Back in April, I got an email from Ed, K8MEJ. He wrote, “I was asked to help with STEM program activities by a ham who is the assistant director for our district’s cub scout day camp. I have a few other hams who are going to help me. Our day camp is June 18-22 and I’m going to set up in the Webelos area only, which means the boys will be 9-11 years old….I was wondering if you’d be willing to speak with me for a few minutes and perhaps exchange some ideas.”
Even though I haven’t really been involved with Scouts lately, I agreed to talk with Ed and we had a nice conversation. This afternoon, I received another email from Ed. He wrote, “I reached out to you a couple of months ago to talk about ideas for a ham radio demonstration we were asked to perform for our local scout district. We did that last week, and it was successful. My club asked me to write up an article for our newsletter. I figured I would pass it along since you helped me early on.”
I asked Ed for permission to post it here. Thanks, Ed!
Every summer, the Delaware District of the Simon Kenton Council, BSA holds a day camp for Cub Scouts at Camp Lazarus – right in our back yard. In years past, I reached out to the local council to inquire about radio scouting in general, and specifically volunteering to provide ham radio for JOTA or a camporee. I received no responses to my inquiries. So it was a bit surprising when the leaders of the 2018 day camp reached out to DELARA and asked if we would discuss and demonstrate ham radio for the day camp as part of the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) activities they had planned for the boys. Then we learned that the assistant camp director was a ham! El Jefe Joe, AA8TA, and I went to a day camp planning meeting in February to discuss the possibilities. I solicited volunteers in the March/April time frame and we began meeting weekly to plan the event for June.
The team consisted of Bob Dixon W8ERD, Joe Papworth K8MP, Kevin Rhodus K8KNR (a newly licensed ham), Ethan Lirtzman KE8GPY (assistant camp director and new ham), and myself Ed Jones K8MEJ. On our conference call each week, Ethan would update us as the day camp details solidified and we eventually settled on a single day focused on the Arrow of Light (AOL) Cub Scouts. These are fifth graders, generally ten years of age, that have finished their Webelo rank and have earned the Arrow of Light, the highest award in Cub Scouts. Most, if not all, of the AOL boys were committed to going on to the Boy Scouts.
Ethan said we would have three groups, with each group having 12-16 boys, and we’d have approximately 45 minutes to spend with each group. We decided to spend approximately ten minutes with a basic discussion of what radio in general is along with examples they could relate to (cell phones, WiFi, Bluetooth, TV, etc.), what amateur radio is, the fun activities we do, what we do to earn our licenses, how hams provide public service and provide assistance during emergencies and natural disasters, and of course, invite them to Field Day! After the ten minutes of “curriculum”, we would spend the next 30 minutes demonstrating ham radio and getting the boys on-the-air.
The evening before our demonstration, Bob, Joe, Kevin, and myself setup our stations and antennas, along with my camper, in a lower activity field of Camp Lazarus. Joe launched ropes into two tall tree to hoist up an end-fed half wave (LNR Precision EF-QUAD) that is resonant on 40/20/15/10m. This is my favorite antenna to use when I go camping. We also set up a non-resonant vertical antenna (Chameleon) mostly for demonstration purposes. It’s a simple antenna to deploy, but is not very efficient on frequencies below 14MHz. Our radios consisted of my ELAD FDM-DUO for HF phone and Joe’s Yaesu FT-100 for HF CW. Kevin brought a TYT MD-380 and DMR hotspot but we didn’t have the time to demonstrate that.
Our CW activities were for demonstration purposes only. We did not intend to make CW contacts. Since the DUO is a QRP rig, I brought my Elecraft KXPA100 amplifier. I also brought a laptop so we could use the band scope and waterfall, and demonstrate some of the features of software defined radio. After getting the EFHW antenna up, Joe and Bob left to attend the pre-Field Day monthly meeting. At the meeting, Joe announced our activity the following day and asked DELARA members to monitor 40m and the W8SMK repeater, just in case. We knew the boys would quickly get bored if we couldn’t muster up some contacts. Kevin and I stayed to finish setting up and then play on the radio.
With our “100 Watts and a Wire”, we easily worked Italy, Spain, Mexico, USA, etc. and heard Russia, Guatemala, Portugal, etc. We didn’t try too hard to break through pile-ups for some of those DX stations, but we had some fun and verified we could be heard. I then stayed the night in the camper to keep an eye on things and was up early to get ready.
