FOR K2BSA, IT's MORSE AND MORE
DON/ANCHOR: Scouts are busy on the radio again this week, and there's even a fun
code competition thrown into the mix. For more details on that, let's
hear from Amateur Radio Newsline's Bill Stearns, NE4RD.
BILL: This week in Radio Scouting, we have 1 activation of the K2BSA
callsign, and 1 activation from Scout Camps on the Air.
Ben Kuo, KK6FUT, will be the control operator for the K2BSA portable 6
station at the Ventura County Council Conejo Valley District Camporee, in
Moorpark, California on April 22nd and 23rd. This the the third activation
of the camp by the ham radio operators from the Conejo (co-ney-ho) Valley
Amateur Radio Club (CVARC). In the spirit of Boy Scout Camporees, where
scouts compete to show off their scouting skills, the group is sponsoring
a competition for scouts to decode a message in Morse Code to win a
blister pack of FRS radios, and an ARRL Technician License Manual. Ben,
who has been organizing the event, and regularly works with scouts as a
scout leader and Radio Merit Badge counselor, said that, surprisingly, one
of parts of ham radio which attracts the most interest from scouts is
Morse Code. Although it's no longer required for a license, the scouts have
an enormous interest in decoding and sending Morse code, even more than
talking on the radio. After last year's event, scouts were sending Morse
code messages by flashlight all over camp, and scouts were specifically
coming to the group's tent to learn about Morse code. Last year, the group
showed off ham radio to the over 600 participants in the Camporee, with 65
scouts decoding their first Morse code message, and entering the contest,
and helping dozens of scouts make contacts on the air. The group is hoping
to do the same this year, with another Morse Code contest, and first
contacts for scouts. The group plans to be on HF on 20m, 40m, 15m, and 10m
primarily on phone and digital, depending on band conditions, and local
VHF repeaters.
Robert Swain, W5APO, will be the control operator for special event station
W0A at the Southern Area 4 Section Order of the Arrow Conference hosted by
Uh-To-Yeh-Hut-Tee Lodge at the Sand Hill Scout Reservation in Brooksville,
FL, on April 22nd. The event will host close to 1000 scouters and scouts,
and will be a great opportunity to show off amateur radio!
For more information on K2BSA and radio scouting, please visit
http://www.k2bsa.net/.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, and the K2BSA Amateur Radio Association, this
is Bill Stearns, NE4RD.
**
BREAKING THE ICE....IN ICELAND
DON/ANCHOR: Does ham radio leave you cold? Well it did for one youngster
from North Carolina who got back recently from his first DXpedition - to
Iceland. Amateur Radio Newsline's Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, talked with him.
NEIL: Mason Matrazzo, of Clemmons, North Carolina, was on the air from
Iceland as TF/KM4SII in the middle of March. This was his first DXpedition.
He took along a Buddistick, an FT-450, and 25 feet of coax on a trip to
Iceland with his mother. Mason is just 14 years old. Mason explains the
difficulties he ran into operating on the trip.
MASON: Mother nature was none too kind during this expedition, and I only
got really one day where I could get the antenna set up the whole time we
were there; maybe actually technically speaking, too. But, there's a bunch
of problems.
NEIL: Problems getting the antenna mounted outside the hotel, and extreme
weather conditions definitely got in his way. Mason wasn't very happy with
the amount of contacts he was able to get, but he still had a great time,
and learned a lot.
MASON: I managed to work 15 countries, and it was only like - I don't know
- 20 something, maybe no more than 25 QSOs. It was very painful, I'll say,
when you when you're trying to work somebody through S9, S9+10 noise. So I
couldn't actually hear if a frequency was clear very easily. But
fortunately, I had Internet access. So I got on one of the online SDRs in
Europe, and found a clear spot, and I just started calling CQ there, and
eventually I got spotted by someone in Russia, and I got some callers. It
was slow going, but I did manage to pull some of them out of the S9 noise.
That was the first night, and the second night I was on the air, it was a little
bit late, and the band had gone really long and funky, and I wasn't getting any
callers coming back to my CQ, at least that were audible. So I
just spent the rest of the night in search and pounce mode.
NEIL: Mason plans on trying another DXpedition soon.
MASON: Like I said, this is the first I've ever been internationally. So,
it was a good first time. Next time, I'm hoping that I operate where I get
myself a quieter location, and a warmer location. I think somewhere
tropical would be good next, because it was; it was cold!
NEIL: And Mason, I can't blame you for that.
For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Neil Rapp, WB9VPG.
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