May 4th, 2020
On Wednesday, April 29th, IARU Region 2 presented the first of its program of Virtual Workshops in English and Spanish with “What is WinLink and its importance during Emergency Communications” (in Spanish).
The workshop presenter was Alfonso Tamez, XE2O of the FEDERACION MEXICANA DE RADIOEXPERIMENTADORES. He gave an insightful view into the usefulness and application of WinLink during emergencies, based on his past and ample experience, offering participants an understanding of the importance of having such a tool available during an emergency.
Workshop attendance was far larger than expected with participants from at least 18 countries including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, México, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela. The total number of attendees exceeded 180!
The formal presentation was followed by a Question-and-Answer session with participants able to ask questions using both the Zoom platform as well as through the IARU Region 2’s YouTube Workshops channel. The initial estimated time of 90 minutes was extended beyond two hours to accommodate the high level of interest.
The use of Zoom together with the simultaneous broadcast via IARU Region 2’s Workshops YouTube channel (https://bit.ly/2SD82kx or at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnG2Srz0bsKmTbF2r3YNneQ) enabled expansion of the number of participants from the 100 users Zoom platform maximum, as the YouTube channel is unlimited. The only difference is that questions made on the YouTube channel chat are forwarded to the instructor via the moderator.
At the end of the workshop, participants expressed their satisfaction as well as their desire to continue with more workshops as soon as possible. All future workshops will be announced as soon as they become available on IARU Region 2’s website (www.iaru-r2.org/en) where you will also find a registration sign-up form. Please keep in mind that due to the high volume of requests, signing up for workshops can only be done online and not by email.
For suggestions for future workshop subjects as well as to volunteer as a presenter or instructor, please send an email message to workshops@iaru-r2.org .
Augusto Gabaldoni, OA4DOH, Workshops Coordinator, IARU R2
Also available in Español (Spanish).