIC:: Sarka Vavrova, OK2SVA (21); Jindrich Kostal, OK1NOR (24) and Jan “Honza” Dohnalek, OK1JD (20)

SILVER MEDAL; ITALY: Nicola Tonci, IZ6TSA (20); Gabry Iuliani, IT9RGY (26) and Orazio Intagliata, IT9DBF (25)

BRONZE MEDAL, ESTONIA: Keijo Kapp, ES1XQ (17); Tauri Helimets, ES5HTA (18) and Keven Mekk, ES6AXS (18)

As Silver and Bronze teams were less than three multipliers apart, the fact that the S/W platform (HamSphere 3.0) used in the contest logged all QSOs into the system, gave the organizers full confidence in verifying each station and their exchange. Only seven (7) multiplier uniques were found in the database and they did not affect the final rankings.

WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT ERTC CONTINENTAL WINNERS

Europe: Gaudentas Mozura, LY3BHY

Asia: Faisal Al-Ajmi, 9K2RR

South America: Jairo Ramos Sansone, PU3JAI

Oceania: Eko, 91HS576 (Central Java, Indonesia)

Africa: Tarek Zeidan, SU1TZ

North America: ARRL Centennial, W100AW*

*W100AW was activated by Martti Laine, OH2BH as part of the ARRL Centennial celebrations in Hartford, Connecticut. Thanks (K1ZZ) and congratulations to the American Radio Relay League.

YOTA 2014 & ERTC 2014

ERTC 2014 was part of a European wide youth gathering known as Youngsters On The Air (YOTA) which is held every year in different European Union countries under EU and International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) sponsorship with the aim of bringing youth together in the spirit of cultural exchange and learning from one another in all segments of Amateur Radio, science and electronics. This year fifteen EU countries were represented. ERTC also brought young people together globally over the internet, using Amateur Radio simulation software on a shared platform – all in the natural hangout of today’s youth.

HAMSPHERE (HS) PLATFORM

HS is an Amateur Radio (AR) simulation software package giving a hands-on opportunity to youngsters who wish to experience AR in its natural setting while still busy with their studies and not able to take a ham exam or to invest in actual AR equipment. HS coexists with real AR with true propagation science, QSL collection and a variety of contest formats and related equipment. It offers an experience which will encourage young people to study for a ham license and thus enter our wonderful world of Amateur Radio. The latest breakthrough in the simulation software features real-time propagation and system integrated logging, instant QSLing and awards.

<www.hamsphere.com/23_31496_read.html>

ERTC 2014 PATRON

The  ERTC 2014 event was honored to have Professor Rumen Gechev, LZ1MS of WRTC 1990 fame as patron of this first-ever Amateur Radio-like  WRTC simulation over the internet. Rumen himself finished  4th in 1990 in  the first WRTC held in Seattle, WA.  He has subsequently proceeded with life  with a highly impressive career as Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and  currently as Professor in Economics and Sustained Development at the  University of National and Word Economy in Sofia, Bulgaria,  adding to  his Visiting Professor duties at many leading universities. Rumen has  not lost interest in Amateur Radio and he was active during ERTC 2014 giving an LZ multiplier to many participating youth teams –  including his own  Team Bulgaria.

On behalf of YOTA 2014,

Mari, OH2FPK; Kati, OH2FKX and Lisa, PA2LS

and ERTC 2014 Judging Committee:

Hans, PB2T; Kristjan, ES7GM; Marcin, 161HS363 (Poland); Juha, OH9MM; Kim, OH6KZP; Kelly, 5B4AIT and Martti, OH2BH.

SCORES OF TOP SIX ERTC STATIONS

   TEAM                      CALL            CONTACTS   MULT   ACCURACY          SCORE

1: Czech Rep.             OJ45OK             157                61           0.1%                 430.172

2: Italy                         OJ78IT               166                60           0.5%                 397.914

3: Estonia                    OJ56ES              159                57           0.1%                 382.838

4: Slovakia                   OJ37OM            138                60           0.7%                 350.584

5: Croatia                     OJ349A              154               41           1.0%                  341.682

6: UK                            OJ54UK             142               48           0.6%                  325.185

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR PICTURES, CLARIFICATIONS, TEAM & TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS etc:

YOTA 2014: Lisa Leenders, PA2LS, IARU R1 Youth Coordinator <pa2ls(@)iaru-r1.org>

ERTC 2014: Martti Laine, OH2BH, ERTC Coordinator <martti.laine(@)kolumbus.fi>

During the summer of 2014, a youth exchange “Youngsters on the Air” will be held in Finland, organized by the Finnish Radio Amateur League. During this week teams of young radio amateurs from 15 different European countries will be participating during different activities: presentations, competitions, visiting radio stations, workshops, ARDF etc… As three previous events in Romania, Belgium/Netherlands and Estonia have shown, for the young HAM’s it will be a great experience they will never forget.

When: 15-22 July 2014
Participants: 15 teams from different European member associations of IARU R1. A team consists of a team leader, who could be an older person over 18, and 4 team members between 15-25 years old.
Location: Virrat, Finland. Click here to view on the map. 
Fees: part of travel costs (calculated with a distance calculator by the European Commission), plus participation fee 50€/person. All other costs (accomodation, food, activities) will be covered by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission.

If your member society is interested to participate, please respond by 31st January 2014, as the full application should be ready for 15.03.2014. For questions and where to send the application, download the invitation document.

It was decided towards the end of YOTA 2013 that YOTA 2014 was to be held in Finland.  The YOTA flag was lowered on the final evening and presented to Kati and the Finnish team who will proudly display it next year.

We all gathered in our YOTA t-shirts to have the Group photo taken, it was a gorgeous day and we all brought our home country flags with us.  IARU Region 1 President, Hans, was present with us for these pictures as well as YOTA founder, Florin (who was present for the week).  After the Group photo, we all had individual team photos, and this quickly descended into photos with every other team individually with lots of cameras being passed around, before long we all felt like we were posing for paparazzi, smiling here there and everywhere.

Throughout the course of YOTA each team was asked to do a presentation on “A Day in the life of our country”. These presentations took place each evening.  As 15 teams took part in the event, it was extremely interesting to see different cultures come alive on the screen.

Each team presented their country in a different light, some countries promoted their landmarks, with some very interesting places to be seen, the Hill of Crosses in Lithuania, Draculas Castle in Romania, the gorgeous wine valleys of Slovenia and the beautiful coasts of Croatia.  The Belgian and Russian team brought humour with Finland giving us a typical sauna day in the life of a Finnish family.  The Swedes had a great presentation on their contest station where some of the other YOTA participants came to Sweden to take part, and the Dutch gave us a day in their hectic lives.  The Latvian team gave us part of their culture, the Bulgarian girls showed us some of their nightlife, the Irish gave us a real life “leprechaun” and lovely tin whistle playing, with Poland playing the guitar and having us sing along to a national song of theirs.  Host country, Estonia, held off until the final night where they had great fun in playfully mocking the other teams.

All teams produced a great presentation and is was brilliant to see a little insight into other peoples surroundings and lives.  A great cultural experience.

There were 2 contests held while we were in Estonia, one was a 2m “on-air” contest between licensed YOTA participants.  This was organised by the Lithuanian team who also checked and cross-checked the logs at the end.  The contest began at 8pm and finished at 8.30pm local time.  It involved contesters finding a quite place to operate from, finding a frequency on 2m and calling CQ, which resulted in contestants running wildly throughout the hotel trying to find a suitable spot to transmit.  The band got quite confusing with so many operators on at the same time, and even QSOs became confused with operators not sure who they were talking to.  The winner of this contest was Ger EI4GXB with a confirmed 35 QSO’s within the 30 minute contest.

The other contest was an off-air contest for all participants, licensed or not, with 2 benches representing 40m and 80m bands.  The aim was to make as many QSOs as possible whilst sitting on a particular bench.  Once you made your contact and you had your serial number, you were allowed to race to the other bench to make a new QSO for that “band”.  Whilst contestants raced from one bench to the other having QSOs,  non-participating members were causing QRM (usually making large “la la la” sounds and also whistling). There was also a bit of “stamping” on the band with contesters pushing each other lightly to gain control of the “frequency”.  It was hilarious and the funniest event by far of the week.

Another interesting item was ARDF (or Foxhunting).  This was held by Team Bulgaria, and took place in the park across the road, in the wooded area.  Foxhunting is where a transmitter (“fox”) sends out signals (alternating every minute for 5 minutes). The hunters use a directional finding antenna to hone in on the signal, and with this, a compass and an orienteering map, the hunters calculate the fox coordinates and run to that location.  Once the fox is found, they use a little chip on their hand which logs the time the fox was found by them and they begin to listen for the next transmission.

This is a great activity, and although can be used as a leisure activity, there is a competitive side to it.  The Bulgarian ladies are part of Team Bulgaria in this regard and describe this event as being very difficult at times, as the terrain can be tiring and having to run over the course of the competition can have its impact.

But it was a great, fun experience for those that have never had a chance to participate in this kind of event, with the youngsters listening to the signal and taking part in their own “mini-foxhunt”, and getting a sense of what this entails.  Again, a great fun activity.