Boy Scouts of Troop #07 went out to support the younger Scouts during the annual Cub Scout camp-out at Sarimbun Scout Camp, and participated in the 51st Jamboree Over the Air (JOTA). With help from the Singapore Amateur Radio Transmitting Society (SARTS), Scouts quickly set up their equipment. Almost as quickly as the system was powered up, the Troop was communicating with other World Scouting Organizations in countries around the region.  Scouts contacted Australian Girl Guides in Karratha and Carins, Australia, then headed east and made contact with a lone scout in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, before jumping back to the region reaching scouts in Jakarta, Indonesia, then back east to Scouts in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The troop was able to raise another scout organization from Queensland, Australia before the cub scouts had the chance to participate in the JOTA. As the evening was coming to a close, Scouts & SARTS members attempted to reach as far around the globe as their field expedient antenna would allow.

One Scout was able to make contact with the former Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria. Event organizers were hoping to make contact with other BSA Troops around the world as the jamboree progressed into the evening, but they were only able to reach other World Scouting Organizations exchanging small talk about uniforms, awards, badges, hobbies, and what scouting is like in their own country. The Troop’s last attempt was able to raise scouts somewhere in Russia but it was not a good connection and the troop signed off of the World of Scouting 51st Jamboree Over the Air. Special thanks to SARTS members Peter Cook, Gim Tan and Darryl Ee! We are looking forward to next year’s event.

Comments (1)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

JOTA: Very Cool
written by mikeholt, October 27, 2008

What a great event, especially from Singapore where you can easily contact interesting countries. For those interested in doing more with ham radio, see the information from our recent radio merit badge work (as part of the technology merit badge series under the resource directory/merit badges. I plan to start this again in November.
Mr Holt
WB6SSC

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +0

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment