Radio Scouting

K2BSA/6 at Moorpark California Camporee

April 25, 2017

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Benjamin Kuo, KK6FUT has provided this report on his recent K2BSA/6 activation. It was an incredible event as well as a superb example you can emulate at your camporee.

Ham Radio at the Boy Scout Camporee – April 21-22, 2017 – Moorpark, California

The Event:

~600 participants from the Conejo Valley
~450 scouts, 150 adults participating in event, 52 patrols from 12 different troops
~55 contacts on 40m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m, 2m, and 70cm + IRLP
Modes: SSB, CW, PSK31

Summary:

This year’s event went very, very well again, with another combination of challenging Boy Scouts to learn a little bit about Morse Code, and a number of contacts across many different bands, including a special contact with JS6TQS in Okinawa, Japan (on IRLP after the bands did not work out for us on a scheduled contact). Again, the Morse Code contest attracted a lot of scouts, but surprisingly, we had a lot more scouts who wanted to get on the air, and even a couple of intrepid scouts who sat through an attempt on JT65 and were interested in the computer aspects of the hobby! The prize (provided by Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club) was very well received and *many* scouts stopped by specifically to learn about winning those radios. Setting up in the wind (again) was a good practice for operating under adverse conditions, and the station was far more robust in terms of dealing with weather this year. Crank up military mast and Hexbeam also made for some great contacts on Friday evening. Although contacts were light on Saturday due to the CME, we still had opportunity to speak to contacts across 18 states and 3 countries.