Young Ham Contest Program 2004

After a very successful inaugural year, the annual Young Ham Contest Program will be accepting essays from young hams worldwide in anticipation of selecting another lucky young ham to join a DXpedition for a major contest event this year.

Sponsored by David Kopacz, KY1V, essays from young hams worldwide will be evaluated and a young ham will be selected to attend a major contest in 2004 on the Turks & Caicos Islands or some other remote DX location, depending on availability.

Last year, CQWW CW was selected as the event and Daniel Bradke (age 14) from Niskayuna, New York was selected for the all expense paid trip to VP5 to operate VP5X.

The program paid for all of Daniel's expenses, including roundtrip airfare, passport, VP5 license, QTH rental share and food for the week long trip. Needless to say, Daniel's dream came true!

The program was developed by KY1V in 2003 to encourage young hams to tell their friends about the fascinating possibilities associated with Ham radio, in particular, with regards to contesting and DXpeditions. "As a teenage ham, I always dreamed of going on a DXpedition, especially during a major contest weekend", says David (KY1V). "It wasn't until 30 years later that I had my first opportunity and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to bring along a young ham and make his dream come true".

David continues by saying, "It is my desire to foster this program into an annual event by which young hams around the world can have a chance of making their dream come true. I hope to get other hams involved in the program and eventually sponsor kids for every major contest. Could you imagine the impact we could have on young hams sending them on expeditions around the world? We may even give away radios to the winners".

David is hoping to have Daniel attend and speak before the contesting group at Hamvention in Dayton this year.

Young hams worldwide can apply for the program by sending an essay to:
contests @ vp5x.com (space inserted to defeat spam). A family member may join the young ham at their own expense.

For more information, please visit www.vp5x.com. The website will be updated for the 2004 program soon.

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