JOTA at the weekend

The largest scouting event, the Jamboree On The Air held annually in more than 150 countries, with the 59th JOTA on October 14-16. It uses Amateur Radio to link Scouts and Guides around the world, the nation or just locally. This year there will also be a special link up to the International Space Stations, expected to be monitored by many JOTA groups in eastern Australia.

Among the many JOTA events is the Melbourne Region Scouts and the School Amateur Radio Club Network (SARCNET) at Victoria's Churchill National Park in Lysterfield. The VK3SRC station for the 100 years of Cub Scouts will be on air both on the Saturday and Sunday. Organiser Joe Gonzales VK3YSP explains there will be plenty of activity for all. This includes the VK3SRC station, a short Amateur Radio-assisted Nature walk, a VHF/UHF Communications activity, chasing Summits On The Air and WWFF Parks, emergency communication, fox hunting, satellite demonstration, and more. Any radio amateur interested in seeing the SARCNET kids and Cub Scouts in action, including a sausage sizzle lunch, must register first by emailing the organisers at event@sarcnet.org

From Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) project, Shane Lynd VK4KHZ tell us of a JOTA telebridge contact involving an ISS pass over Queensland and its voice download of 145.800 FM that should be audible over much of eastern Australia. This is a great opportunity to introduce those at JOTA events to another unique dimension of our hobby. An ARISS telebridge is ready for the University of Nebraska's Peter Kiewit Institute, Omaha NE, with the ISS callsign NA1SS to be used by Astronaut is Kate Rubins KG5FY. VK4KHZ advises that the contact is set for Saturday 15 October, at 14:00:08 UTC.

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