JOTA 2009

This posting is a bit out of order – I originally intended to post in chronological order, detailing my immersion into ham radio. However, I had such a great time with JOTA this weekend that I had to just get it all written down.

The Scout district to the north of us collaborates with my club (Davis Count Amateur Radio Club, or DCARC) to hold a JOTA camping activity. Scouts from all over Northern Utah came together for a Friday evening and Saturday morning of learning about amateur radio. In fact, everyone who paid attention earned the Radio merit badge, one of the least earned merit badges in scouting.

We met Friday evening at Hooper Park. After setting up camp and eating a quick dinner, we gathered together for orientation. By that time, it was getting dark. My group started out at a station operating at 50 M SSB (Voice). We heard a couple of other JOTA people (in California) but we couldn’t pull them in. After that station, we moved to the electronics station where we learned about resistors, capacitors, etc. Finally, we wrapped up in the DCARC ‘War Wagon’.

Saturday morning started off with us working several contacts on 2 meters. All local – most of these contacts were part of the DCARC in fact. Following that, we moved to a station where we learned about propagation. At the next station we learned more about propagation and about radios themselves. Following that, we hit the 73cm station where we made contacts with folks in Pleasant Grove, UT and Las Vegas. At the final station, we spent time learning about the various ham licenses, Q-codes, and the phonetic alphabet.

Throughout the camp, we worked on merit badge workbooks related to Scouting. We made a mistake and used the standard Radio merit badge worksheet (found on meritbadge.com), while the DCARC had prepared a ‘streamlined’ workbook available here. Next time, we’ll be more prepared!

Many thanks to everyone who worked so hard to pull off JOTA. If you’ve got any involvement in Scouting, reach out to the local troop and get them involved in their local JOTA event.

JOTA: Jamboree On The Air: Boy Scouts of America has an annual jamboree which is held entirely over the air. Ham radio enthusiasts around the country, and around the world, open their base stations to all Scouts of all ages to operate.