VI25AJ to be on the Air from the 25th Australian Jamboree

VI25AJ will be on air from the 5th of January at the 25th Australian Jamboree Tailem Bend South Australia. To assist those who would like to make contact with this special event station, we have put together an overview of the proposed activities and schedule. Our appreciation to Brett Nicholas VK2BNN and his team all of whom have been hard at work in the days leading up to the Jamboree setting up the station equipment and antennas, and who have taken time out to relay through the latest information direct from the Jamboree site.

Daily Program
The VI25AJ team will be providing four 1.5 hour sessions per day over the nine day Jamboree. Each session will have up to 72 Scouts with sessions broken into two groups. The first group will be taken on a journey through Amateur Radio showcasing and experiencing first-hand the many amazing aspects of our hobby, whilst the second group will be learning all about ARDF and learning how to navigate an ARDF course. The two groups will swap at the 45min point. Sessions are scheduled to run at 0900 - 1200 & 1400 - 1700 ACDT. Full schedule details will be published on QRZ (see link below). The goal of the team is to introduce Amateur Radio to 2000+ scouts over the nine day Jamboree.

HF Station
The team have setup four operating positions for use by Scouts. The first position incorporates an Icom IC-7610 transceiver whilst the remaining three positions each have an Icom IC-7600. The IC-7610 has been set up as a QRO station with a KPA500 amplifier. All of the stations are able to run SSB or digital modes. The team endeavours to have at least two radios on the air at any given time. They plan to use 80 m, 40 m, 30 m (digital) with 20 m being the primary band and will be on the air using the Scout calling frequencies...

80m - 3.690 MHz

40m - 7.090 & 7.190 MHz

30m - 10.142 MHz

20m - 14.290 MHz

We may also utlilise 17 m and / or 15 m depending on propagation.

17m - 18.140 MHz

15m - 21.360 MHz

Antennas
Antennas onsite include a 20 m Hex Beam at 10 m with mast + rotator, 40 m & 80 m dipoles on a 20 m mast, 40 m Inverted V & cobweb (10, 15, 20) on a 10 m mast.

Satellite station
There is a UHF and VHF up/down Yagi (70 cm circular). Alfa Spid AZ/EL rotator as well as two Icom IC-7000 transceivers and using Gpredict for radio & rotator control.

SDR Demo
AREG have loaned the team their "canned" SDR demo package. It's supplied with a number of hours of recorded on air contest activity that has been placed in a loop. There is a large tuning knob allowing the Scouts to tune along the waterfall display (on 55" / 140 cm TV). They will be asked to listen for the callsigns and see how many DXCC regions they can hear.

VHF/UHF/ IRLP
The Scout Victoria portable repeater has been installed at the Jamboree site. VK3RSR is running on 2 m 146.975 MHz requiring a 91.5 CTCSS tone and providing IRLP access Node 6372. The team will be demonstrating IRLP as part of the Amateur Radio showcase.

JOTA, SOTA, VKFF, IOTA
A slideshow/video has been prepared promoting both JOTA and Amateur Radio in the field to scouts. There will be a static display of equipment to look at encouraging Scouts to consider taking up the hobby and getting out in the field with radio. SOTA is one activity in particular that fits well with the aims and goals of the Scout movement.

Scanning Electron Microscope
The team have been loaned a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) by Inspire Education (STEM outreach). While not strictly Amateur Radio it appears the team may have a chip wafer that the Scouts will be able to view and explore via the microscope, as well as many other interesting items the group can find. Link

CW Demo
Last but not least the team will have a CW demo using code oscillators and relevant devices. Interested Scouts will be invited back to the Showcase after the conclusion of a session with the opportunity to use the Amateur Radio station (supervised) and any licensed amateurs on site will be welcome to use the station. The team anticipates this will be when most DX is worked.

Logging
Logging will be to Club Log. The team will also endeavor to upload the logs to LOTW however, this may not be untill after the event.

Acknowledgement and thanks
Brett and his team would like to acknowledge the generous support and assistance of Icom Australia who have provided a large number of radios for the Jamboree. The team have also received tremendous support from the local clubs, BMARC, VIC Scout Radio team and in particular a very special thank you to the AREG team who have really stepped up and provided so much expertise and assistance.

For More Information
For more information see the VI25AJ QRZ page via this Link
See also "Hi Tech under the AJ2019 Jamboree website" Link

Pictured above Karen Merlo VK3FKLP

Page Last Updated: Friday 11 January 2019 at 20:43 hours by Justin Giles-clark

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