December YOTA Month Participants Hoping to Top Last Year s Contact Total 12/28/2020
The December Youth/Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) Month (
#DYM20) activity has already exceeded its goal of making 100,000 contacts, but promoters aren’t stopping there.
With just a few more days left, DYM is encouraging a last-minute push to break last year’s world contact record of nearly 129,000. Now we want to encourage all the YOTA stations and their operators to contact youngsters worldwide also outside of [Region 1], a Youngsters on the Air Facebook post said. Let’s show the youngsters from [Region 2 and 3] that there [are] youth on air and give them a chance to log as many YOTA stations as possible.
Netherlands Radio Amateurs Face Fee Increases 12/21/2020
While US radio amateurs face the possibility of a $50 application fee, some countries have been imposing license fees for some time now. Netherlands International Amateur Radio Union member-society,
VERON, reports that the Dutch regulator Agentschap Telecom (AT) is imposing higher annual amateur radio fees, including higher exam and repeater fees. The new rates go into effect in 2021. VERON said radio amateurs pay the fees to support AT’s activities and services, and that the fee for Novice and Full exams will rise from €68 ($80.66) in 2020 to €71 ($84.22) in 2021.
“An additional rate of €79 ($93.71) has been introduced for repeater stations. This became necessary to cover the costs of investigations and surveillance due to the increased illegal use of these stations,” VERON said. “The
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Austria: Limited ham radio greetings message facility In Austria the Telecommunications Office has announced that young people will be permitted to send a greetings message over amateur radio during certain specified events A translation of a post on the site of national society ÖVSV says: The Telecommunications Office announces that in the context of the events listed below, the use of amateur radio stations by children and young people is permitted for the purpose of sending greetings - these are messages of insignificant content:
• Kids Days: January 2 and June 19, 2021
• Girls Day: April 22, 2021
• School Stations Europe Day: May 5, 2021
QRZ Callsign Search Registration for Winter 2021 RAC Basic Course
Radio Amateurs of Canada is once again offering an online Amateur Radio course so that individuals from all across Canada can obtain their Amateur Radio Operator Certificate with Basic Qualification while continuing to practise social/physical distancing. The course will again be conducted with the assistance of the Annapolis Valley Amateur Radio Club (AVARC) of Nova Scotia. This course prepares students for the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) Basic Qualification Level Operator Certificate exam to operate on allocated Amateur Radio frequencies. Course material pertaining to all topics covered in the course syllabus will be provided to all registered students. Students must have a copy of the Canadian Amateur Radio Basic Qualification Study Guide provided by Coax Publications. For more information please visit the RAC Study Guides webpage.
Australian Radio Amateurs Denied Access to 60 Meters 12/09/2020
ACMA) has come down in favor of national government interests. Following a formal
consultation (a “proceeding” in FCC parlance), ACMA has decided not to permit ham operation on the 5351.5 – 5366.5 kHz band. The 15 kHz-wide band was allocated to the amateur service on a secondary basis in 2017, but as ACMA explained, “unresolved sharing issues” prevented ham radio use of the band, operated on by more than 500 other licensed services (mostly land mobile and aeronautical services), as well as by the Australian military.
Options ranged from Australia-wide access to the whole band or part of the band, to a segmented or channelized amateur allocation, to no amateur access. ACMA decided that national defense and security use of the allocation were “of high importance” in determining maximum public benefit and decided on the last option.