Youth-operated stations around the world are part of a special event celebrating Youth in Amateur Radio (aka YOTA or Youth on the Air) during the month of December.
Amateur Radio operators age 25 and younger will be on the air as special event stations around the world throughout December in celebration of Youth in Amateur Radio.
YOTA Month stations will be on all bands and modes at various times.
In Canada this year the special call signs will be VE3YOUTH, VE2YOTA and VA7YOTA.
In the United States the call signs will once again be K8Y, K8O, K8T and K8A.
Argentina will be active as LR1YOTA.
El Salvador will be active as YS1YOTA.
Last year, young Amateurs worldwide surpassed their goal of 100,000 QSOs in the month of December with a final tally of 107,845.
Overlapping with YOTA month is Round 3 of the YOTA Contest, which is on December 30, 2023 from 1200 to 2359 UTC.
QSL and award information is at http://events.ham-yota.com.
Special Event Call Signs in Canada:
In Canada the following special event call signs will be active in December:
VE3YOUTH is held by Daniel, VE3FCT, and he is going to work with Maria, VE3OMV, so that the call sign will be active as often as possible. Please welcome Ariel, VE2SZU, who is new this year to YOTA month. Please remember for many of these Amateurs this will be the first time they experience a pileup so be kind.
Special event call sign VA7YOTA:
“We are a Grade 6/7 class on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, Canada. We are excited to spend the month learning more about Amateur Radio with regular mini lessons on bands, antennas, phonetics and more. With every contact we work together to log it, then look up the call sign on QRZ to find the location, and add another pin to our world map showing all the contacts we have made over the year.
For our class station, we have a Kenwood V71a hooked up to a Comet GP-9 which provides VHF and UHF coverage. There is a TNC-X hooked up to a laptop that also allows us to send and receive Winlink messages. For HF coverage we have a Yaesu 991a that was kindly donated by a Silent Key VE7COG and is hooked up to a Comet CHA-250HD vertical on top of the school roof. We also have an AREDN dish hooked into the local network allowing for VOIP and other digital communications.”
More information about YOTA Month specifically in the Americas can be found at YouthOnTheAir.org. The Youth on the Air website is sponsored by ICOM America.
More information about YOTA Month globally can be found at events.ham- yota.com.
To schedule interviews or obtain additional information about YOTA Month participation in the Americas, please contact YOTA Month Americas participation coordinators Kees Van Oosbree, WØAAE and Blake Pearson, KN4VKY at .