K2BSA/5 On the Air This Weekend

By
Jim Wilson
-
8
342

K2BSA/5 will be on the air this Saturday, April 12, from the National Scouting Museum for a Radio Merit Badge Workshop. They will be on from 1500 to 2130 UTC. Key times for Scout contacts will be 1800 to 1915 UTC, 2015 to 2130 UTC on 20 meter SSB near the Radio Scouting Frequency of 14.290 MHz.

8 COMMENTS

  1. Too bad no CW….used to have to learn the code for SECOND CLASS…..guess things have changed.

    Local council doing RADIO MERITBADGE this summer here at CAMP GIGER near St.Joseph, MO. Icom has loaned the gear.

    Antenna “scouting party” next weekend.

    WD0BC

    EAGLE …..Simon Rosinski class of 1965 Ponexpress Council

  2. To: W Coverdell a.k.a WD0DC
    You are correct that CW is no longer required for 2nd class, or any other rank for that matter. However, Scouting has so many things to promote HAM. The Radio Merit Badge, the “Amateur Radio Operator” strip one can wear if they earn their license, the MORSE Code Interpreter Strip if they can interpret a 5 wpm, Jamboree on the Air in October, and a lot more is going on to promote this. My son took the Radio MB course 2 years ago this weekend at the National Scouting Museum and was hooked. After we walked out of the 6 hour long course (at which he kept the guys another 30 minutes asking questions) he exclaimed, “That was my favorite merit badge ever!” He and I are both Techs now working on our General License. He’s now getting others into Radio. In short, Radio is alive and well in Scouting. (KF5UOG and KF5UOH)

    • The MB group I work in teaches Electronics and Radio together. Scouts build a CW Keyer from components for the Electronics projects. I don’t understand why but kids love it. The whole thing focuses on fun; sometimes it is fun to talk on the radio and not work on a MB.
      Horace N7DRW

      • Great idea! The Irving Amateur Radio Club teaches both merit badge classes, but separately. My bachelors degree is in Electronics from DeVry. I’ve thought about about teaching these courses on a smaller scale in our troop. But, hadn’t really considered teaching them together. Letting the boys have fun . . . a great way to foster learning isn’t it. 🙂 My son is going to introduce the troop to “fox hunting” pretty soon. So, that may generate some interest.

        73 – – Dave in Texas (KF5UOG)

  3. I have to say that since the troop took the Radio Merit Badge more and more of the Scouts (and adults) are interested in getting certified. After the class held by N1MN in Powder Springs, GA – Three are now certified. Two technicians (myself and our SPL) and another adult is a General class. Myself and the SPL are looking to be at least a General Class by summercamp (June – week 2) as we will be attending Camp Ho Non Wah. They offer the Radio Merit Badge and AI4SS has offered to let us use his gig at the camp. We have a 1×1 for summercamp week, K4B, and plan to use it. The troop printed up QSL cards that we hope to send out to everyone we talk to. If by some off chance I can RE-learn morse code by then, I may even attempt a little CW. We’ll see about that though…..

    So, in the evenings after dinner during the week we will be hovering near the frequencies of:
    10meter  28.345MHz
    20meter  14.300Mhz

    We’ll talk to you then!!

    73’s
    KK4VQP

    • I’ll see what we can do to be available. My son (KF5UOH) and I (KF5UOG) made ourselves available for the Jamboree last year and had a great time being the “contacts” for Scouts working on the MB. We’re trying to spread the HAM “bug” here in north central Texas. 🙂

      73 – Dave KF5UOG

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