Jamboree on the Air and Jamboree on the Internet is this weekend, so be prepared! Here’s a few tips from participants over the past few years:
- If there are too many stations on or around the frequency, take that fancy circle knob on the radio and move the VFO away to find a clear frequency.
- Official Frequencies such as 14.290 are really just references that point you to the upper end of the SSB section in the band. Don’t rely on waiting your turn or possibly creating QRM, move up or down the band and find a clear spot to call “CQ JOTA”.
- If the band conditions sour on HF, move to VHF or Digital Radio (D-Star, Echolink, M17, WIRES-X, DMR, etc).
- While D-Star (REF033A) reflectors and Echolink (JOTA-365) ( channels are well known, some of the other digital modes aren’t quite as visible to knowing where to connect to. Search your channel list for JOTA and you may find some in there like on Brandmeister where we see Global Channels for JOTA on 907 and 9071-9078. Do you know of more, please share on social media with hashtags of #JOTAJOTI and #hamradio. We try to keep our list up to date here.
- If your scouts are having an event somewhere in town where you can setup a quick portable demonstration station, then load it up and head over!
- Although you should have already planned this months ago, sometimes it’s fun to be spontaneous and just be present!
- Most importantly, just have fun!
- Even if no scouts show up, it’s a great time to get on the radio and help other stations show the magic of amateur radio to the youth!
We did publish the JOTA-JOTI newsletter that should have hit your inboxes today. If you didn’t get a copy of it, you can check it out here.
