Greenock and District Scouts Amateur Radio Club, MM0TSG, hosted a very successful JOTA/JOTI event, using the call sign GB0GDS, over the weekend of 21^st and 22^nd October 2023. Club members were ably assisted by a young Scout who is just beginning his amateur radio journey. Having recently completed the Scout Communication Award, he has now begun working towards gaining the Foundation Licence.

Young people from all sections of the Scout organisation were able to speak with Scouts from other areas of the UK and across the world using the clubs HF radio equipment and the Scout Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel. Among the many stations contacted was the National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park, GB3RS.

Other internet and computer related activities included Scout Minecraft and a bomb disposal game where communications skills are required to relay details of how to defuse the remote bomb. Our younger attendees were able to explore the environment and find hidden creatures using the Under Leaves game.

Also on offer were a number of radio related games developed by club members. Beavers enjoyed a Phonetic Alphabet and Morse Code treasure hunt and the highly popular Radio Bingo. Our call sign and radio terminology word searches and crosswords were well used by all including the Leaders.

The return of Morse Code Battleships introduced the code and although used by all, was a particular favourite with the Explorer Scouts, where it was developed into a fiercely fought competition.

All of these games were developed for the prime purpose of introducing Radio Communications to Scout Groups and are used by club members who help deliver the various levels of Scout Communications Awards throughout Greenock and District Scouts. 

We would like to give our thanks to all who participated, the young people, their leaders and friends of the club from the Amateur Radio and Scouting world.

Special thanks to the Amateur Radio operators who took the time to speak with our young people.  
Photographs MM3UVL

Organised by the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM), JOTA–JOTI is the world’s largest digital and radio Scout event, taking place online and over the air. It stands for ‘Jamboree on the Air’ and ‘Jamboree on the Internet.’
It’s taking place on the 20 to 22 October 2023 this year and it’s completely free.
The radio shack is now fully booked and we are looking forward to having a fun time with many contacts over the weekend.

Click here to visit the JOTA/Joti Trello Board to find out what is happening worldwide.

The Radio Club members were delighted to be part of the centenary celebrations at the District Camp Site “Everton” on Saturday. It was an opportunity to show visitors the activities provides by the club to the Scouts and to explain how these fun activities tie in with the Communicators Badge work at all levels of Scouting. We were also able to offer guests the opportunity to operate an Amateur Radio transceiver and speak with amateur radio operators across the country.

We were pleased to welcome our local Member of Parliament Ronnie Cowan, the Shadow SNP Spokesperson (Infrastructure), to the Radio Club, where he enjoyed a guided tour of our displays and was given an insight into the activities and training provided by the club.

Tonight we hosted our next door neighbours, the 70th Greenock and District, for the first of two “radio fun nights”. The visitors enjoyed playing a number of radio related games including morse code battleships, phonetic alphabet true or false, bomb disposal, radio guided obstacle course navigation and numerous wordsearches and mazes. A fun night was had by all and we look forward to doing it all over again next week with the rest of 70th Scouts.