The 60th annual JOTA (Jamboree On The Air) event took place on the weekend of the 21st and 22nd October 2017. Several JOTA stations were active in Essex, and the Essex Ham team was active over the weekend at the Belchamps Sout Activity Centre, near Hockley.
Essex Ham was proud to be asked to help to support this year’s JOTA activity at Belchamps. This was a very busy event that was even bigger than last years, with over 220 youngsters visiting over the weekend. Rather than being an event for just one or two local scout troops, this was a significantly larger-scale event, with scouting groups from all around Essex coming along.
On-site events started on Friday evening, with a campfire, ahead of the main activities on Saturday.
As well as radio events, there was a very busy JOTI (Jamboree On The Internet) table, and for the first year at Belchamps, JOTI TV, where youngsters could connect with other scout groups around the world using webcams and text chat – something that seemed to be a big hit. In addition, there were several other activities taking place, including pedal karts, cork guns, mini crossbows, an assault course, caving simulator and wall traversing.
A number of activities were set out in the main hall, some laid on by Essex Ham, and some by the event organiser, Derek M0SCE. The following radio-related activities were in use over the weekend
2m voice station
Active across both days, was a Yaesu FT-7900 which was used as the focal point for the exchange of greetings messages. Within 15 minutes, a queue had formed, and over the next two hours, there was a non-stop stream of youngsters from 1st Halstead, 10th Southend, 1st Sandon, 6th Westcliff, 2nd Hockley, Chelmer Village, 2nd Hadleigh and 1st Great Notley troops, all keen to send messages. Full credit to Gary 2E0YRG for taking 36 messages in a row on 2m, later to be helped by Dorothy M0LMR, Brian G7IIO and Huw G7BNZ. Ages ranged from 6 to 13, and we managed to get some scout leaders to have a go too. Operators for the busy 2m station were Pete M0PSX, Ian 2E0HPR, Derek M0SCE, Sarah M6PSK and Dorothy M0LMR.
HF Station
Focus of HF activity for the weekend was 40m. On the first day, Pete G0DZB made contact with eight other JOTA stations around the UK. The rig for the weekend was the icom ic-7300.
Other demos
Other demos included: ADSB Aircraft tracking, “Your Name in Morse”, some electronics kits, two amateur radio video, and two basic Morse stations connected via Ethernet cable allowed the scouts to send messages across the hall.
Summary
A great, and very busy, two days. Thanks to Derek M0SCE for asking Essex Ham to support this year’s event at Belchamps. Also to the site staff for making us feel very welcome.
Pete M0PSX
