Our local JOTA will take place on Oct 19,2013 from 11am to 2pm in the parking lot of EagleCrest High School. The equipment will be setup in the east parking lot of the CCSD ISF building parking lot.
Instructional Support Facility (Eaglecrest/Thunderidge campus)
5416 S Riviera Way
Centennial, CO 80015
The theme for 2013 is "Let's Share"
- Let's share the simple things that we do with our own Scout groups and patrols on a weekly basis through radio, video, photographs and communicating with one another!
- Let's share what we do for our communities as Scouts and Messengers of Peace,inspiring one another future action!
- Let's share ideas, skills, games, activities, programs, songs and let’s learn new things from our brother and sister Scouts around the world!
- Let’s share the spirit of Scouting all around the world and let’s involve everyone in the fun and friendship of JOTA-JOTI, the Scout Movement’s biggest annual event!
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What to expect
Since we are putting this on for Cub Scouts, this should be simple and fun.
Some things to cover (beforehand if possible):
- What is a ham radio and how does it work?
- Who can operate a ham radio?
- What is a call sign and which are we using today?
- What radio speak should we know?
- What are some things we can share?
- First Name
- Rank
- Pack #
- Country / State / City / ZipCode
- Some fun things we have done in cub scouts
- The weather
- Hobbies, Sports, and Favorites
- What can we not share?
- Make HF radio JOTA contacts – Using the HF bands to contact radio operators (for sure within the US but possibly other countries depending on band conditions)
- Demonstrate a satellite antenna array – We will track a satellite as it flies over and try to use satellite repeaters to contact other radio operators. If the space station flies over we will try to contact them as well.
- Participate in a Fox Hunt using tape measure antenna – We hide a transmitter and then use a homemade antenna made from tape measure and pvc pipe to find the transmitter.
- Make IRLP contact – We will use our IRLP (Internet Radio Linking Protocol) to contact someone in another country. We’ve had luck in the past talking to Antarctica, Australia, Jamaica and several stations in Europe.
Some things to do during the event (to keep kids busy while others are taking a turn at the radio):
- Learn the first few lines of songs from other countries
- Drawing Charades - draw a simple picture to describe over the radio (line by line)
- Plot on a map the location of the scouts you reached and mark their local weather
- Build an antenna and attach to a kite.
- Participate in emergency preparedness
Some things to do afterward:
Badges
Badges can be earned and cost $4 each. Each pack will be responsible for ordering their own badges and will want to do so as soon as possible (in case thy run out). You can order
here:
Publicity
I will likely contact the local press (newspapers, radio, television).
NOTE: While over 50,000 scouts participate a year, there were only 26 US stations in 2012 (Oman had 127!). So we are breaking some ground here. And yes, you can do it online, but ham radio is so much cooler!
Thank yous
Further Resources
Attached are some further resources: