10/20/2008 | K4S By Mac McCormick/KF4LMT....

Saturday morning broke with rainy skies and muddy ground out at the Oglethorpe Speedway in Pooler, GA. Despite the conditions, we were still determined to get on the air with the Boy Scouts. We hung sides on the tent shelters to keep the equipment dry, fought the mud, and started making contacts. Band conditions were good on Saturday morning and there was plenty of activity.

We had four stations set up this year. Philip, KA4KOE had his "Green" military HF radio set up for HF contacts. Ralph, W4REQ had his FT-857 set up for HF and 6 meters. Dan, KF4MND brought his Echolink equipment out and set up an Echolink node. The fourth station was my FT-897 for HF and 6 meters. I brought a G5RV Jr. (40-meters through 10-meters) to use with my station and I couldn't have been more happy with how it performed. I used it on 40, 20, and 17 meters with excellent signal reports when we weren't fighting QSB. In addition to working the radios with the Scouts, Philip also gave some soldering demonstrations and lessons.

It was great fun working with the Scouts. We were able to qualify several Scouts for their radio badges and started others on the road toward theirs. Several Scouts were really enthusiastic about amateur radio and seemed to be prospective hams. I enjoyed working with the Scouts just as much as I did working with the radios.

I would like the thank a couple of stations in particular for helping the Scouts get contacts: KE4AMC and W4C. KE4AMC, Darryl worked five of the Scouts on Saturday morning. W4C, the USCG Auxiliary 69th Anniversary Special Event Station in Merritt, NC took time out of working contacts with the special event station to work three of the Scouts.

Added by Philip Neidlinger KA4KOE

As chief organizer of this event, I would like to thank the dozen or so volunteers who donated their time, sweat, and support for this event. And a special thanks goes out to Doug Rowland who cooked GREAT chili and stewed apples for us under the tent in the rain! Members from both local clubs attended and helped out. This is the fourth year our group has participated in JOTA, and each year it just keeps getting better and better. I estimate between 60-75 boys visited the JOTA site at the Coastal Empire Council Camporee, out of the total of 300 boys who were at the event.

We also heard the International Space Station pass over. We were not successful in making contact. We did, however, have a good chat with station HB9S in Geneva, which is the world scouting headquarters station.

Thanks to all!

Philip Neidlinger -- KA4KOE