GB6HS - JOTA special event station 2013

GB6HS was back on the air for Jamboree on the Air 2013. Operated by members of Worthing Radio Events Group, the station put Scouts from Brighton & Hove district in touch with their counterparts around the world.

Club members Gary G0XAN, David M0HVD and Mark 2E0VKZ arrived at the Scouts' district camp site just outside Brighton early on Saturday morning. This year we had upgraded accommodation compared to last year's very muddy tent. The 'chalet' overlooking a small clearing in the woods made a nice operating base.

Given the limited space in the clearing it was decided to erect the 10m mast and use a pair of dipoles for 20m and 40m. Whilst the club members erected the antennas the Scout leaders provided the first of a number of very welcome cups of tea! The weather forecast for the weekend included frequent heavy showers. Fortunately the outdoor setting up was completed before the rain got really heavy.

It was decided to give Mark's nice new Yaesu FT-920 an airing and once we had selected the correct antenna socket we were on the air. The 20m band was alive and well so we decided to start there. After a quick contact with a Russian station we found a quiet frequency and started to call "CQ".

Now it's not every day that, as a UK radio amateur, you get called by an Algerian station - much less as the first reply to your CQ call! However it was indeed 7X2VFK/J that called us. A contact with north Africa was a great start and captured the imagination of our early visitors.

Soon we were established on the band and were making a steady stream of contacts with JOTA stations. Many of the contacts lasted 15-20 minutes with several Beavers and Scouts passing greetings messages. European contacts ranged from Finland in the north to Malta in the south, and a couple of contacts with the eastern states of the USA. We even had one of the leaders from 5th Hove talking to his counterpart at a Swedish Scout group.

Later in the afternoon, propagation conditions changed as the sun started to go down and 20m was not so good. Switching to 40m brought contacts with UK JOTA stations for our visitors to pass greetings to.

Here are the details of the Scout stations we contacted: