JOTA this weekend

[kb2crk]

the boy scouts jamboree on the air is this weekend.

[KG4CGC]

Oh cool! Is that the once every 4 years Jamboree? Never been to one but never missed the regional yearly Camporee when I was a kid in scouts. I happened on the shack, a tent, where an OF had a couple of old BA's and his HT, a brick.
I had already been an avid BCBDXer at the time and I thought he was BS'ing me with talk of double and triple superhetrodyne until he was able to associate the correct cities with the station call letters I was throwing at him. Then we started talking propagation.

[KJ3N]

the boy scouts jamboree on the air is this weekend.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSwjuz_-yao&feature=related

:snicker:

[NQ6U]

Wow, someone else besides me who doesn't hold the BSA in high esteem. That's a relief. Sometimes it seems that everybody ranks that organization right below the Second Coming in holiness but my personal experience with the the Boy Scouts leads me to believe that they actually came from the other direction.

[W3MIV]

Get hold of yourself, Carlo, before one of those scoutmasters does.


Oh, wait. You're too old. Sorry, OM.






(Back to the raddio, the Balkans have been hot.)

[NQ6U]

Get hold of yourself, Carlo, before one of those scoutmasters does.



Oh, wait. You're too old. Sorry, OM.

Too old and too ugly. Never thought there would be an advantage to that.



(Back to the raddio, the Balkans have been hot.)

What bands are you working? I've been monitoring 20m but it's been very quiet here on the Left Coast.

[KJ3N]

Wow, someone else besides me who doesn't hold the BSA in high esteem. That's a relief. Sometimes it seems that everybody ranks that organization right below the Second Coming in holiness but my personal experience with the the Boy Scouts leads me to believe that they actually came from the other direction.

I have a hard time deciding if the BSA is the indoctrination wing of the Church, or the Republicans. Maybe both?

[NQ6U]

I have a hard time deciding if the BSA is the indoctrination wing of the Church, or the Republicans. Maybe both?

Yes, both as far as I can tell. Therein lies the root of my problem with them, which started early on. I left after less than a year because I just couldn't take the heat anymore. A friend with far more gumption than I stuck it out all the way until he made Eagle Scout, then told our crypto-fascist Scoutmaster, literally, "Fuck off, Lyle." I really admired him for that. But I've been suspicious of the BSA and their motives ever since.

[W3MIV]

What bands are you working? I've been monitoring 20m but it's been very quiet here on the Left Coast.

I have been working both 17m and 20m. I am about to try the BS gimmick that sends your call out ahead of the trace. It you scout out 20m let me know if you see me.

[W3MIV]

I just checked PSK Reporter and the gray line is mid-ocean and nearing the East Coast. I have worked as far west as TX -- though I saw Virgil in Williston ND working strongly in my waterfall, so the West will be opening soon.

[N2CHX]

I have been working both 17m and 20m. I am about to try the BS gimmick that sends your call out ahead of the trace. It you scout out 20m let me know if you see me.

BS gimmick? It's a form of hellschreiber, is it not? I think it's pretty cool.

[W3MIV]

BS gimmick? It's a form of hellschreiber, is it not? I think it's pretty cool.

Yup, a form of hell. Trouble is, something about it reminds of me of "roger beeps" and that sort of thing. I think it is a very useful tool, especially when you are seeking to link up, but I need some little time to adjust myself to it.

[N2CHX]

Yup, a form of hell. Trouble is, something about it reminds of me of "roger beeps" and that sort of thing. I think it is a very useful tool, especially when you are seeking to link up, but I need some little time to adjust myself to it.

I kinda like it because you can clearly see the person's callsign. I'm actually thinking about using it for my part 15 beacon on 13.5605.

[W3MIV]

I tried it out a few times tonight calling CQ on 20m. Seemed to be larger than I imagined, but then I could not see what was actually being received on other waterfalls, only the characters on my own as they went out. As I mentioned above, it IS a good idea; it will just take me some time to adjust to the idea that it really isn't a gimmick.

[ki4itv]

I would only use it (maybe) if I was trying to meet up with a specific person on a sked as mentioned earlier. Otherwise, it's useless and occupies more bandwidth than necessary, brief as it may be. Not to mention how irritating our waterfalls would look if every Tom, Dick, and Hammy used it all the time. That would be a disaster, especially for dx hunters looking for weak signals.

I do like HELL QSO's though, and used it often. MFSK16 too. In their proper place, of course.

[KC2UGV]

I would only use it (maybe) if I was trying to meet up with a specific person on a sked as mentioned earlier. Otherwise, it's useless and occupies more bandwidth than necessary, brief as it may be. Not to mention how irritating our waterfalls would look if every Tom, Dick, and Hammy used it all the time. That would be a disaster, especially for dx hunters looking for weak signals.

I do like HELL QSO's though, and used it often. MFSK16 too. In their proper place, of course.

It occupies the same bandwidth as the PSK trace...

[ki4itv]

It occupies the same bandwidth as the PSK trace...

Doubt it. But I'll have to go back and look.

[KC2UGV]

All of the one's I've seen do. The just write in the waterfall. Might be a hair over the the width, but it's not like firing up Feld Hell in a PSK watering hole...

[W3MIV]

Think I agree with Trey. It has its use, but I don't plan on making it a permanent feature of my transmissions.

Of course, you never know, I just might add a roger-beep that plays Dixie...

[W3MIV]

The bandwidth is about 80Hz wide for the introductory Hell logo on PSK31.

[KG4CGC]

The BSA became what you see today, not because of the BSA ... but because of the PARENTS!
These days you have watered down activities. Marksmanship? All done with BB guns. BB GUNS!
That and the Soccer Mom attitude seen in some troops after the 80's when some parents fought to make the BSA into a paramilitary mercenary unit and would do anything to put in THEIR people to lead a troop, including trumping up false molestation charges. Saw exactly THAT, happen.

