JOTA Scouts visit W5RRR

Jamboree On the Air (JOTA) 2023

On October 21, Kelvin K5KGH hosted scouts visiting the W5RRR shack in support of the annual Jamboree On The Air (JOTA).  The JOTA event is the largest Scouting event in the world and is held every 3rd full weekend of October.  The objective is to get scouts on the ham radio and for them to informally chat with other participating scouts and hams.

Three visiting scouts aged 9-10 years old age came to visit us from a long car ride from the north Houston area.  Kelvin, having done countless young student outreach presentations, updated a few of his slides to produce an introduction to Amateur Radio.

Thanks to the terrific large screen TV mounted at the front of the shack, Kelvin spent 20 minutes with his presentation to anxious and curious scouts and their accompanying scout master and parent/grandparent.

Getting on-the-air was the highlight of the experience.  Kelvin located a few JOTA scouting stations and had our visiting scouts speak with their counterparts in various parts of the country.  We even spoke at length with a scout who was 65 years old!

A few take aways:

–  Need to keep audio gain control DOWN, since kids like to over modulate the mic

–  Need to have various other activities to keep the kids occupied while waiting their turn on the radio

–  Need to have flyers and brochures for take hom

–  Would be nice to also have souvenirs (beside a QSL card) for them to take home

Hats off to Kelvin and all the JOTA hams for their commitment to outreach and inspiration of our youth through Amateur Radio.