I had the radios set up again by 8:30am, and Bob, Kevin, and Joe arrived between 8:30-9:00 to get setup and organize the handouts that Bob brought. At 9am we checked in to a local group that meets on or about 3.807 to say hey and let them know we’d be on the air with the scouts. At 9:45 the boys had hiked down from the upper camp and the first group began congregating around our section of the field. At 10:00am the show began.
Dr. Bob did an outstanding job with the initial ten minutes of curriculum, and even brought along a stack of QSL cards that the boys could have as a souvenir. That was very classy. As Joe K8MP would say “every club needs a Bob!” Incidentally, we discovered on the Saturday of Field Day that Bob had convinced at least one scout to attend Field Day and operate the GOTA station. After Bob’s kick-off, I then asked the boys to raise their hand if they’d like to talk to someone on the radio and I think every boy but perhaps one wanted a turn on the microphone.
I called CQ on the designated scouting frequencies but got no return calls. The boys started fidgeting, playing with wires, etc. so Joe did some morse code demonstration while I spun the dial looking for some contacts on SSB. The boys were particularly impressed at Bob’s ability to translate code for them near real-time. I eventually heard a station calling CQ on 14.295. The operator was N4WQB, Eric from Merritt Island, Florida. I answered his call and explained what we were doing and asked him if he would like to talk to a couple of scouts. It was a good thing he was ready for a rag chew, because he talked to each boy at least once for the next 30 minutes. Some boys came back for a second turn at the mic. I am always impressed at the kindness of hams and how interested they are in getting kids interested in radio. Eric was fun, patient, and engaged with the boys.
At 10:45 the next group of AOL scouts arrived and we repeated the curriculum and demonstration. Joe demonstrated morse code while I hunted for a station. This time we heard AC6AA, Joe Oliver, calling from the mountains of Arizona. He, too, spoke to every boy at least once, and some multiple times. Joe answered all their questions and told them he was first licensed in 1947. Kids being very direct at that age, one boy asked “how old are you?!” and he replied that he was 80-something years old. Their eyes got really big, figuring they might be talking to Moses or something. One boy asked him if they had scorpions there and he replied back with “no, but we had some tarantulas on the driveway”. Again, their eyes got really big. Joe from AZ was a great sport and seemed to really enjoy talking to the boys. I signed off, but said we’d be back in approximately ten minutes for the next group of boys. However, I couldn’t really sign off because station after station called me saying they had been listening, wanted to say hi to the boys, and thanked us for our efforts to show these kids amateur radio.
At 11:30 the last group of boys came by and we repeated our show once again. We called CQ on the same frequency (14.216) and this time one of the gentlemen had hung around waiting for us to get back on the air. This time it was Doug calling from the PA Emergency Operations Agency using their call of KB3NIA. Sadly, I forgot to make note of his personal call sign. Doug spoke to every boy at least once and answered all their questions. They asked him about his role with the PA EMA and he described his activities there and with MARS and his past careers in commercial broadcast radio and television. He was great and the scouts enjoyed their time with him as well.
With the last group over, it was lunch time. The scouts offered us sandwiches and chips and we had a nice lunch. The scouts had some free time and the weather was cooperative, so we stuck around for a bit. About four scouts came back and asked if they could get on the air again. This time, for reasons I can’t even remember, I got on my HT and called out on the W8SMK repeater and Dave, WB2CWJ, one of our club members, answered. He had been monitoring the frequency in case we called. The boys took turns talking to Dave and I think they liked holding a “walkie talkie” in their hand and talking to someone they didn’t know. Dave, like the other hams, was awesome with the boys and they liked talking to him.
The day camp directors have already asked if we can come back next year, possibly for the entire group of kids (first through fifth graders), and for several days. The theme for next year’s camp is “Around the World”, a great fit for hams. We have some thoughts already for how we can make next year better, including making handouts for Field Day that the kids can bring home to their parents (assuming day camp is before Field Day). Huge thanks to K8MP, W8ERD, K8KNR, KE8GPY, and all the hams who talked to the boys on-the-air. It was a hugely rewarding experience for me. If you would like to help out next year, please let me know and I will add you to the list of those interested.
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