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CQ JOTA! CQ JOTA!
That's the call you'll likely hear on the HF bands as hams and Scouts
join forces for an event that continues to expose hundreds of thousands
of young people to amateur radio.
JOTA is a worldwide event sponsored by the World Organization of the Scout
Movement with the support of the World Association of Girl Guides and
Girl Scouts.
Ray Moyer WD8JKV works out of the Boy Scouts of America headquarters in
Irving, Texas. He is the trustee of the BSA's own call sign - K2BSA -
and he served as staff director for the recently concluded national BSA
jamboree operations at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia this past summer. Moyer
explains how JOTA works.
"The Scouts get together with an amateur radio operator and that
amateur radio operator gets a chance to share his hobby with Scouts and
Cub Scouts and also Girl Scouts and they get a chance to experience what
the amateur does just as a hobby," Moyer says. "And, since it's
unit hooked together across the world. It gives the Scouts from around
the world a chance to talk to other Scouts around the world in a communication
that they're normally not using."
Moyer says it's also a time for the Scouts to gather for some good, old-
fashioned camping.
"There's a lot of Scout councils, districts and multiple councils
that will be getting together during JOTA weekend and having a big camporee,
Scout show and sometimes just strictly an amateur radio JOTA event,"
Moyer says.
"There'll be Scouts - 14-15 thousand at some events and they'll make
the operation available along with other activities during the weekend.
"But JOTA will be a really popular event and it will operate 24 hours
a day. There'll be Scouts from troops coming into those tents or the buildings
where the radios are set up and have a chance to see if they can work
someone."
The American Radio Relay League's Larry Wolfgang, WR1B, a veteran editor
of the radio license manuals and other publications, has been an active
Scouter for years and has participated in JOTA activities as well. Wolfgang
is with the Connecticut Rivers Council and is behind the JOTA event there.
"We're going to be having a camporee that has opportunities for the
Scouts to talk on single-sideband, but we're also going to be giving them
an opportunity to use digital modes, PSK 31, as well as operate some slow-scan
television and exchange some photos from our camporee with other Scouts
that we can contact on the air." Wolfgang says.
Wolfgang is the trustee of WA1BSA, the call sign for the Connecticut Amateur
Radio Scouters Amateur Radio Club.
He says now, more than ever, hams have an opportunity to spark the interest
in the next generation of amateurs.
"It's a great opportunity to hook up with the Scouting program if
you haven't been involved with it and show off all the fun things we can
do with our hobby," he says.
And, you might be asking, how can you get involved?
"For somebody who's a ham who's not involved with the Scouting program
probably the best thing for them to do would be to look up Boy Scouts
of America in the telephone book and call their local council," Wolfgang
says.
The BSA's Moyer says its a lot of fun getting on the air and even listening
to some of the exchanges. He says it also brings out a lot of former Scouts
who are eager to share their memories.
"Hopefully we'll have a lot of amateurs that have been Scouts in
the past and that's normally what we get that will be able to share some
fun, exciting times that they had back in the old days when they were
Scouts and leaders
and the Scouts will be able to fill them in on what's going on now,"
Moyer says. "So, hopefully it will be a good marriage of amateur
and Scouts into a good weekend of communication and learning."
And finally, there's something new this year, the BSA is encouraging participation
in a new thing activity for stateside Scouts. It's called Jamboree on
the Internet, and, as you can gather from the name, it's similar to JOTA
except all the traffic is on the internet via email or chat links.
You can learn more about both events by clicking on the script version
of this week's newscast available at www.arnewsline.org
and scrolling to that final item
To learn more about JOTA: www.scouting.org/international/jota.html
For JOTI information go to www.joti.org)
And, if you plan to get on the air look for Venture Crew 59 from the Hawk
Mountain Scout Reservation in eastern Pennsylvania. We'll be operating
as KC3BSA.
Mark Abramowicz, NT3V
Source: Amateur Radio
Newsline
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