PA2LS

The main station for YOTA was held in a tower in the grounds of a nearby park.  It was situation about 90ft in the air at the very top of the tower with the stairs consisting of a fire-escape type setup outside the tower with a see-through floor.  The station itself was a Yaesu FT920 transceiver, an Expert 1K Linear Amplifier and a 3 element Yagi antenna.

Operating ES9YOTA was a great experience.  The callsign was extremely highly sought after with the pile ups being present at any time of operation.  Due to the amount of YOTA amateurs seeking to operate the station, a timetable was formed so everyone got an opportunity to use it.  We used both SSB and CW, majorly on 20m but with some other bands thrown in.  Youngsters who did not have any experience on the air got the chance to operate and gain some practical experience in real life QSO’s.  This is a major plus for them and gave them a sense of achievement and pride, which pushes them into pursuing their hobby a little further, and with the right encouragement and teaching could lead to their own licences.

For those that are already licensed, the chance to work a pile up (which some hams may not have the opportunity to do) was also an achievement.  The operation of a new callsign was a bonus for those hams who may have never operated out of their own DXCC, and the opportunity to work different DXCC’s (eg Japan) was a high for others as these countries may not be readily accessible from their home locations.

As ES9 is considered a special call in Estonia, it was great for all callers contacting the station to get in their log, as well as getting the YOTA station.  Approx 3,000 QSO’s were made over the course of the week and the participants had a great time at this shack.

Another practical workshop that was a great hit with the kids.  We were given the opportunity to build our very own 3 element yagi antenna for 2m band.

This involved taking a length of plumbing pipe approx 1 metre in length for the boom, getting 3 plastic clips to which we would attach the elements.  The unusual thing about this antenna is that we were making the elements out of ordinary measuring tape cut into 3 different lengths from reflector to the director to the specifications given to us, attaching these to wooden strips and fixing to the plastic clip which connected to the boom.

We then drilled holes in the middle element to fix the hairpin match to (a little thin piece of wire) and we soldered these to the screws, to which we also connected the coax cable.

We tested the antenna on 2m and it worked perfectly, and only cost approximately €4 to make in total!

As some of the youngsters had never built an antenna before, or even knew what a yagi antenna consisted of, it was a great experience for them, and even better they got to bring the antenna home with them for their own use.

This workshop was very interesting.  We had a visit from a member of the team involved in ESTCUBE-1 who set us a mission.

MISSION:    

Satellite orbiting the Moon and taking images of the Earth

Mass should be less than 10 kg.

Earth-Moon diameter: 380,000 km

Earth diameter: 12,700 km

We had to create a hypothetical satellite, decide what it needed to have to complete the mission and how it should be built.  We learned a lot about this, especially the components needed for this to survive in space.  The basic construction needed to be light, with an extremely good camera, power sources for it to continue to transmit pictures back to earth and to function, alarm systems for any issues etc.  It also needs money and sponsorship (e.g. from universities etc) which is a major aspect as the project is a non-starter without it.

It was great fun which gave a lot of new information to the youngsters.

In the afternoon the youngsters tried to make contact with a satellite passing overhead.  This was very dependent on the equipment used as well as the satellites path etc and unfortunately was unsuccessful on this day but we had great fun in trying.

Between the workshops and at the end of every evening, all participants were allowed a certain amount of free time.

We had a beautiful lake in a park across the road from the hotel, and this was a great place for everyone to go swimming.  The weather in Estonia was really hot, sometimes reaching 28-30 degrees!  Groups of youngsters would take the free time to cool down and a quick swim would refresh everyone before the next workshop.

Another way free time was used was to finish projects eg kit building & antenna building, with the robot lovers going to the conference room to play with the programs.

Football was a big activity in Estonia with a lot of the lads and ladies taking part in mini matches, that began with a kick-about and ended up with European Final style competition, with pride to play for along with the humiliation of the lads, as the ladies were very competitive.  Scouting became a big thing for the right players, with a fair referee also being sought (I hope they weren’t bribed eventually).  It was great fun to see the determination, dodgy tackles and major laughter as the match progressed.

Some teams (depending on the timetable) would go to the station to operate, and others would go for a walk or run.  Shopping in the local supermarket was also a must as people picked up supplies during the course of the week.

