December is Ham Radio YOTA month!

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After the success of the summer event to bring young amateur radio operators on the air, many stations are coming online throughout the month of December with YOTA suffixs in there callsign.

The idea for this is to break the ice for some youngsters and take the microphone in the hand.  As seen over the years the YOTA-group is growing fast and every week more youngsters are asking to participate.

At least 17 stations from 14 countries with young HAM’s will be active. We would be happy if you try to work one or more of the following callsigns:

  • EA7URA/YOTA
  • EI0YOTA
  • ES5YOTA
  • ES9YOTA
  • LY5YOTA
  • OH2YOTA
  • OK2YOTA
  • OM9YOTA
  • OM13YOTA
  • ON4YOTA
  • PA6YOTA
  • S513YOTA
  • SN0YOTA
  • SH9YOTA
  • YO0YOTA
  • YL13YOTA
  • YL2013YOTA

A special Youngsters On The Air Award is available - http://www.ham-yota.eu/?p=381

ARRL granted use of W100AW for League’s centennial

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The FCC has authorized the Maxim Memorial Station W1AW to also use the call sign W1ØØAW during 2014, the ARRL’s centennial year.

Contacts made from the Maxim Memorial Station in Newington, from regional Centennial conventions, and during the IARU HF Championshipwill use W1ØØAW, with portable designators as appropriate.

The “W1AW WAS” operations throughout 2014 from each of the 50 states will use W1AW, not W1ØØAW.

Bulletins and code practice transmissions during 2014 also will still use W1AW.

Contacts with W1ØØAW will be worth 100 points in the ARRL Centennial QSO Party.

To help kick off the ARRL Centennial, special W1ØØAW activity will begin at 0500 UTC on January 1, 2014 (midnight in Newington), and will include participation in ARRL’s Straight Key Night; one CW station will use Hiram Percy Maxim’s straight key. Activity will continue throughout New Year’s Day.

 

2014 Bath Buildathon

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The next Bath Buildathon is to be held on Saturday 4 January 2014

The aim of the event is to encourage newcomers to have a go at homebrewing radio equipment under the watchful eye of some experienced radio constructors.

Previous events have all been very successful and the team are expecting a repeat performance this year.

The kit chosen for the 2014 Bath Buildathon is the 20m PSK Centenary Receiver that was developed for the RSGB Centenary Day and featured in the September edition of RadCom. The receiver was specifically designed for the newcomer so you can be confident that you will go home with a working 20m PSK receiver.

The Buildathon is planned to run from 09.00 to 17.00. All soldering and test equipment will be made available on the day. The cost of the day will be £25 to include the cost of the kit, room hire, use of tools, tea, coffee, biscuits, etc. You just need to bring yourself and a packed lunch.

Places will be limited to ensure that everyone gets good mentoring from one of the local tutors so interested parties are advised to book early.

There will be two free places available for young amateurs who are still in full-time education. Nominations for those places need to be made by a parent or other responsible adult by Friday 13 December 2013.

The nominations need to include some detail of why the young person would like to attend. If there are more than two nominations the Bath Buildathon Crew will make the selection based on the nominations. The free place does not include cost of transport to/from Bath.

Intermediate Practical Assessments will also be available on the day.

For further details, please contact Steve Hartley, G0FUW by e-mail at G0FUW@tiscali.co.uk