Despite two typhoons in the past few weeks, the World Scout Jamboree is up and running in Kirara-hama, Yamaguchi, Japan. More than 30,000 Scouts and leaders from 161 countries around the world are engaging in two weeks of activities and adventure, from July 28 to August 8.
8N23WSJ
Along with all the Scouting activities, including a JOTA-JOTI Plaza (Jamboree on the Air and Jamboree on the Internet) in the Science Program Area, the amateur radio station 8N23WSJ is on the air!
The 8 is the designation for a special event call sign and the N stands for Nippon, which means Japan. Since this is the 23rd World Scout Jamboree, the last letters in the call sign are 23WSJ. Have fun with the Eight November Twenty Three World Scouting Jamboree special event station!
POWERED BY ICOM
Icom Japan is providing all the transceivers including our flagship IC-7851, the IC-7600, and the IC-7100. We are also providing a D-Star Repeater and the ID-5100A.
Nippon Boy Scout Amateur Radio Club, based in Bunkyo-ku, Japan, is providing the antennas. You can see the early set up in the group of photos below. It’s quite an impressive array of antennas, including an HF tri-bander, six meter yagi, rotatable dipole, and at least one vertical.
ARISS @ WORLD JAMBOREE
A direct contact with the International Space Station and astronaut Kjell Lindgren, KO5MOS, is scheduled for Friday, July 31. This is part of the ARISS or Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program.
ISS contacts are always very exciting. Lasting around 10 to a maximum of 15 minutes, Scouts are selected to ask questions of the astronaut and he responds in real-time. I’ve watched this at our National Scout Jamboree from K2BSA a few times.
MY JAMBOREE EXPERIENCES
I’ve attended several USA National Scout Jamborees supporting the K2BSA operation. I can tell you that they are extraordinary experiences for the Scouts, the leaders, and the staff members putting on the show.
The Opening Ceremony is always spectacular with everyone in attendance for a superb show and welcome. It’s such a high-point – we’re all here and making this happen after so much preparation and anticipation!
For the World Jamboree they say that the opening ceremony, when seen from above, looks like a quilt of colors from each of the national organizations with their own color uniforms and neckerchiefs. Two weeks later at the closing ceremony it looks like a mix of all colors. That’s because everyone is with new friends, from all over the world. It’s also because they trade patches, neckerchiefs, and even uniform shirts. The Jamboree is truly a coming together of Scouts from all over world.
For the 2013 K2BSA operation, we set up several stations, hung antennas on the top of telephone poles, and got to work introducing Scouts to amateur radio. The blast for me was seeing the light bulbs go off when the Scouts realized they were communicating through the air to places around the country and the world.
You can get a flavor of the effort from the official K2BSA report video below. If you ever get a chance to attend a Jamboree as a Scout, leader, staff member, or guest, make sure you go. It is such an extraordinary experience.
[vimeo 72608147 w=500 h=281]
K2BSA 2013 Jamboree Operation from K2BSA on Vimeo.
GET ON THE AIR
8N23WSJ is expected to be operating on or near the recommended Scouting frequencies. You can find those at the Scouting JOTA page. Look for the WOSM (World Organization of the Scout Movement) frequencies in the table. You can also watch for the call sign on the DX spotting networks.
For those D-STAR fanatics, the JP4YEA, D-Star repeater, will in action at the Jamboree, JP4YEA. Since Japan rules and regulations do not support reflectors, make sure you have the RPT2 set up for gateway, G in the 8th character, and use the following repeater routing command in the URcall setting.
/JP4YEAA for the 439.49 MHz port
/JP4YEAB for the 1291.25MHz port.
(Note: The / as the 1st character notates repeater routing)
We will be trying to work them from our club station, N7IH, and I challenge you to put 8N23WSJ in your log!
This is another wonderful activity supported by Icom to help grow the next generation of amateur radio operators.
73
Ray Novak, N9JA
Division Manager, Amateur and Receiver Products
Lifetime Amateur Radio Enthusiast
