If you have ever participated in the All Asian DX Contest, where operators exchange their ages, you have seen that the majority of amateur radio operators are over 55 years old. As amateur radio operators become older day by day, our marvelous hobby maybe disapered in the upcoming years, if no young people enter the hobby. Youngsters on the Air, an initiative and thus part of the IARU (International Amateur Radio Union) Region 1 works to bring youngsters in our hobby and prepare the next generation of inspired ham radio operators.
On Saturday 18 July 2021, there is the 2nd part of the YOTA contest. This year the event is co-organized by IARU R1 youth Working Group & MRASZ, the Hungarian National Society. Objective of the contest is to increase youngsters’ activity on the air, strengthening the reputation of the YOTA program and demonstration of support for youngsters across the world. See more details by clicking the contest banner.
It’s a great challenge for all of us to encourage and bring young people to the hobby. No matter if we are in holidays or in our home QTH, we can bring some young people in our shack and show them that there are also other youngsters on the air and can easily communicate between them, without using Internet platforms and social media, just using a radio and an antenna.
Despite of this contest, Youngsters on the Air have a plethora of promotion activities of ham radio in young people. The annual Summer camp is the biggest activity, where group of young radio amateurs from the majority of IARU R1 countries, gather together where they learn and exchange about all aspects of ham radio. Apart from this, they learn how to inspirate more youngsters and get them interested in our hobby, so that the amateur radio youth community will grow at a faster rate. Next SummerCamp is scheduled to take place in Croatia on 2022.