Radio Scouts Australia

Following is a letter from Jochen Sulovsky whose Badge blanket was stolen on the last night of the recent Irish Jamboree:

Hello Scouts
My name is Jochen. I’m from Germany and I think many of you know already from the Jamboree that my JOTA Badge Blanket is stolen in the last night of the Jamboree.
But you don’t know how important this collection is for me.
I’m collecting now many years for this very rare Badge collection. To every Badge I can tell you a story how I get this Badge. Many very good scouting friendships are with Badges on this Blanket. A few scouts tell me please look for them, because this is my last one I can send to you.

Top Gear’s The Stig joins Jamie Oliver, Alexa Chung, Ewan McGregor, Ray Mears and several other celebrities in being awarded a Scout badge as part of Scouting’s 101st birthday celebrations.

Their achievements over the last year were judged to reflect the skills and knowledge required to achieve a Scout badge.

In May 2004, following extensive consultation the ACA (now the ACMA) published the Outcomes of the Review of Amateur Service Regulation (the Outcomes) and while the restructure of Australian amateur licences took place in October 2005, the bulk of the other changes foreshadowed were not addressed.

The ACMA has now made the Determination to amend the Amateur LCD to make the last of changes foreshadowed in the Outcomes.

The amendments to the LCD are quite extensive.

In summary, the some of the amendments to the LCD include the following:

The prohibition on the connection of automated systems to a public telecommunications network, which includes the Internet, has been removed.

Richard Middlekoop reports the 50th JOTA Report (2007) is now available online at http://home.tiscali.nl/worldscout/index.htm

The site also has an order form for an historic overview of Jamboree on the Air -- the first 50 years.

Richard has also found a copy of the first JOTA report (4th JOTA) and that is available on line, free of charge. It's quite interesting to see how things have changed.

The main activity will take place between the hours of 2000Z to 0800Z (9AM to 9PM NZDT) each day apart from New Years Eve when the station will remain active till 1200Z (1AM NZDT). Remember though that NZ is 13 hours ahead of UTC time and one of the first countries in the world to see in the New Year!

ZM6JAM will be active on 80 through 10 meters mainly SSB/Digital Modes along with Echolink via the ZL3CAR repeater Node 101553 and ILRP on 145.625 repeater Node 6900.

All Qsl's via ZL Buro or ZL3TX (See Qrz.com).

For further information or for those wanting to set up skeds please email: zm6jam@yahoo.co.nz

Website: http://www.geocities.com/promotinghamradio/

International JOTA frequencies

It's not quite over. There's an old adage - "The job's not over until the paperwork's done". I have seen it on a postcard - with, yes, a person sitting on the loo.

There's lots of things to tidy up - not the least being submitting logs or your reports where these are required.

But VERY IMPORTANTLY:
- get online at www.jotajoti.org and complete your weblog. It's not too late to register if you didnt get around to it before. The website is open until 21 NOvember.
- remember to thank the peopl who helped you.

Please visit www.scouts.com.au regularly throughout the coming year - I am always putting up something new.

cheers

Jabiru (Bob)

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) and its member societies representing more than 150 countries around the world will celebrate World Amateur Radio Day on April 18, 2007. The theme for this year's celebration is "Amateur Radio: Allowing youth to connect the world."

Despite the Internet and cellular phone, Amateur Radio continues to attract people world-wide by providing free international communications and friendships. Because it does not need pre-established supporting infrastructure, Amateur Radio reaches into every corner of the world -- and even into space.

With the help of Amateur Radio clubs and operators, space shuttle astronauts and crewmembers of the International Space Station have

The Global Positioning System (GPS), increasingly vital technology for activities including navigating cars and planes, bank financial transfers and more, may be threatened by powerful radio bursts from the sun, a panel of scientists in the US warned today.

"Our increasingly technologically dependent society is becoming increasingly vulnerable to space weather," David L. Johnson, director of the US National Weather Service, said at a briefing.

GPS receivers have become widely used in recent years, using satellite signals to navigate planes, ships and automobiles, and in the use of mobile phones, mining, surveying and many commercial applications.

G'day All,

Lots of things are happening over the Easter weekend in terms of Amateur Radio in Scouting.
I have been asked to bring this little activity to your attention in hope of getting some support from the Amateur Radio Scouting Community.

Nat VK3FNAT will be running portable at a Easter Camp somewhere near Colac i think. He intends to introduce scouts to Amateur Radio by a series of radio related activities including some 'On Air Activity'. He hopes to be on the following frequencies.

Primary - 3590khz (+/- QRM)
Secondary - 7090khz (+/- QRM)

He pointed out tonight that he would be active after 8:00pm Friday and Saturday nights and possibly throughout the day at random times. Might be a good oportunity to pull out the Scout 100 logs again.

Around the World in 50 Hours will be the theme of this years Scouting Jamboree On The Air. JOTA as it is better known, is an annual event in which about 500,000 Scouts and Scout Guides all over the world make contacts with each other by means of Amateur Radio.

The idea of the 50 hour operating schedule is to honor the golden-jubilee of the Jamboree by extending it two hours. One hour for every year that it has existed. As a result, this years 50th JOTA will run from October 19th at 22:00 hours to October 21st at 24:00 hours your local time.

An official start will be given by the World Scout Bureau radio station in Geneva, Switzerland on October 19th at 21:00 h GMT with a transmission in the 20 and 80 meter bands and on Echolink.

Hi all

My WA team led an "expedition" to the Manjedal Scout Activity Centre on 17-18 March for the JMFD contest. The aim of the contest is to test portable operation in readiness for emergencies etc.

So.. armed with some portable shade, possum repellent, some rigs, wire antennas, 3 generators and a fishing rod (more on that later) we headed for Manjedal, which is about 40 km South of Perth in the hills.

Manjedal is blessed with some very tall trees, and we use those as skyhooks for the antennas. Enter the fishing rod. Cast a sinker over the top of the tree and pull the rope over. We had an 80m dipole and a 20m dipole up.

We made some good contacts, including some SSTV into Russia before the contest. We made good contest contacts on 80, 40 and 20 metre bands.

Telstra has placed a piece of that nations radio history in the public domain

Telstra has given a rare microphone used to open the Sydney Harbour
Bridge 75 years ago to the Powerhouse Museum for all Australians to
enjoy.

The Reisz microphone is an example of Australian technology
manufactured in 1930 and was used to broadcast the 1932 opening
ceremony of the Sydney Harbour Bridge to thousands of people. This
historically significant microphone was signed by all 10 dignitaries at
the opening ceremony, including NSW Premier John T Lang, NSW Governor
Philip Game and the Bridge's Chief Engineer, JJC Bradfield.

Every good piece of history has a story behind it and this microphone
is no exception. Telstra came into possession of this microphone

The largest annual WOSM event, the Jamboree-On-The-Air (JOTA) will be held this year for the 50th time during the weekend of 20 and 21 October 2007.

The JOTA is an annual event in which about 500,000 Scouts and Guides all over the world make contacts with each other by means of amateur radio. It is a real Jamboree during which Scouting experiences are exchanged and ideas are shared, thus contributing to the world brotherhood of Scouting.

Various special activities will be organized to celebrate the golden jubilee JOTA.

The main ingredients for the 50th JOTA:

- the weekend will have a central theme, with various programme suggestions offered for world-wide use.