This past weekend, Evan Esaki, WH6ECG, activated the K2BSA call sign for his district camporee in Hawaii. Here’s his report.
Sharing a short summary of our K2BSA/KH6 operations this weekend. Today, the program schedule at this district camporee changed at the last minute for the 200-250 Scouts who were camped at Bellows Air Force Station in Waimanalo, Oahu, Hawaii. The schedule changes meant that Scouts did not rotate through the many stations that adults and Scouts had prepared on Saturday morning, October 1. All of our stations (Radio, fly fishing, first aid, fire starting, and more) were not used, even though we had arrived early and had our stations ready to go when expected. While waiting for Scouts to visit the station on October 1, I was glad to make many contacts in the MidWest and East Coast through UHF DMR.
In spite of the schedule changes, four Venture Crew members and their two adult Coaches did approach me to stay a bit longer and to run the K2BSA/KH6 radio station. Each of the four Venture Crew members talked on the air with contacts from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Central New England, and Indiana. Although I only had four Venture Crew members operating my station during my 6 hours of operation, these four young people (and their two parents/coaches) were all very interested in amateur radio. The station made a significant impression on this Venture Crew unit, particularly as this group is focused on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). I reviewed the steps to get licensed in amateur radio, and the group seemed very interested in using the amateur radio study, testing, and licensing process as a future project for their group.Attached is a photo of one of the members of Venture Crew 986 talking from Camporee at Bellows AFS, Hawaii via UHF DMR to Ian VA3IHX in Toronto, Canada, on October 1, 2016.
What I like about Evan’s report is that he turned the lemons of missing out on some 200 Scouts participating in to the lemonade of generating interest in amateur radio for a Venturing Crew. He makes a difference in his council, his district, and his unit, bringing amateur radio to Scouting. Check out his QRZ.com page for photos of many of the Scouts that have a microphone or HT in their hands thanks to Evan, WH6ECG.
