[FARC] Scout Merit Badge Help

[Bob Moroney]

That's pretty funny, Kirk. 

You may be thinking of the Radio merit badge program we did last year, 
where we got the Scouts on the air from the Independent Hose station.  
They were doing great using the NATO phonetics until a Ham came booming 
in on 10m using the typical hodgepodge of stuff like "Kilowatt Three 
America Radio Norway" (just for example, whatever the call actually was). 

You should have seen the look on the Scout's face as he tried to make 
sense of that and copy the call down into his log.  And then when the 
Ham came back to end the QSO, he threw in a couple new and different 
"phonetics" into his call, just for good measure. 

You can preach to the Scouts to use *only* standard phonetics, but the 
lesson gets lost when they confront the "real world" of Ham Radio...

73, Bob K9CMR
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kirk Talbott wrote:
> As long as the strict International Phonetic Alphabet is adhered to.  One
> scouting event had local hams giving call signs like the following; "This is 
> Kilo Three Easy Radio Mabel,"
> or some other such made up nonsense.
>
> 73
> KB3ONM
> Kirk
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: <david at retroscape.com>
> Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2009 11:59 AM
> To: "Frederick, Maryland ARC" <farc at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: Re: [FARC] Scout Merit Badge Help
>
>   
>> 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 ______________________________________________________________
>>>>