September/October 2000 NCJ

Memories of My First JOTALarry Wolfgang, WR1Bwr1b@arrl.orgJamboree on the Air! It still makes myspine tingle with excitement. Talking withother Scouts from across the US andaround the world. Operating a stationwith Scout friends and enjoying the camaraderieof a “campout.” So many imagescome to mind from my first JOTA,making this one of my favorite operatingactivities today.In 1968, I was 16 and a Novice(WN3JQM) for less than a year. Twoother Scouts from Troop 180 in Gordon,Pennsylvania were also new Novices—Garry, WN3JQL, and Terry, WN3JQK.Assistant Scoutmaster Jack, W3AMD,had turned us on to ham radio a fewyears earlier. He had passed away beforewe earned those licenses, so inmany ways, we were on our own.The excitement ran high as we madeour plans that year. We set up an oldcanvas wall tent salvaged from summercamp to use as an operating shelter.There are no floors in those Scout tents,so the feed line from my 80-40-meterdipole snaked in under the side wall,along with an extension cord from thehouse for ac power. We used my Knight-Kit T-60 transmitter (crystal controlled,of course) and Terry’s Hammarlund receiver.My parents’ large canvas “cabin”tent would serve as the sleeping quartersa few yards away. With the help ofthree other interested Scouts, we wouldoperate as teams throughout the night,with each team taking a two-hour shifton the radio and a four-hour rest period.The evening hours flew by with lots ofCQ JOTA calls and a few contacts made.By 11 PM or so the others were ready tosleep. I took the first shift, with Terry andthen Garry to follow. After my shift Inoticed that some clouds had rolled in,and there were no stars visible. Terrytook over, and I quickly fell asleep. Acouple of hours later Garry was shakingme awake. We needed to evaluate oursituation. It had been raining heavily,and the ground was getting pretty wet.As we sloshed into the operating tent Irealized we had a problem. Terry wassitting at the metal folding table, on themetal folding chair, with his feet immersedin a growing puddle of water andhis hand on the key! We quickly pulledthe plug and everyone went to sleep forthe rest of the night. We were disappointed,but a potential disaster hadbeen avoided.I don’t remember how many contactswe made or how far we reached. I doremember that we had a sense of excitementand anticipation followed bysome disappointment. There was still agreat sense of accomplishment, though.I’ve operated JOTA stations many timessince then, and really enjoy sharing myhobby with Cubs, Scouts and Leaders atevery opportunity.If you would like to make JOTA memorieslike this one, visit our Web site athttp://www.arrl.org/ead/#scout orsend e-mail to scout@arrl.org for currentJOTA information.(These words may not scream out“CONTEST!” but I bet they stir memoriesfrom deep within many a contesterreading them. Maybe the JOTA is onemore way to introduce the art of contestingto new prospects…—’BV) ■ARRL Phone Sweepstakesand the KidsMichael D. Ihry, N5KBIHRYMD@gvl.esys.comMy good friend,Tom Francis,KM5RX, had thepleasure of introducinghis twograndchildren,Daniel and Joel,to Amateur Radioawhile back. Daniel,14, soon earned hisTechnician license Daniel—KD5ETC. Joel,10, has also shownsome interest andis studying for histests.My last coupleof ARRL PhoneSweepstakes effortsweren’t veryimpressive. Ifound myself lookingfor some motivationto partici-Joelpate. It occurred to me that it would befun to have Daniel and Joel over andgive them a taste of HF contesting.The boys jumped at the chance to geton the air! Arrangements were madewith their parents—it was agreed thatthey would come over on the Sundayafternoon of Sweepstakes weekend.I operated the first part of the contestby myself. By the time the boys arrived,I had already completed my first ever“Clean Sweep” and was ready for somerelief.Daniel went first since he was theoldest—a non-debatable rule of life foryoungsters—and because he alreadyhad a bit of on-the-air experience operating2-meter FM.He was a natural! He occasionallystumbled on the long exchange—butoverall he did very well. He operated forabout an hour while Joel watched andlearned the exchange.Then it was Joel’s turn. He did exceptionallywell—especially considering thefact that he had never talked into amicrophone before. He occasionally hadsome trouble with the call signs, though.Joel is only 10 years old and lacked theconfidence that his older brother had,but it wasn’t long before he developed arhythm of his own.I kept a close ear on the action, did allthe logging and stayed within “ControlOp” range of the radio. They both knewthat if they missed part of the call thatthey could rely on the computer screenfor fills. They stayed for about six hours.Their parents picked them up just afterthe contest was over.We finished with 431 QSOs and aClean Sweep in the Low Power category—anew station record. The contestoperating and the time we spenttogether was genuinely fun for all of us.The boys learned about HF, contesting,antennas and operating, and I feel like Ihave done my part to brew up a coupleof new contesters who just might grow todominate the bands in the years to come!(An update: Daniel now has his Tech-Plus license and is hooked on AmateurRadio. Joel’s interest continues to grow,but he’s not quite ready to test.) ■11