The fifth annual Youth on the Air (YOTA) Americas Camp took place from June 15-20 just outside of Denver in Thornton, Colorado. There were nearly 35 campers representing a number of countries, including Argentina, Austria, Canada, France, Italy, and the U.S.
As the working group and staff team all began to arrive on Saturday and Sunday, excitement and anticipation began to build for all of the fun memories that would be made in the week to come.
The planning process for a YOTA camp begins as soon as, if not before, the previous year’s camp concludes, so getting to watch all of our hard work come to fruition is quite rewarding. Since the working group/planning committee has members scattered across the country, we meet on Zoom to plan and prepare for each camp, making sure that we have every little detail sorted out as best we can before we get there.
My mom, who chaperoned for the week, and I arrived in Denver Saturday evening, just in time for dinner with the others who had already arrived. After dinner, we held a brief staff meeting to make sure everyone was on the same page. Then we headed back to the hotel to get some rest for the next day.
We arrived to start setting up everything bright and early on Sunday morning. Everyone got straight to work setting up the shack with equipment graciously donated by Icom and DX Engineering, while enjoying the nice view of the mountains in the background.
We finished up shack preparation and moved on to sorting camper swag bags and name tags as we prepared for their arrival. Soon enough, it was time to welcome campers and begin our opening ceremony. You can watch the ceremony in the video below:
After our opening ceremony, we played a few ice-breaker games so that the campers could get to know each other. We finished off the night with some operating and headed back to the hotel to get some rest before our first full day of camp.
On Monday morning, we started out with sessions on HT programming and contesting. Kees, W0AAE, and I led the contesting session with discussions on how young hams could get into contesting, the best contests to start with, and how to improve their skills. Other highlights of the day included a high-altitude balloon launch where we learned how to prepare payloads and balloons for launching, and a kit build where we learned how to solder and improve our skills, depending on our experience level.
Then we moved on to a sharing session where campers and staff could share resources they had found useful and learn about groups, clubs, and activities they could participate in. We topped off the day with some operating and social time back at the hotel.
Tuesday’s schedule was packed. We started off with a session on satellites where we got to learn about the basics of satellite operating and make some contacts during a few passes. We moved on to preparing for the Summits On The Air (SOTA) and Parks On The Air® (POTA) operating we would do later in the week. We spent the rest of the afternoon operating and getting to know each other.
Wednesday’s schedule held one of the highlights of the week: a tour of WWV. We also got to do some portable operating while we were there. The antennas and transmitters on the site were incredibly impressive. WWV is responsible for broadcasting precise time and frequency information to much of the U.S., and the immensity of the station and antennas reflects that! WWV was established in 1919 by the Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C., making it one of the oldest continuously operating radio stations in the U.S. During the tour, we learned a lot about what WWV does and how each piece of equipment contributes.
Thursday’s activities were also highlights of the week. In the morning, we had a direct ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) contact, led by Ruth, KM4LAO, where we got to ask an astronaut aboard the International Space Station questions about her favorite parts of the job and what being in space is like.
Watch campers make contact with NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers, KJ5GWI, in the video below:
We then headed off to our POTA and SOTA sites. I chose to do the SOTA. The view was beautiful and most of our setups worked pretty well, so we were able to make plenty of contacts. After we successfully activated the SOTA site, we headed down the mountain and back to the hotel to cool down and chill out with a pizza and pool party before heading back to the hotel for one more night of games and operating with friends.
On Friday morning, we had a pretty tight schedule so we could get everybody back to the airport on time. We returned our radios, had our closing ceremony, and then said our goodbyes. Even though we all had to go our separate ways, all of us made friends that will last a lifetime. We’re all looking forward to seeing each other at hamfests throughout the year and maybe even YOTA camp next year in Huntsville, Alabama!
