Jamboree on The Air - 2017

One of the mantras of us old hams is; where are the youth? Many club meetings are consumed with the question of how do we connect with youth and get them exposed to Amateur Radio? One very simple way to get involved is to participate in the Worldwide Scouting event Jamboree on the Air (JOTA). This is the 60th Anniversary of the event.  Over 1 million scouts around the world participate. There are numerous ways to participate either hosting a station or getting on the air to talk with the scouts. Check out www.K2BSA.net/jota for information on the event. The dates are October 20 -22, 2017.

Another source of information is the recent Episode of HamRadioNow which is a round-table  of Scout leaders on the benefits and some methodology of JOTA. I was honored to be asked to participate. I think you will find the show to be informative with regard to JOTA.

Here is the link:

https://www.hamradionow.tv/episodes/2017/10/2/hrn-347-old-jota

Participate if you can.

                                              

The Joy of the QSO

Since my retirement I suppose I've had a little more time to think, philosophize if you will, about the important things in life. As my work career fades into the past, I've quickly come to realize that events and issues from my work-life, at the end of the day, weren't that important at all. The things that I stressed and fretted over where simply mirages of importance that faded away as time passed.

So, I've asked myself, what is it about Ham Radio that's so important? Many of us spend a lot of time in the hobby, so where is the meaning, where is the value added to our lives? Many of us chase awards, join clubs, go on expeditions and have many significant achievements in our ham careers that bring a certain level of satisfaction. However, what we soon learn is that it's the chase, not the finish that's exciting. I've enjoyed very much chasing DXCC Honor Roll, WAE-TOP, IOTA, SOTA and competing in a variety of  contests. However, once the objective is achieved, the excitement of working toward the goal is gone and the sense of accomplishment is not quite as satisfying as the thrill of the chase.

So in my thinking about what's lasting and important about ham radio, at least to me, starts from  a simple QSO. QSO's bring joy in many ways, i.e., marking a needed entity of the list, working a new club member, getting that rare country that you never thought possible, whether QRP or QRO or perhaps a special contact on Top Band or the Magic Band. It's QSO's that bring joy. However, many of these QSO's are the 599, TU type of QSO and are more focused on accomplishment or earning some award than the relationship side of ham radio.  As I've progressed or maybe matured or perhaps just gotten more sentimental, I get a lot of lasting joy from a simple rag-chew. Does a rag-chew bring my recognition, no. Will it qualify me for any awards, maybe, but probably not. But what it does do is allow me to meet real people with similar interests as me. Since I retired I find that I have more and more rag-chews with the most interesting people. And I am starting to come across guys multiple times and we pick up where we left off from the previous QSO. It's wonderful. I don't have to worry if I've already worked them on the band I'm on, they are glad, at least I think they are, to take my call and have a chat, I don't have to worry about getting a "worked B4" response.

I've found there's lots of unexpected pleasure in the simple things. A simple QSO gives me lots of satisfaction. Don't get me wrong, you may well hear my call in a DX pile up or calling CQ in a contest, but I've learned to stop and smell the roses and the roses of ham radio, to me, are the relationships you can build and develop through conversational ham radio.

 My mode of choice is CW, but I don't suppose it really matters what mode you use. Just get on the air and have a real chat, you might find it brings a little more meaning to the hobby.

K2BSA at National Boy Scout Jamboree

When I retired in January of 2016, I thought that I would be able to blog a lot more. Well that hasn't worked out because, as many retirees have noted, I'm too busy now that I'm not working:-)

However, I just participated in a noteworthy activity that needs to be published. This year I was on the staff of K2BSA at the recently completed 2017 National Boy Scout Jamboree and what a wonderful experience it was. For a comprehensive, day by day, look at the activities at K2BSA, have look at the K2BSA Facebook page.

One of the old timer mantra's in ham radio is, "where are the next generation of hams coming from", but all too often nothing is done to address the problem. However, I can say that the K2BSA team is very busy about addressing that issue through efforts to expose Boy Scouts to Amateur Radio. During this Jamboree, 300+ radio merit badges were awarded to boys who completed the requirements which requires a contact via ham radio and a classroom session that delivers a solid primer on Amateur Radio.

Other activities included Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF), a Summits On The Air (SOTA) activation, Satellite operations, both base station and portable,  VHF/UHF operation and a nightly net for the hams participating at the Jamboree. There were typically ~60 check-ins each night including local hams not participating in the Jamboree and interested hams from around the world, including JA, KL7 and VK based hams via Echo Link. As you can see a comprehensive presentation of ham radio was on display.

K2BSA is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization making contributions from US Hams tax deductible. So if you are inclined to support the furtherance of our hobby through youth, I can't think of a better organization to support. A contribution button is present on the FaceBook page or you can visit their webpage at www.k2bsa.net.