We also had the 18^th birthday of one of the participants.  We brought out a cake after dinner and everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to him, with all teams also singing happy birthday in their own national tongue, which was amazing to hear.

But the best free time of all was the evenings when DJ Kris had the music blaring and the dancing began.  Great fun was had as people socialised, chatted, danced and enjoyed themselves immensely.  For those not wishing to stay in the disco room, the balcony of the hotel and also outside the main reception door were the other meeting places, you could always be guaranteed to find someone there to chat to and spend the evening laughing as different youngsters joined and left the conversations.

The theme song of YOTA 13 has to be “Yellow Submarine” which you would hear on any given evening, usually in one of the rooms where a group had gathered.

Quality time with the new friends you’ve made is the best thing you will experience in the week, there is nothing like it.  This is evident when the end time came, and people had to say goodbye to the friends they made, but thankfully there are lots of ways to keep in touch (Facebook, YOTA webpage, Skype etc) so your new friends are never far away!

The bonds made were huge, and even now people wish they were back there.

The number one most important thing we all have is an interest in the hobby.  It is essential.

There is no satisfaction in the radio hobby if you have no interest in it, you may find it boring, or worse still fail to even attempt to try it.  It can be a difficult hobby to understand if you try to do it alone, as some aspects can be very technical for example, and although you can look this up on the internet, you may not understand it properly and without an explanation from an individual with knowledge in the area and it can be difficult to grasp.

Most of ham operators at YOTA said they were introduced to the hobby by a third party, this could be a family member (father, grandfather etc), friends, at school or a different group where the hobby is used as a work tool eg army, scouts.  These people can provide a mentor-type role, and can continue to give their knowledge and experience to you throughout your amateur operating life.  This hobby is a life learning experience and we are all continuously learning.

A local radio club can also assist people in gaining entry and exposure to the hobby, any may provide a practical approach by allowing you to access to equipment, see different components or home made equipment, or may even allow you to attend at a field day where can assist with an antenna setup, filling in logbooks or even go on the air to gain some experience and speak to other hams around Europe, or the world!  This is also a great way to meet new friends and build up some networks, however it is not always easy for a person to attend a club meeting, so self learning may be the only option you have.

Non-formal learning is the one of the most popular types of learning in relation to amateur radio.  Non-formal learning is where people learn about the hobby without attending a formal course.  Materials for this can be easily found on the internet, and also through ham radio books although some help may be needed when filtering through the materials to find the most suitable aides.  One issue that hams come up against is that it is hard to come across internet material in their mother tongue i.e most documents are written in English, so if you live in Finland (for example) and have very little English, these are of no benefit to you.

YOTA can provide assistance in this regard.  If you are joined to the YOTA network, not only do you make friends, but you can gain ideas on how to continue with your studies / hobby, and more importantly get some technical support and knowledge from other hams in the group. Also with regular meetings, Facebook and skeds, it is very easy to access information from youths all over Europe to assist.

We worked in teams for this workshop.  This was great fun and everyone had their input.

Everyone agreed that the number one requirement is that the person has to have an interest in the sector.  With this personal interest, one avenue to their career in telecommunications is through education (school, university) where a formal degree, diploma, masters etc is essential to entering or progressing in this area, although in some cases, it is possible to enter the area at a low-entry position and gain a practical experience as you progress through the company/business, but at some point a formal degree will be required for progression.

If studying the theory of your chosen area, then working in the sector at the same time whilst gaining some practical experience may give you a better understanding of your coursework.  Connections to your area of interest (engineering, physics, electronics) can be of great help also, especially in the amateur radio hobby where portions of the HAREC exam concentrates on electronics for example.

Community is essential.  This can be in the forms of local clubs or groups, which can not only to help you personally but also give you their knowledge, offer their assistance in practical terms, have a mentor type relationship, offer a social scene or provide social interaction (maybe in the form of forums, Facebook pages etc).

As a result of your hobby eg amateur radio, this may be the reason for you to follow a career in telecommunications.  Through this hobby, you can build up a network of support. Fellow enthusiasts may be able to assist you get work in a particular area eg if you have a friend or colleague working in a company, and they require the assistance of a professional in some aspect of their business, a colleague may be able to suggest your skills as being suitable to assist, and this could potentially result in a part time position within that company, or even better, a permanent employment opportunity.

Self employment –v- employment with a company:-  although self employment does have benefits in terms of your own independence and working at your own pace, it also requires a lot of start up capital which could have a major loss if the business fails.  It also requires a base clientele which may be difficult to get if there are no prior connections or networks.  It is could be simpler to begin in an employee role to gain the experience you need although this also has draw backs in that you are working to someone else’s timetable and agenda.

All in all, there are a number of avenues to gain entry to the telecommunications industry, which one suits you?

This was a brilliant workshop.  It involved pairs of youngsters programming a little robot, which were are cool little buggy type cars with sensors etc, which everyone loved, they were going back and forth, turning 360 degrees etc.  Our two tutors, Ramon and Heilo, taught us how to use the programming commands and how to apply these to the little robots.  We were laughing so much as our robots moved, but not in the way we had thought we programmed them.

We were told “robot always does what YOU program it to do, not what YOU want it to do!” and that “90% of mistakes comes with the WRONG starting position!”.

This applied to all of us at the beginning, we had rogue robots doing what they wanted all over the floor! Our challenge was to make the robots follow the path set out by Ramon, and we had to try not to knock down any plastic trees, or any polar bears and penguins (plastic figures that crashed our party) and this was difficult enough as all the twists and turns made the programming frustrating but funny.

I don’t think one robot managed to make it all the way to the end!  But we had a great time trying to do so, and Ramon and Heilo gave us the robots to play with until the end of the week!  You could find the computer lovers in that room at any time as they dismantled and rebuilt the robots as much as they liked.  A really brilliant workshop!

Another great success workshop, it involved getting little electronic kits and building them.  This was done with the help of Juri and Ger EI4GXB.

The kits ranged in difficulty, from beginners to the more advanced, and the end result varied from steam engine sounds to stroboscopes to polarity checkers.  A lot of the kids have never held a soldering iron before and by the time they were finished practising, they were pros!

The kits themselves consisted of little components (resistors, capacitors, LED, transistors etc) which have to be placed on the circuit board and soldered into place.  Once everything was soldered together, the attaching of a 9v battery allowed the circuit to be tested, and more often than not these circuits needed to be fixed, which involved de-soldering (another learned skill) and fixed again.  This was fabulous and a great fun way to learn some new technical skills and the kids spent hours on these, even using their free time to finish their projects which they could take home.

The kits can be purchased on the internet or at your nearest electronic stores anywhere from €5 upwards.  A great little buy for the budding electronic enthusiast.

Before all workshops (usually in the morning and afternoon) we had energiser games.  These were set out by the host country (Estonia) with volunteered games from other teams including Finland, Croatia, Romania to name a few.  These games were usually very silly but great fun.  The purpose of the games was to get all participants involved, to feel at ease and to get to know the other teams or individuals.  Essentially they were for “ice-breaking” between people and to break away the shyness or awkwardness that is there when you meet new people for the first time.  Some of these energiser games made us laugh so much, and the silly actions made us look highly amusing.  The games had names like “Funky Chicken”, “Are you busy, Joe?” etc etc.  We also had a game where we were in a human knot, where we had to touch the leg of the persons near us until we fell, where we threw little balls one after the other in sequence until they dropped and so on.  Again, it was great fun and absolutely hilarious.

Every year in YOTA, an intercultural evening is held at the beginning of the week.

This is where each team bring some food, drink or delicacies from their home countries set up on tables in a big room, each country presenting their items and allowing other members sample them.  They also dress up their tables with flags, balloons, hats, necklaces etc making it look like a United Nations meeting!

Each team takes the floor and tells everyone what they have brought, and explains where it has come from in their country.

This evening is the best evening of YOTA as it allows everyone to mingle, to expand their taste buds and try a little of each new items.  It also allows people to get to know each other, and to swap QSL cards, flags, memorabilia, all of which shows the true spirit of the week – making new friends with similar interests from all sorts of backgrounds.  The buzz in the room at this event is spectacular and there is nothing like it.  A great evening and possibly the best of the week!