ARLA/CLUSTER: RSGB é o anfitrião internacional da YOTA 2017 e dos contactos com a ISS durante o evento

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Radio Society of Great Britain hosts international youth event
including contact with the International Space Station

Eighty young people from 26 countries are coming to the UK for a week
to take part in the seventh prestigious YOTA (Youngsters on the Air)
summer camp.

Hosted by the RSGB at the scouting activity centre at Gilwell Park,
near London, it will be a week packed with a variety of events and a
chance for the young people to forge international friendships.

The youngsters will take part in fun and challenging amateur radio
activities, visits to Bletchley Park and the National Radio Centre,
Ofcom’s Spectrum Management Centre in Baldock and also the London
Science Museum.

They will also have the amazing opportunity to use amateur radio to
speak directly to astronaut Paulo Nespoli, IZ0JPA (pictured right) on
the International Space Station (ISS) and see him via live video by
Amateur TV.

Steve Hartley, G0FUW, RSGB Board Director and YOTA Project Manager
said: “We are delighted to have the honour of hosting YOTA’s seventh
international summer camp and are looking forward to welcoming so many
young radio amateurs from around the world.”

The young radio amateurs are aged 15 - 25 and will travel from a
diverse range of countries including Croatia, Tunisia, South Africa
and Japan. During the week they will be split into five streams, each
one led by a member of the RSGB’s Youth Committee. They will do a
variety of activities including Summits on the Air (SOTA – operating
amateur radio from a summit), making a CW transceiver kit, sharing
something of their own country’s culture and operating the Gilwell
Park amateur radio station GB2GP. The SOTA activity will be led by
Lauren, M6HLR who at the age of 12 is the youngest person to have
completed a SOTA activation from all 214 Wainwrights.

During the week clubs across the country, supported by the RSGB’s
Regional Team, are holding a series of local events to enable as many
young people as possible to try amateur radio for the first time.
Amateur radio is a popular technical hobby which has many links to the
STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) curriculum. The
Society works to make it accessible to everyone and is dedicated to
encouraging more young people to enter STEM-related careers through an
enjoyment of this wide-ranging activity.

ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) is working
with NASA to facilitate the ISS contact and a live web cast of the
contact will be streamed by the British Amateur Television Club (BATC)
on the RSGB’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/theRSGB

Milo Noblet, 2E0ILO, UK Youth Team Leader said: “The contact with an
astronaut on the ISS will be one of the highlights of the week. We
know from our experience of the amateur radio contacts with Tim Peake
last year, it will be something special for everyone to remember.”