JOTA / JOTI Scouts On The Air This Weekend

Media Release

SARC, SEPAR and LARA will be providing communications

Scouts Unite the World!

Demonstration of Emergency Communications Saturday, October 20

Surrey, BC  October 18, 2018 – Jamboree On The Air and Jamboree On The Internet (JOTA-JOTI) is the largest Scouting event in the world with over 1.8 million Scouts participating across 150+ countries.  Scouts and Guides across the world connect with each other during JOTA-JOTI using the airwaves and the Internet.

Despite the Internet, cell phones, email and modern communications, every year whole regions find themselves in the dark. Tornadoes, fires, storms, landslides, ice and even the occasional cutting of cables leave people without the means to communicate. In these cases, the one consistent service that has never failed has been Amateur Radio. These federally licensed radio operators, often called “hams” provide backup communications for everything from community events to local Emergency Operations Centres and even for the International Space Station. Surrey and Langley “hams” will join with local Scouting groups showing them their emergency capabilities this Saturday at Camp McLean, located at 20315 16 Ave, Langley, B.C.

JOTA/JOTI is an annual World Scouting event that was first held in 1957. The event unites Scouts with their Scout friends world-wide. The purpose is to meet each other, exchange ideas, learn from each other, and gain mutual understanding. Contacts between the Scouts are made via Amateur Radio and in a supervised Internet chat room. The youth attending will also learn about radio communication and Internet safety. Scouts Canada gives special thanks to the Surrey Amateur Radio Club, the Langley Amateur Radio Association, and the TELUS Wise® team for volunteering their time to facilitate this great event.

Over the past year, the news has been full of reports of ham radio operators providing critical communications during unexpected emergencies in towns across North America including B.C. wildfires, winter storms, landslides and other events world-wide. When trouble is brewing, Amateur Radio’s people are often the first to provide rescuers with critical information and communications. On the weekend of October 20-21, Lower Mainland Scouts will have a chance to meet and talk with Surrey and Langley’s ham radio operators to see for themselves what the Amateur Radio Service is about, as Scouts worldwide take to the airwaves using both voice and digital communications. There are also planned demonstrations of satellite contacts, Morse code training and hidden transmitter hunts to give participants a chance to experience all facets of the hobby.

Amateur Radio is growing in Canada. Recent amendments no longer require Morse code, although it is still used in the hobby. Amateur Radio is practiced as a hobby, as a sport, and as a reliable means of communications by outdoors enthusiasts and others, where cellular telephone towers do not exist. There are now over 30,000 Amateur Radio licensees in Canada, and more than 2.5 million around the world. Through the Amateur Radio emergency services program, ham volunteers provide both emergency communications for thousands of provincial and local emergency response agencies and non-emergency community services too, all for free. 

For more information about Scouts Canada, go to http://www.scouts.ca

For more information about JOTA/JOTI, go to https://www.jotajoti.info

For more information about The Surrey Amateur Radio Club, go to http://ve7sar.net

For more information about the Langley Amateur Radio Association, go to https://lngara.wordpress.com

Planned Activities   (Scout groups will rotate through these activities between 9am and 5pm on Saturday)

1.  Introduction to Amateur Radio

2.  HF Station 

• Worldwide communications using the 100 ft mobile tower
• Attempt to contact other Scout groups worldwide

3.  VHF/UHF Station

• Contacts with other Scouting groups worldwide using both voice and digital modes

4.  Public Service/Emergency Communication 

• Supervised hands-on communication exercise within camp area using radio

5.  Foxhunt

• A Radio ‘Sport’
• Hidden transmitter hunting techniques
• Search for 2 foxes within the woods surrounding the camp

6.  Morse Code (CW) and Phonetic Alphabet

• Using worksheet, practice sending name
• Using worksheet, print and learn to say name using phonetic alphabet 

7.  Satellite Contact 

• There are 5 daytime opportunities throughout Saturday to make an orbiting satellite contact

Any Scouting group wishing to make contact, we will be monitoring the suggested HF frequencies and can be contacted on VE7RSC 147.360MHz+ tone 110.9Hz or  IRLP node 1736, or our Echolink node number for VE7RSC-VHF: 496228

Update:

See the follow-up article in the Langley Times:
https://www.langleytimes.com/community/video-scouts-in-langley-learn-how-to-communicate-during-emergencies/