Ham Radio at the 2010 National Scout Jamboree

The 2010 National Scout Jamboree is a little more than a month away. This year's theme is the celebration of 100 years of scouting in the United States and ham radio will be an important part of the festivities.

Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, has more:

For anyone who's ever been or still is a Boy Scout - youth or leader - celebrating an anniversary of this significance is truly a once-in-a-lifetime happening.

And, why not do it with a huge campout or jamboree at a military base called Fort AP Hill, Virginia, just outside of Woodbridge?

Of course, to make it really a special event you set up an amateur radio station!

The staff of K2BSA - the call sign of the Boy Scouts of America - is making final preparations for the event - which runs from July 26 through Aug. 4.

Ed Dudley, WA4ISI, is the volunteer coordinator for the K2BSA staff. He says the staff of nearly 50 volunteers is made up of folks from a variety of fields who will be coming from all around the country.

"We have doctors and lawyers," Dudley says. "We have scientists, engineers and we have youth that are Scouts that will be part of the staff."

Among the youth, Andrew Koenig, KE5GDB, Amateur Radio Newsline's 2009 Young Ham of the Year.

Dudley says the centerpiece of the K2BSA operation is a large demonstration station located inside a large circus-style tent with HF and VHF stations set up, a temporary antenna farm that might rival some of the smaller DX
operations, and plans in the works for a contact with one of the astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

But Dudley says that's not all.
"We'll also be doing the Radio merit badge at the merit badge midway and we have a third group that will be doing licensing and testing," Dudley says. "We'll have classes and give the test every evening that there's not an arena show.

"When they have the arena shows, everything shuts down. But every other night we'll have testing for the amateur radio licenses, all levels."

Dudley says the mission of the K2BSA staff is clear - showing off the best of amateur radio.

"Well, we have an opportunity here to show ham radio to lots of Scouts, and when I say lots, I mean lots," Dudley says. "There are approximately 40,000 Scouts and adults that are actually participants in the jamboree, plus there's six or seven-thousand staff members.

"All of these people can come in and see what's going on. But, beyond that there may be several hundred thousands of visitors."

At the K2BSA demonstration, Dudley says the idea is to get Scouts and visitors talking on the air with other Scouts around the country and around the world.

"I'd like to see Scouts from all over the world that can come into a local ham station and make a contact and talk to some of these guys at the jamboree," Dudley says.
"That's what the demonstration is. It's sort of like Jamboree on the Air in that we're trying to do contacts with other Scouts. Of course we'll talk to everyone else, too."

The bottom line: Dudley would love to see the ham radio community get active during the jamboree. And, of course, if you contact K2BSA, there is a nice little bonus.

"Get on your radio and give us a call," Dudley says. "If you'd like a QSL card, we'll have a unique QSL card for the jamboree.

"We do ask that you send an SASE along with that because we may make thousands of contacts and we'd love to send you a card but we can't afford to pay for the mailing for all of them."

Check out the July QST cover story by Bill Morine, N2COP, to learn more about K2BSA's operations at the National Boy Scout Jamboree and listen for the web address at the end of this story, too.

Your humble correspondent will be part of the K2BSA staff for the third time in my Scouting career. And, I hope to be able to file a story or two for the Amateur Radio Newsline while there.

Mark Abramowicz, NT3V
in Philadelphia for
Amateur Radio Newsline

More information on this year's Scout Jamboree is on line at
www.nsj2010ham.com

Source: NT3V, ARNewsline™