On the 10 and 17 of this month the Radio Club shack hosted 30 Cubs from the 70th to work on their Communicators Badge
Over the two nights the Cubs learned about Morse code, the Phonetic Alphabet and were able to send a message to another member of the Scout Association using one of the club’s radios.

While all of this was taking place the shack was visited by the District Commissioner, Peter Bennett, who took a keen interest in the proceedings.

These were the first Communicator Badge Work activities in the District to use the new Badge Work criteria and we are happy to report that there were no problems with the implementation. In light of this experience the Badge Work Books developed and used by the Radio Club are currently being updated and will be placed on this website when completed.

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Administrative Council has designated “Amateur Radio: Your Gateway to Wireless Communication” as the theme for World Amateur Radio Day 2014.
World Amateur Radio Day is celebrated each year on April 18 to recognize the anniversary of the founding of the IARU in Paris in 1925.
The primary purpose of World Amateur Radio Day is to focus a public spotlight on Amateur Radio and its benefits to countries and communities.
This year the IARU and its more than 150 member-societies will celebrate the organization’s 89th anniversary.

The Radio team joined up with the 10th Greenock and District Scout Group for their camp at Everton today.
The team set up a radio related ‘wide game’, Morse Code training, instruction on the use of the Phonetic Alphabet and also gave the Scouts and Cub Scouts the opportunity to send a greetings message over the airwaves using Amateur Radio.
Everyone had a great time and once again the Morse Code element proved a great success.

Everton Scout Camp

We built our Oscillators

Over the past few weeks the club members have been busy exercising their electronic, mechanical and soldering skills, building several Morse code practice oscillators. The concept behind the Buildathon project was to construct a device which could be used while delivering the communicator badge work for Beaver, Cubs and Scouts, using easily obtainable and inexpensive components. The circuit was based on the ubiquitous “555 chip”. The hardware consisted of a “clip lock” box which contained the speaker, battery and chip. The Morse key was constructed using an everyday clothes peg, a block of wood and a rubber “O” ring. The six oscillators and Morse keys which were made have already seen action at the 10th Greenock and District Scout camp and proved to be a big hit with everyone. Club members are already considering modifications to improve the product so watch this space.

Learning code with the oscillator

The finished project

Steph solders the components

Roy and Andy build the box