10/24/2009 | K4G This year was the first time that the Gaston County Amateur Radio Society and Gaston County ARES had teamed up with the Two Rivers District of the Piedmont Council of the Boy Scouts of America to provide a JOTA experience for local scouts. Providentially, it was a great success! We combined our JOTA with a "Webeloree" that was going on at Karyae Park in the shadow of Crowder's Mountain in Gaston County, North Carolina. We had over 70 cub and boy scouts come and take part in the event. For most of the scouts, this was their first time to ever hear, or much less transmit, on an amateur radio station. The excitement grew quickly as word spread through the event. We had scouts lining up to get on the radio, with many gathering around the HF rig to hear some DX stations and to see us demonstrate PSK31 and CW. In all, we talked to scouts and hams in 5 states and two countries! Productively, we combined the JOTA station with the communicator pin for the Webelos and helped them to fulfill the requirements for that award. Those scouts who were not directly in front of the radio were learning about radio theory, signal propagation and trying out Morse code on a code key oscillator that we had set up. The best part was listening to the scouts exchange personal information with other boy and girl scouts (the boys were really excited to talk to the girls from Pennsylvania!) Many who were initially "microphone shy" warmed up and began to "ham" it up! In addition it was pure joy to see one of our 90 year old hams, Pop Voight, W4HQF, teaching the young boys (and one girl) about radio- the magic of the airwaves provided a nexus for the generations. Last, the entire event would not have been possible without 14 or so ham volunteers, including our ARES coordinators, George Poteat, K4GLP, and Susan Melvin, K4ZXN, who made it possible and without the "elmering" on JOTA that we received from Frank Kopenec AI4RF. Thanks also for the Cleveland County CCARS and ARES for coordinating their N4S JOTA station with ours so we could guarantee some local FM contacts. Finally, the real key to the success was the coordination and planning with our local scout District Executive, Kevin Huffman, who was excited to make this event happen. -- AJ4JZ