No JOTA joy
Yesterday, I prepared to entertain some Boy Scouts for the 2015 Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) at WA2HOM, our club station at the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum. The museum folks had notified the local Scout groups, and they thought they were going to get a big turnout.
Instead, no one showed up. I was there from 10:00 am until 1:30 pm, and not a single Scout showed up.
The problem, of course, is that it was football Saturday here in Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan. Not only that, U-M’s opponent yesterday was Michigan State, so the town was especially packed, and getting in and out of town was difficult indeed. Undoubtedly, that deterred many from coming.
It’s too bad that it didn’t work out. Band conditions were decent for a change, and I heard many JOTA stations on the air this year. It could have been a fun experience for the Scouts.
Twin YLs
Friday night, I had an interesting contact with Barb, K1EIR. First of all, Barb is a YL. You don’t run into too many YL CW ops. Second, she said that she read my blog often. I always like to chat with blog readers. Third, she has a twin sister, Betsey, who is also an amateur radio operator, callsign K1EIC. Fourth, Betsey is the CT SM.
I asked her if sister was also a CW op, but unfortunately, she is not, at least not an active CW op. Oh well, you can’t have everything.
Paul Griffith, KE5WMA says
Unable to take off from work, I wasn’t able to work JOTA this year. JOTA 2012 and 2013 our local club setup and only had 1-2 Scouts show up. I’m thinking about taking the advise of K2BSA.net. Go to where the Scouts are–at the Boy Scout camp. October is a popular month for camping and festivals at this end of the Mississippi River.
Dan KB6NU says
That’s probably the best way to go, but the Hands-On Museum was trying to get Scouts to come to the museum. We have had successful JOTAs at the museum in years past, but I don’t think they were on football Saturdays.
Barbara Lombardi says
Thank you for the very fb comments on our CW contact re: Twin YL’s. It was a pleasure working you, Dan. Hang around 7.040 or so.. 73 to all. de k1eir