Don't want any mention of a "GOD" in your scouting activities? That's the parents fault again. BSA used to only recognize a non denominational "Creator" called, God. Now it has become a Christian Protestant "God." Again, the parents fault. I was there, I saw it.

Don't like the troop for whatever reason? There are other troops available to join in your area, or, god forbid, start your own troop if you're that much of a control freak!

Seriously folks, the BSA was fucked up due to the politics of the parents. Remember Bakersfield California next time you want to play the child molester, religious lunatic card.

[W3MIV]

I remember my scouting days in the fifties with fondness. I first joined in 1953, and I stayed with the same troop as a young adult leader until I got a call from my Uncle to don another uniform in the mid-sixties. As our esteemed and beloved BT points out, it was a very different organization then. Many of the ordinary activities in which we participated then would be far too "hazardous" for today's litigation minded fools.

I can still file and hone a double-bit axe so that you can shave with it, yet it will not have a wire-edge and work durably and reliably, quickly cutting into hardwood. I only wish I were still the man who could swing it. ;)

[KG4CGC]

I remember my scouting days in the fifties with fondness. I first joined in 1953, and I stayed with the same troop as a young adult leader until I got a call from my Uncle to don another uniform in the mid-sixties. As our esteemed and beloved BT points out, it was a very different organization then. Many of the ordinary activities in which we participated then would be far too "hazardous" for today's litigation minded fools.

I can still file and hone a double-bit axe so that you can shave with it, yet it will not have a wire-edge and work durably and reliably, quickly cutting into hardwood. I only wish I were still the man who could swing it. ;)
I honed that same axe with rocks selected from the river. I would still be involved with the BSA today were it not for what I saw parents do to the program. Parents do ultimately have the power in the BSA and they abused it. Think it's too hard for your child? There are a plethora of other organizations and activities for your children to participate in.

Sorry folks if I rant hard on this. I saw a group of 3 pairs of parents kill a troop in 18 months. A troop that had traditions dating back to the 40's. The God and Country aspect you see today with the anti-gay slant was not what is prevalent today. Today, many troops resemble the Republican Teabaggers Union. Interesting to note though, that the troops in predominantly black neighborhoods didn't focus on all the political crap that their white brethren troops do. Yes, sad to say that even today, troops are still segregated by community.

[W3MIV]

I honed that same axe with rocks selected from the river.

That is exactly how I learned to do it. Once you found that "keeper" from the river bed, it became a permanent part of your kit. I still have mine and I use it on a pocket knife in preference to an expensive bit of Arkansas!


The God and Country aspect you see today with the anti-gay slant was not what is prevalent today.

We had a couple of gay boys in the troop when I was a scout. We all knew who they were and we never had any problems about it. It really was a kind of "don't-ask-don't-tell" situation, and it really never rose to the status of an issue for any of us. I think mostly because we were too young to really figure it all out at the start, and after we all became friends, those kinds of things didn't intervene. Nobody pushed for or against being gay; it was almost as though it was just another part of the wallpaper.

I sometimes think that if both sides of the issue today would back off a bit and each let the other have a bit more space, things might drift a little closer to that kind of "comfort" we kids had with each other. We picked on other kids -- fatties, crossed eyes, and all kinds of physical traits, but not for anything sexual.

[ki4itv]

Of course, you never know, I just might add a roger-beep that plays Dixie...

I'd love to see that attached to your call just once. :lol:


The bandwidth is about 80Hz wide for the introductory Hell logo on PSK31.

That sounds right, almost three times the typical bandwidth of a properly executed Psk31 signal. PskHELL actually has three bandwidths, the largest exceeding 200Hz if I remember correctly.

[ki4itv]

I didn't do the boy scouts. Tried the Cub Scouts, but, wound up doing a different version as an Indian Guide.
It was more father/son oriented and required the participation of both.
It was part of the YMCA, and I enjoyed it even though it wasn't as well thought out as scouting.
My parents were divorced and having something to do with dad, instead of some other scouts mother, was refreshing.

[W3MIV]

Only came across a few JOTA ops on digital modes. The most active was a zero call --- AC0RA or something close -- and he/she was on twenty. My phone wanderings on forty and seventy-five found only a few of the usual net-chats and lots of NY QSO Party ops. Didn't hear a single JOTA phone QSO.

[W7XF]

When it comes to JOTA weekend, I do lookup the calls BEFORE I reply... if a Scout is using his/her OWN callsign, I'll give them the contact. If it's a BSA club call, I calmly tell them that I do NOT support organisations that willfully violate numerous state/county/municipal anti-discrimination laws. BSA is NOT above the law.

[KJ3N]

BSA is NOT above the law.

Neither is the Catholic Church, IMNSHO, but I've yet to see a priest jailed.

[KG4CGC]

When it comes to JOTA weekend, I do lookup the calls BEFORE I reply... if a Scout is using his/her OWN callsign, I'll give them the contact. If it's a BSA club call, I calmly tell them that I do NOT support organisations that willfully violate numerous state/county/municipal anti-discrimination laws. BSA is NOT above the law.
Oh Jeez, don't the kids get enough grief from their parents and the rest of that bunch?

[kb2crk]

the scouts were different when i was one but that was a long time ago. i figured that i would start this thread to try and get some young people interested in ham radio.
i learned alot about different things when i was a scout. i learned how to shoot a rifle or shotgun safely. i learned archery. i learned what kind of weed was best for smoking. i learned what kind of liquid libations were easiest to sneak into a campground.