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| Greetings:
As you are all interested in emergency communications, I figured I would send you some information on our participation with Jamboree on the Air for October 15, 2005 as VA3YO. This is our second year going out with the 1st Manotick Scout troop to a scout camp just South of Ottawa. This year was very busy as there were several troops at the site. We had several cub groups and scouts from the Ottawa region attending. |
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Most were sleeping overnight, and some were just out for the day. I have done this event as a personal emergency test/field day exercise over the years. We set up on Saturday morning, and I had some help from my family (Louise VE3LOI & 3 kids) and a few scouts and cubs.
I had a propane heater in the tent as well. The tent is fire retardent treated and is designed for having a wood stove heater inside the tent. |
Shelter/Tent: The tent is a canvas trapper tent from the NWT. It is 12 x 10 feet with 4 foot walls and about 8 feet at the peak. There is no floor in the tent, but I use a painters drop canvas as a floor. I have a frame I made from EMT tubing and connectors to hold up the tent. It is staked to the ground. The operating (2) tables are folding aluminum tables and folding chairs. We had about 7 chairs in the tent. |
| Power:
Honda EU1000i inverter generator, 100 ft 15A contractor grade extension cord into a power strip. Into the power strip are AC volt meter (analog), light 60 watt, DC power supply Alinco DM-330MV. HF Radio:
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Tuner: AEA Model QT-1 300 watt Tuner into 100 FT RG-8U |
VHF Mast: Surplus fiberglass support sections. 4 x 4 feet. Guyed at 12 foot level with 4 guy lines and military tent stakes. One person lift, 1 scout & 1 cub to set the guy lines. All guy lines and coax lines were flagged with Orange survey tape. |
HF Antenna: G5RV full size, 450 ohm ladder line VHF Antenna: 5 element Yagi beam HF Mast:
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| Contacts:
Contacts were made on both HF and VHF (IRLP). Propagation was very good with signals heard on 17, 20, 40 and 80 meters. This was the best I have heard on the bands for a while. Contacts were usually very long to permit the cubs/scouts to have turns on the radio. Contacts were made into Bulgaria, Poland, Denmark, England, Scotland, Netherlands and many contacts in Ontario and Alberta. Most contacts were on either 17 metres or 40 meters. |
In total we had about 40 cubs/scouts into the operating position, with all kids being able to make a contact. |
I wish to thank Jim (VA3KU) and Wes (VE3ADU) for their extreme patience and interest in talking to the scouts/cubs. It was nice to have access to the TPN frequency 7.055 MHz. This provided excellent radio conditions as far as audio quality and signal strength. It was amazing to see the smiles on the kids as they made their first contact. I know every adult in the tent was also grinning from ear to ear to listen to the kids. It shows the magic of ham radio is still alive.
I was also amazed with the stations that we contacted who have been in the scouting movement in their youth. They took the time to slow down to talk to the kids, tell some of their own experiences in scouts and promote amateur radio. |
We were also able to use IRLP to make some contacts into the local Ottawa repeater system. This was set up as a back-up system in case the HF band was not cooperating. Contacts were made into England, Scotland and the Netherlands. In all 3 countries we spoke to stations who were also set up for JOTA. I have not used IRLP very often, but I was glad I had the capability to use this in the field. |
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By 5:30 we had everyone through the radio tent, and then took the station apart. We wanted to start before it got dark, as last year we were taking things down in the dark, which was more work. It took about 1 hour to dismantle the station, and then we joined the scouts for some hot supper. I forgot to mention, that the station was set up in the morning rain, and we had drizzle during part of the day. |
At one point we had some thunder and high winds, so we disconnected the antennas and just talked to the scouts about radio and emergency communications. Once the storm past, it cleared up and it was a wonderful fall afternoon. |
Stuart Fedak
VE3SMF/VA3YO/VE8SMF
Ottawa, ON
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