One sunny afternoon last May, I was chatting with Vic G4UDR in his garden over a
beer, as you do, when the conversation turned to JOTA - Jamboree on
the Air.
Every year during
the second weekend in October, Amateur Radio operators and Radio Clubs join with
the hundreds of Scouting organisations around the world and help them exchange
greetings via short wave radio. For many it is their first view of Amateur Radio,
and half-duplex SSB can sound a
most strange mode of communication !
Vic
has been actively involved for many years with Scouting in Birkenhead, whilst to a
much lesser degree I have joined both Vic and other groups with JOTA on occasions.
The problem is you rarely find a Scout Group HQ with a good radio site.
More often than not, you can just make a ½ size G5RV wrap round a building downspout over
to a 12ft flagpole. A JOTA station we visited last year also had security
problems from youngsters after dark, which took off some of the enjoyment.
Vic is keeper of the prestigious callsign
GB2JAM which was first taken out by
Tom
G4BKF for a special event station on the 5th & 6th of May 1979. The
occasion was a celebratory event in Royden Park to commemorate the 50th
anniversary of the first World Jamboree in nearby Arrowe Park back in 1929 -
hence the "JAM" suffix. So, after much discussion, Vic & I came up with the
idea of approaching JOTA from the other way round .. searching for somewhere
primarily to play radio for the Friday night and Saturday and then inviting
groups of Scouts, Cubs & Beavers on the Sunday to complete their communicator
badges. After
making up a list of venues, we slowly crossed each one off, for one reason or
another. My final suggestion was Irby Cricket Club .. our Radio Club HQ. It
had ALL the
facilities plus loads of space for antennas & reasonable security ..
but from memory a very sensitive alarm system which had caused us major problems with
RF before.
It also enjoys a central Wirral location, and that proved an important
consideration for club members and Scouts alike.
I guess the rest is history, I talked to ICC
and received a very enthusiastic agreement and so the planning
began. We received a very kind offer from Wirral Raynet to
supply their 40' mobile tower
which would support the Club's 3 element HF
beam, and Richard G8NDD offered his time and services to deliver and erect
it for us. As we had space, we decided to use
the Club's 40' mast to support dipoles for 80/40 and 17m. At
this point no one knew how to erect the club mast .. but thankfully Phil G0JSB,
heavily occupied
with domestic renovations,
offered to come down on the Friday afternoon and lead a party and show us how.
Simon G6XHF,
another active
Scout leader was then invited to join in the organisation. He was keen to
be involved and contributed both his HF station and many years active JOTA experience. Eric G6HWD,
another Scout
leader also joined
the group, so very quickly we had a wealth of radio and scouting experience, all
extremely
enthusiastic in planning a
Wirral JOTA 2005 with a difference. Steve G7BBF promised a number of webcams with internet access through our website and
wirralcam and
also broadband facilities for callsign look-up and other dx support .. so
the weekend quickly took shape at a level well beyond our wildest dreams.
Last, but not least, WADARC club members were eager to join in, and offered
their help and support towards a successful weekend.
We ended up
with two
HF stations in the same room
only 10 feet apart with
absolutely no de-sense at all
and as a bonus,
band
conditions were remarkably good. We worked a total of 192 stations in a most
relaxed
manner with an almost non existent noise floor which I found quite stunning. The
station with the beam on 20m and 15m was running
400watts, while the other spent
most of the time on 80m
running 80 watts. As for previous RF problems ?
.. delighted to report that
by locating the antennas away from
the pavilion and improved coax we had no
difficulties at all. Contacts were made with 28 different countries
and of
all the contacts 16% were other
JOTA stations. Furthest was Indonesia but a contact with Mexico was
most
pleasing as XE stations are
quite rare. Our Sunday, as planned, was mostly taken up receiving visitors
and helping
Scouts and Beavers
who arrived
by invitation with their troop leaders and parents
to complete their communicator
badges. I worked one
station in Taunton operating from a camp in a forest with their 80m dipole
hanging between two trees and couldn't find another JOTA station for their
Scouts to pass greetings to. I promptly sat there and chatted to 8 scouts
helping
them all pass their badges which was most rewarding .. not least
because we had played almost uninterrupted radio from Friday evening right
through Saturday until the early hours of Sunday. A proven format we will
certainly try again !
In conclusion, none of this could have gone ahead without the agreement,
support and enthusiasm of Irby Cricket Club to our proposals for which we are
most grateful. Equally, a request for assistance to Club members on both
the Friday afternoon, for setting
up the antennas, and Sunday afternoon to take them all down
again received an excellent response which enabled the weekend to run
like clockwork. Those who didn't make it for whatever reason missed an
excellent
weekend. Our Thanks to everyone who did, we thank you for your
support.
I've
included a selection of photographs which hopefully reflect the extent of
the weekend's activities, certainly one of the best JOTA's Vic and I have
enjoyed
for many years. As you can see, the weather bestowed high pressure and a
most beautiful 'mini-summer' on us during the weekend
which was superb. If anyone would like a high
definition print of any of the above, please send me details in an email to
g4oar@wadarc.com
73, Neil G4OAR
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