10/18/2009 | NS6T Troop 924 participated in the 52nd Jamboree on the Air by operating a
field station on generator power in a park near the middle of
Livermore, CA where the troop is based. Five Boy Scouts, one Cub
Scout, and one sibling had a great time communicating with scouts and
hams from the Bay Area and around the country. For 3 hours Saturday
afternoon, we operated two stations, one normally used on short range
communication (a 2m FM station) and the other normally used for longer
range communication (a 20m SSB station).

With the short range station, we were able to make 25 contacts with scouts and hams from various parts of California including one contact on the USS Hornet, an aircraft carrier. For some of these contacts we used a link through the Internet called IRLP (Internet Radio Linking Project). Using this link our radio signals were transmitted on the Internet to southern California where they were re-transmitted as radio signals. Using the longer range station, we spoke with scouts in Kansas, North Carolina, and South Carolina and scouters (adult leaders or alumni) from North Dakota, Alaska, and Texas. Our contacts with Mike (KL2RD) in North Pole, Alaska really captured the scouts' imaginations.

The scouts enjoyed meeting other scouts and discussing their favorite aspects of scouting. This was their first amateur radio experience, and most of the Boy Scouts plan to complete the Radio merit badge. One expressed an interest in obtaining his own license. The scouts operated under the guidance of control operators Bob (KF6H) and Tom (NS6T), a father/son team who are both former scouts. We are grateful to the Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club for use of their 2m repeater (W6CX-R). -- NS6T