The June 2013 issue of QST Magazine carried my article titled “Jammin’ and Hammin’ with the Scouts”. The article covers the two primary activities coming up in 2013 — the National Scout Jamboree in July and Jamboree on the Air in October. It goes on to provide updates on all our Radio Scouting initiatives from the astounding growth in the number of Radio Merit Badges earned each year (nearly 7,000) along with the introduction of the Morse Code Interpreter Strip and the Amateur Radio Operator Rating Strip.I’ve scanned the article so you can see it here QST June 2013.
I’ll also note that Icom America, the official transceiver and repeater sponsor for the Jamboree, ran an ad on page 150 highlighting their contribution to the Jamboree while SteppIR, our antenna supplier, ran and ad on page 28 showing the Jamboree logo. Icom will also be running K2BSA Jamboree ads during June on Ham Nation and Amateur Logic TV.
I hope that this will help get more amateur radio operators engaged with the K2BSA operation at the Jamboree as well as getting on the air during Jamboree on the Air. It’s all about mentoring the next generation of ham radio operators!
I really liked the article in QST Magazine about Scouting and Radio. Mr. Tom Yarboro, BSA area 7 president, has really helped us with getting scouts interested in radio. He asked the local BSA council to plan a large family campout on the JOTA weekend. We now operate our own radio club, KT4BSA from Boy Scout Camp Tuscarora on special events. With support like yours, Mr. Yarboro, and the Wayne County Amateur Radio association, our attendance for JOTA is now in the Hundreds. Not every scouts talks on the air but each scout is given the opportunity to try MORSE code, see PSK, HF, 2 meter repeater work, and HT simplex. A lot of them take our Radio Merit badge class and talk on the air along with the other activities in the class.
Thanks for helping us be successful in Scouting and Radio. A Scout is Reverent…
Thanks, Dave. Glad to see that so many Scouts are learning about amateur radio and getting a good insight into science, technology, engineering, and along the way, an application for math. Keep up the good work.
73, Jim, K5ND
I was amused that the QST cover trumpeted the most popular on-air event, Field Day. JOTA has about twenty times as many participants. Your article gave a figure of 750k participants for JOTA 2010, while Field Day 2011 was 38k.
Field Day may have more QSOs, but that would be “most active”, not “most popular”.