Tune in to Jamboree on the Air, Sat. Oct. 19
One of Scouting’s priorities is to reach into underserved neighborhoods, where we can help provide the resources and leadership to young people who otherwise would not have the opportunity to live Scouting’s values and experience great outdoor adventures. Thanks to the wonders of Amateur Radio, we are able to spread the word about Scouting around the world to help meet that goal
Coming up on Saturday, October 19th, will be the 2013 running of Scouting’s “Jamboree on the Air,” or JOTA. It’s the 56th year for this on-air Jamboree event, which links Scouts from all over the world by Amateur Radio broadcasts to foster Scout-to-Scout communication across borders.
JOTA gives members of the BSA the chance to experience Amateur Radio firsthand, and possibly planting the seed for a lifetime of “hamming,” which refers to enthusiasts of “ham” radio, another term for Amateur Radio.
It’s a huge Scouting event. JOTA attracts nearly 750,000 Scouts from 6,000 stations in 150 countries, according to the National Association for Amateur Radio. Licensed “hammers” often open their stations for Scouts to use during JOTA week-ends, serving as control operators. Last year, an estimated 18,500 Scouts in the US participated in JOTA from more than 200 stations across the country.
If you would like to participate, more information is available in the JOTA guidelines.
Many hammers go on to careers in science and technology, so another way to think of JOTA is as an on-air component of our STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) initiative.
What creative ways do you use to get young people interested in science and technology careers? You might want to give hamming a try and let us know what you think!
More soon!
Wayne
Nathan Johnson
As a member of the Communications team at Boy Scouts of America, Nathan Johnson enjoys finding and sharing the stories that inform, inspire, and delight the Scouting family.
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