JOTA

Deborah D'Auria, Troup 171 Leader presented Rick McClure, KE4TEP and Howard Hecht, W1HO, Certificates of appreciation from Troup 171 and from the Gemstone District for the effort and hard work ICARS and other area Amateurs put in to make Field Day and JOTA an enjoyable and educational experience for the Scouts. Deborah said the Scouts are looking forward to next year already!

Well, it's come and gone. And what a success it was! Thanks to all the hams who worked to plan, set up, operate and tear down the operation, and a special thanks to the Gemstone District for inviting us.

Our first Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) with the Gemstone District Scouts was a lot of work and it was worth all the effort we put into it.

The Scouts, leaders and parents who visited us were interested, enthusiastic and excited. The interest shown, from mid afternoon until late at night, was gratifying. We were told it looked like we set up a "small city" for the event! And with the light/generator unit supplied by Iredell County Emergency Management, we lit up our area like daylight.

Signing K2BSA/4, the Gemstone Scouts talked with Scouts from several countries, and around the U.S.A., on 20 and 40 meters voice with Barney, KL7HNY, Rick, KE4TEP, Dennis, N4WHK, and Ed, K4ELP, and on Echolink with Howard W1HO. They were able to see and hear CW contacts, and learn some Morse code, as Don, W4DON worked 40 CW. They sent email via Winlink2000 (WL2K) with the able assistance of W3OA, Dick, and learned that ham radio doesn't need local access to the internet to send email.

The operator at a station in Germany told us he once lived in the Charlotte NC area, and sent us the name of his town in Germany, which we looked up on Google maps to see where he lives. A station in Australia had several Scouts who exchanged names and interests with the Scouts at our station. And a station in Norway sent us a website where we could see pictures of some of their activities, and we learned that "speidergruppe" means student scout group.

We were set up to hear (and record) the planned Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with K2BSA/5 in Texas. Unfortunately, this was one of the only ARISS contacts to not work out. We heard the ISS, and we heard the ground stations, but they were unable to hear each other.

We were able to play, from the AMSAT website, a previously recorded ARISS contact with a Scout group in Canada, so the Scouts could hear what an ARISS contact sounds like.