I took part in my first Scout Jamboree on the Air (JoTA) when I was a teenager and it was a great introduction for me to amateur radio as a hobby. Although I had been a shortwave listener for a year or so, this was my first real discovery of the hobby.
What is Scout Jamboree On The Air? Every year, Scouts and Guides across the world come together for a weekend where they can discover ham radio. Many clubs set-up special stations for JoTA with licenses allowing scouts and guides to talk over the air to others across the world.
Amateur radio continually needs to grow and attract new people to the hobby. The annual Scout and Guide Jamboree on the Air is a perfect way to introduce ham radio to the younger generation. Discover here what it is all about and how it can work.
About Jamboree on the Air
Essentially, Jamboree on the Air is a weekend where scouts and guides from across the world come together to meet over ham radio and speak to fellow scouts and guides in different countries.
Scout jamborees can be traced back to the early days of scouting, where youngsters met and camped together with others from different parts of the world. Jamboree on the Air is rather like that but without the travel – or the bugs in your sleeping bag!
The first JoTA was held in 1957 and has been an annual event ever since.
Local amateur radio clubs will often set up a special event ham station for the JoTA weekend and invite all the local scout and guide groups to visit the station. The club will have arranged an event-based ham radio license, often with a special call-sign, which allows non-licenses people to talk on-air.
The licensed radio amateur will generally establish the contact and then pass the microphone to the scout or guide sitting next to them, to pass on a greeting message. The person at the other end may also have some scouts and guides there, but just as often, that may not be the case. However, there are millions of people who were part of the movements in their youth and love to come on-air each year to talk to and encourage the next generation.
Each year, over 600,000 scouts and guides from over 100 countries take part, with some 20,000 amateur radio stations on the air.
When is Jamboree on the Air Held?
Each year, in the first full weekend of October, the ham bands will fill with special ham radio stations and the voices of scouts and guide are heard.
With different time zones, there is no formal start or end to the weekend, so stations will come on-air when they are ready to go, wherever they may be located.
What Can I Talk About?
Put a microphone in front of someone who isn’t used to it and all of a sudden, no words come out of their mouths.
Topics to talk about might include your first name, the name of your town and the designation of your scout or guide group. You can share how many are in the troop and perhaps when you all plan to camp next.
Once the first message has been passed, there is usually a rush to want to be next on-air.
Hearing from a fellow Scout or Guide at the other end of the contact can spark more questions to ask and information to share.
How To Take Part On the Day
Jamboree on the Air isn’t a contest and there isn’t a competitive element.
Local clubs who put on a special jamboree station may contact local troops and groups with an invitation.
Turning it the other way around, if you have several people who are interested, then make an approach to the local ham radio club and ask them to put on a station. Most will be very accommodating.
Ask the club to set-up some activities, such as some morse code equipment, to learn about the dots and dashes.
The station may be set-up at a local headquarters, with equipment brought in and antennas erected. Everyone can help with the set-up, but remember to be there to take it all down at the end of the event.
Alternatively, a local ham may invite a few people to their own station at home.
If you have space, then set up a world map and a country map, with a box of pins to show each contact made. Over a busy weekend, you may need quite a few pins.
What Are the Guidelines for Jamboree on the Air?
All contacts must adhere to the license conditions in your country. Needless to any, no bad language should be used at any time.
To start, call “CQ Jamboree” on speech, or “CQ JOTA” using morse or data. Stations will know from the call that you are a special JoTA station.
If you have made initial contact on one of the recognized scout frequencies, as a courtesy, move to another frequency to complete the contact.
You don’t need to use the scout frequencies, but they are a good guide on which region of the bands to call and listen, so being close-by can be useful.
Remember, that participating in a JoTA weekend, can count towards a new badge.
Regular Scout Ham Radio Frequencies
Scouts and Guides meet throughout the year and can often be found on a setlist of frequencies:
| 80 meters | 3.570 MHz & 3.940 MHz |
| 40 meters | 7.030 MHz & 7.090MHz / 7.190 MHz |
| 20 meters | 14.060 MHz & 14.290 MHz |
| 17 meters | 18.080 MHz & 18.140 MHz |
| 15 meters | 21.140 MHZ & 21.360 MHz |
| 12 meters | 24.390 MHZ & 24.910 MHz |
| 10 meters | 28.180 MHz & 28.390 MHz |
| 6 meters | 50.160 MHz |
Are there Permanent Scout Ham Stations?
Several countries have a permanent scout and guide ham stations.
These stations are not manned all the time and will come on-air when there is a gathering of people and operators.
Some, such as GB2GP at Gilwell Park in the United Kingdom are at major campsites, with others based at the headquarters buildings in their country.
RELATED QUESTIONS
What is JOTI? Jamboree on the Internet (JOTI) allows Scouts to make contact over the internet, rather than over ham radio. The internet can be used to connect to ham radio transmitters, so a licensed person will be needed in those circumstances.