Boy Scout Jamboree On The Air

[N7YLA]

The Valle del Sol District of the San Gabriel Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America will be conducting a "Jamboree On The Air" this Saturday, October 16, 2010 from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm PST in Covina, CA.  Under the direction of the Glendora Emergency Response Communications (GERC) group of hams the Scouts will be using the special event call sign K6U , "Kilo Six Uniform".  We will be on 20 meters (14.290 MHz) and EchoLink Node # 358124.   Why not join in the fun and help Scouts earn their ARRL "First Contact" Award!

73,
Mark Hayden, N7YLA
GERC Coordinator

[KI6DKC]

My cub scout son and I participated in JOTA again this year.  Last year we did it and only talked to one ham because we had to leave and do somthing else.  This year he was able to talk to over 10 other cub scouts on 20 meters.  He really got into it and chatted with the other boys for over an hour.  Part way through he said, "Dad, I love ham radio."  JOTA is a great way to expose cubs and boyscouts to Ham Radio.

[N7YLA]

I am glad you and your son like the JOTA!  It is a fun thing to do.  Since we have so many Scouts at our JOTA we rely heavily on EchoLink as a fast way for the Scouts to get a feeling for ham radio.  A highlight of the day were the QSOs that the Scouts had with the ham station NI6IW  on the famous USS Midway berthed now as a museum in San Diego, California. This is our third year contacting the Midway.
73,
Mark

[KI6DKC]

Midway is a great contact.  They are on a lot of different weekends.  Unfortunately for me they are within the same state so most weekends I can't hear them due to propagation, even on daytime 40 meters.  Occassionally though band conditions are right and I can get them.  I sent them a QSL card for my last contact and they sent a nice one back with a picture of the carrier plus two tickets to the carrier museum which I plan on using next month when we visit San Diego.  I'd like to make contact with the Hornet in Alameda, CA.  They have a radio room and are on occassionally but I haven't been able to catch them yet.  I don't think they do as many events as the Midway.   

JOTA is a great way for scouts to get introduced to Ham Radio.  I haven't been able to get much interest from our Boy Scout troop in doing it though.  The scoutmaster kind of sees us as some sort of CB nuts and really doesn't understand it.

I just became the cubmaster and am working to try and get it for the cubs next year.  I think the best way to do it is how the scouts up in Oregon we talked to during JOTA handled it.  They had other activities going on at the same time and the station also set up.  That way boys weren't just standing around waiting for a contact to be made.  We made contact with this station on 20 meters and my cub scout son talked to about ten or eleven different cub scouts.  Some he talked to for a long time and some a short time.  The control operator would wave a new boy over every few minutes.  We spent over an hour with them on 20 meters before the band faded.

The scouts we talked to were actually doing a weekend camping trip and activities at one of the scout camps in Oregon.  They talked about what they liked most about scouting, how old they were, what grade they were in, how long they had been a scout, and much more.  One poor young scout was on his first campout and he kept saying how cold it had been sleeping in the tent.  My son also answered questions about the farm we live on, what kind of animals we have, etc. 

We had a good time and made contacts on both 40 and 20 meters.  I really like the JOTA patches too.  This year's patch was neat because of the 100th anniversary.

Can't wait until next year to do it again.  My only dissapointment is I wish there were more JOTA stations on the air.  I had to do some hunting before I hit the one in Oregon.  Calling CQ JOTA seems to mostly get me adults and not scouts to talk with.