[FARC] Scout Merit Badge Help

[david at retroscape.com]

Bob,

May I suggest that one or some of the items in the fill-in-the-blanks form
require usage of the phonetic alphabet? That would show the scouts its
value. An example that popped into my mind would be having to give this
address: 123E S Street. The "E" could, depending upon conditions and radio,
be heard as an additional 3, a B, D, E or several other letters. And the
"S" could be heard as an "F" for the same reason. 

Would you want to use some pre-populated Radio Gram sheets on which you
could highlight the specific items to be exchanged? That would give them
some familiarity with a "real" form.

73,

--David, K3PO

On Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:42:45 -0400, Bob Moroney <windbrkr at erols.com> wrote:
> David,
> 
> Thanks for offering to help!  If you and one or both of your sons can 
> pitch in, we should have it covered.
> 
> I'm not planning to cover any of the finer points of traffic handling at 
> the level used in ARES/RACES/NTS activities, so previous experience 
> and/or expertise might be helpful, but not certainly not required. 
> 
> The COMMEX activity is more meant to give the Scouts a taste of what 
> it's like to actually "communicate" (vs. chat) by two-way radio as part 
> of a directed net.   Ideally, each Scout would have an opportunity to 
> get on the air and pass and/or copy one or more brief messages. 
> 
> I'm still working  through the details of the activity in my own mind.  
> I think the main challenge will be to keep it simple and do-able in a 
> one-hour session, but still make it meaty enough that the Scouts come 
> out of the activity feeling that they've met a challenge and 
> accomplished something toward earning their Radio merit badge.
> 
> Right now, I'm leaning toward a fill-in-the-blanks format, where the 
> outlying teams will pass prepared messages, with net control having the 
> same prepared messages, but with key items left blank and needing to be 
> filled in accurately.  Then the team sending the message would also have 
> to fill in some blank items on their end, such as receipt time, serial 
> number, net control operator name, etc. 
> 
> If you (or anyone else reading this) have any other suggestions to reach 
> the simple + do-able goal, and make the activity meaningful, they'll be 
> more than welcome.  We've still got a week or so to tweak things.
> 
> Thanks again & 73,
> Bob K9CMR
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> David Kindred wrote:
>> Hey, Bob,
>>
>> I should be able to help. Andrew and Kit (KB3STE and KB3STF) should be
>> able
>> to help out as well. None of us knows how to pass traffic. Will you be
>> able
>> to tutor us ahead of time?
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> --David, K3PO
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: farc-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:farc-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
>> On
>> Behalf Of Bob Moroney
>> Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2009 5:35 PM
>> To: FARC Mail List
>> Subject: [FARC] Scout Merit Badge Help
>>
>>
>>
>> Jim N3HTA, Jack N3JP, Mark KB3SRY and I will be conducting a Boy Scout 
>> Radio Merit Badge program at the upcoming week-long Scout camp being 
>> held at Camp Airy (near Thurmont) from Tuesday, 8/18 through Saturday, 
>> 8/22.  (These dates are a week earlier than the dates I originally 
>> mentioned at last month's FARC meeting.)
>>
>> I think the four of us can handle the program for the first four days 
>> (two groups of up to 15 Scouts each, in two consecutive sessions each 
>> afternoon), but we could use more help for the final sessions on
>> Saturday.
>>
>> Instead of having the Scouts do the usual thing of getting on the air 
>> and QSOing with Hams on HF and/or the local repeaters/echolink, I plan 
>> to try a SET-like COMMEX, where teams of Scouts disperse to the corners 
>> of the camp grounds, and attempt to pass traffic back to another team 
>> Scouts acting as Net Control.  (This sort of exercise was suggested by 
>> Alan KA3DYL, and sounds like a great alternative to the "usual" 
>> get-on-the-air activities Scouts get to do.)
>>
>> I plan to give the Scouts FRS HTs to use for the COMMEX, but it would be

>> good to have a licensed Ham accompany each Scout team to monitor their 
>> activity, assist as needed, and make an alternate (2 meter) channel of 
>> communications available.
>>
>> If you can help, please let me know by email or a phone call 
>> (301-831-5060).   The estimated time commitment would be between Noon 
>> and 4 PM on Saturday, 8/22/09.  Equipment needed would be a 2M HT and 
>> whatever portable power source and antenna you normally work with.   (I 
>> can also probably scare up a couple of extra 2M/440 HTs, if needed.)
>>
>> Thanks & 73,
>> Bob K9CMR ______________________________________________________________
>>   
> 
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