YOTA Czechia 2024

YOTA Czechia summer camp

The 2024 Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) summer camp was held in Prague Czechia, hosted by the Czech Radio Club. This was a chance in a lifetime for young RSGB Members to represent their country and national society.

Meet Rhys, the RSGB representative

“I’ve found a lot of joy in the building aspect of amateur radio. I’ve learned to solder and have built a 40m CW transceiver to talk to people all across Europe! I also really enjoy contesting with my university club. My furthest QSO is Vanuatu (nearly 10,000 miles). In 2022, I went to Dayton Hamvention with my dad Alun, M0WQE and my uncle Roland, AE6VL, which kindled my love of home brew radio.

I’m currently studying Aerospace Engineering at Cambridge University and am going on to do a PhD in Engineering at Oxford University from September. I spent a year in America as part of my undergraduate degree and, whilst I was living there, I passed my US amateur radio exams.

I had a great time  representing the RSGB at YOTA in Prague this summer, so take a look at my daily updates and come along to my presentation at the Convention. See you there!”

About the summer camp

The main theme of the week was the train-the-trainer (TTT) programme, and participants worked on the future of amateur radio. They joined workshops where they gained skills to start similar amateur radio youth events when they return home.

Last year the programme included lectures about the work of the IARU, how they organise events like the YOTA camp, and lectures and practical HFDF, which was a specialism of the hosting radio organisation. Since there were many nationalities involved, there were cultural elements throughout the event including an Intercultural Evening where participants brought food and drinks from their home country to share.

Previous events have shown that all participants have an unforgettable week, where many new friendships are started. There is a photo gallery and video clips on the IARU YOTA website and you can also find out more from previous RSGB teams on the RSGB YOTA web pages.