[FARC] JOTA Volunteers?

[David Kindred]

Bob,

WONDERFUL, THANK YOU!

Yes, I think a 10 - 2 or 11 to 3 range would work out great. I'll need to
check around to see if there are soccer games at the same time, as I know
we'll be competing with sports. If that's the case, maybe we'll change the
time range.

I'm not certain what the wow aspects are for the kids, either. I've been
reading past QST youth articles (http://www.arrl.org/news/youth/) to try
to get an idea. I know my kids all think PSK is really cool and, at least
for them, approachable, since they're mic shy. I'd really like to do a
foxhunt with them, because I think that would have high impact. Does
anyone have equipment that could be loaned for that?

I'm going to take your advice and speak to some folks who have put on JOTA
events, so we'll know what the bigger attractions are. My guess is that
speaking of emergency operations, such as search and rescue, might have
some appeal to scouts. I'm thinking another selling point is that anyone
can get on the Internet, but you have to actually accomplish something to
be a ham. Pride in having worked hard? I'll find out what the other
selling points are. We'd probably want to de-emphasize the very technical
aspects of ham radio for this age group, so it doesn't look
unapproachable.

I'd be grateful for any other folks who'd like to help us share this great
hobby. Even if you could only stay for an hour, and help us pump it up,
that would be fantastic. I want the JOTA part of the day to eclipse the
JOTI part. Hihi.

73,

--David, KB3NAI

On Wed, September 17, 2008 6:46 pm, Bob Moroney wrote:
> OK David, so it sounds like say, 10 AM to 2 PM or 11 AM to 3 PM, on
> Saturday, 10/18.  As of right now, I think I can help with that, with an
> SSB rig, power source and portable antenna.
>
> Personally, I'm not sure that stuff like PSK and other digital modes
> have very much WOW! factor to compete with the internet, at least for
> the age group we're talking about.  While the modes themselves are very
> cool from a technical point of view, the more nuanced concepts behind
> them like "very low radiated power", "noise immunity", "very low
> bandwidth", "error correction" and even "Look Ma, no wires!" seem to get
> lost in the noise for the average kid, from what I've seen.  It's still
> just typing stuff on a keyboard and reading stuff off a screen, which
> they probably all do every day.  Not to say that digital modes shouldn't
> be demo'd, but for some reason, actually talking to someone who is
> somewhere else via SSB or on a repeater seems to be more magical.
>
> Now APRS could be very interesting to the Scouts, I'd think, being able
> to see the location of the person you're talking with, and, presumably,
> that person seeing your location.
>
> Anyway, all that pontificating aside, pencil me in for an SSB station.
>
> Also, you may want to check around to see what other local Scout groups
> are doing.  I've not helped with JOTA before (and must say I'd never
> heard of JOTI until today), but it seems like every year for as long as
> I've had a Ham ticket, someone in this area has set up a JOTA station
> somewhere in the area between Point of Rocks/Brunswick and Thurmont.
>
> 73, Bob K9CMR
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> David Kindred wrote:
>> Bob,
>>
>> I want to do something very modest. The JOTA is officially scheduled for
>> the third weekend in October (18th and 19th). It apparently starts 12 AM
>> Saturday and extends 'til 11:59 PM Sunday.
>>
>> I haven't nailed this down yet, but was thinking we could do it for 4
>> hours on the Saturday. That would give a fairly wide window for the kids
>> to come, and not exhaust volunteers too much (I hope). I'd, of course,
>> make sure we had snack items around. I'm always motivated by the
>> presence
>> of food, at least. :-D
>>
>> I just really want the kids to see that there are communications methods
>> available outside of the Internet, that there's a community of GREAT
>> people involved in it, that there are service opportunities available
>> within the hobby, and, most importantly, that ham radio is FUN!
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> --David, KB3NAI
>>
>> On Wed, September 17, 2008 10:53 am, Bob Moroney wrote:
>>
>>> David,
>>>
>>> What date(s) and time(s) do you have in mind?
>>>
>>> 73, Bob K9CMR
>>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>> David Kindred wrote:
>>>
>>>> Howdy, all.
>>>>
>>>> My son has volunteered us to organize his boy Scout troop's Jamoboree
>>>> on
>>>> the Internet (JOTI) this year. It appears to be an Internet equivalent
>>>> to
>>>> the Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) that has been around for 80 years. I'm
>>>> just
>>>> coming up to speed on these two jamborees, never having attended an
>>>> example of either in the past. I was hoping to combine the JOTA and
>>>> JOTI
>>>> in one session, since they occur on the same day. So, this is a one
>>>> day,
>>>> multi-hour event.
>>>>
>>>> The purpose of JOTI is to introduce scouts (boy and girl) to various
>>>> forms
>>>> of Internet communication, including e-Mail, Internet messaging,
>>>> Internet
>>>> Relay Chat, videoconferencing, and the like. JOTA is similar in hoping
>>>> to
>>>> introduce children to all forms of ham radio (SSB, CW, digital modes,
>>>> APRS, fox hunts, etc.). JOTI information can be found at www.joti.org.
>>>>
>>>> So, I definitely will have to do something for JOTI, but wondered if
>>>> anyone here might be willing to volunteer time and/or equipment to
>>>> have
>>>> simultaneous JOTA activities? I thought the kids would like to see
>>>> APRS
>>>> in
>>>> action, use PSK31 and see it as IM equivalent, try their hand at SSB
>>>> or
>>>> CW
>>>> communication and thought they really might get a kick out of a fox
>>>> hunt.
>>>> I think there's potential for showing a number of kids how much fun
>>>> ham
>>>> radio can be.
>>>>
>>>> My intention is to invite Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. I'd
>>>> hope
>>>> that FARC folks would send folks over, as well. I don't know what kind
>>>> of
>>>> turnout we'd get, but I thought anything we could do to introduce ham
>>>> radio to younger folks could be beneficial.
>>>>
>>>> Would anyone have an interest in helping with JOTA activities? I'm
>>>> going
>>>> to hold the event at our house, because we already have a number of
>>>> computers we can use for the JOTI functions.
>>>>
>>>> I don't yet have details, because this was just kind of sprung on me.
>>>> Being a dad can have its unexpected events!
>>>>
>>>> 73 to all,
>>>>
>>>> --David, KB3NAI
>>>>
>
>