JOTA 2014 - "Disaster in East Scoutopia"


by wk1h    Aug 21 2014, 08:41

boyscouts.gif CT ARES Region 2 has invited multiple amateur radio emergency communications groups from the area to work with them in providing amateur radio support for this year's "Jamboree On The Air" activities at BSA Camp Pomperaug in Union, CT. Over 300 Boy Scouts will be attending the event in CT, which simulates a hurricane scenario. Our team will be involved with supporting this event.

Events involving amateur radio will include antenna building, search and rescue using transmitter hunting techniques, and the setup, demonstration and instruction of amateur radio stations running under the K2BSA call sign. The event will require 8 amateur radio stations which will each need to be supervised and supported by licensed amatuer radio operators as each will have groups of 5 scouts cycle through them every hour.

Beyond amateur radio events, the Scouts will be learning about shelter building, first aid, damage survey and map reading, fingerprinting, potable water and other such skills required during a large scale emergency or disaster event.

Although this is a multiple day event for the Scouts, amateur radio activities will be featured on Saturday, October 18, 2014 from 7:00 AM to 5:30 PM. There will be setup periods available late day Friday as well as early Saturday before event start. The camp is located just south of the CT/MA state line off of Route 84 at 1174 Buckley Highway, Union, CT 06076.

From our point of view, it will be similar to Field Day in that multiple stations will be deployed in a short amount of time to support a simulated emergency event. However, there are some differences in that instead of the primary focus being on operations, our primary focus here would be on mentoring, support and teaching the Scouts as they operate the bands. Additionally, our normal Field Day setup has been at the Radio Room for a very long time now so this is a chance to sharpen our field deployment skills once again.

Please contact President Ben Holmes NB1H for more information or to sign up for this event. Include whether you can provide radios, emergency power or related equipment for the event or transportation to the event for others.

More information can be found on the CT ARES Region 2 website. It is also suggested that amateur radio operators review the BSA's Guidelines for Amateur Radio Operators at JOTA.






This news item is from Worcester Emergency Communications Team
https://wect.org/news/view/92/jota-2014-disaster-in-east-scoutopia