Boy Scouts of America

Program Ideas

The types of activities during JOTA as well as leading up to and after the event are limited only by your imagination. Here are a few thought starters. You can also find more planning tips at www.k2bsa.net/jota-event-tips/.

Before JOTA

  • Ask an amateur radio operator to talk about ham radio communications. In patrols, visit his station to see how it works. Learn about radio waves and their propagation.
  • Design special QSL cards with Scouting themes for the JOTA weekend. QSL cards are exchanged with the other stations and Scouts you contact during JOTA.
  • Find an unusual location for the JOTA station, working closely with your amateur radio partner.
  • Find out about commercial radio and television. How are programs made? Visit a television or radio station. How are programs transmitted? How does a radio receiver work? Build a radio receiver.
  • Learn about electricity. How is it produced? Learn about safety procedures. Visit an electricity generating station.
  • Learn and practice using Morse code. Build a Morse code practice oscillator.
  • Find out about other countries and prepare questions to ask over the air.
  • Practice talking into a microphone using radio operating procedures and terminology.
  • Find out about your local area to be able to answer questions from Scouts in other countries and other parts of the U.S.
  • Send a report of your plan to the local newspaper. Ask them to visit during the event.
  • Learn a few words of greeting in other languages.

During JOTA

  • Arrange a weekend camp or camporee and set up the station at the site.
  • Arrange a program of camp activities to run concurrently.
  • Invite parents and other supporters to visit the station to see what the Scouts are doing.
  • Organize a weekend hike and take portable radio equipment. Log the contacts made for the amateur radio operator.
  • Ask each Scout to prepare his own personal logbook. Include details of the names of the Scouts contacted, the frequency, the station call sign, and the mode of operation.
  • Set up an information section that can quickly find out a few details about the location of the station you’re in contact with, including the country or state.
  • Plot contacts made on a world map or a U.S. map.
  • Complete QSL cards to send to the people contacted.
  • Make a tape recording of the conversations.
  • Build simple electronic kits.
  • Prepare and publish a JOTA newsletter or a story for your troop, district, and council newsletters or websites.
  • Prepare a quiz and ask the questions over the air.
  • Complete participation cards for each Scout who talked. Use the certificate/log forms that can be downloaded from this site.
  • Determine the distance between each radio station and your station.

After JOTA

  • Write the Scouts contacted. Send QSL cards and/or a patch.
  • Start planning to participate again next year.
  • File your report and photos with the national JOTA coordinator using the online system published on this website.

 

We’ve also prepared a Troop Meeting Plan, which you can find at https://www.k2bsa.net/troop-meeting-plan-radio/ along with a Cub Scout Program Helps at https://www.k2bsa.net/cub-scout-program-helps-jota/  

Bray Barnes

Director, Global Security Innovative
Strategies

Bray Barnes is a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, Silver
Beaver, Silver Antelope, Silver Buffalo, and Learning for Life Distinguished
Service Award. He received the Messengers of Peace Hero award from
the royal family of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and he’s a life member of
the 101st Airborne Association and Vietnam Veterans Association. Barnes
serves as a senior fellow for the Global Federation of Competitiveness
Councils, a nonpartisan network of corporate CEOs, university presidents, and
national laboratory directors. He has also served as a senior executive for the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, leading the first-responder program
and has two U.S. presidential appointments

David Alexander

Managing Member Calje

David Alexander is a Baden-Powell Fellow, Summit Bechtel Reserve philanthropist, and recipient of the Silver Buffalo and Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He is the founder of Caljet, one of the largest independent motor fuels terminals in the U.S. He has served the Arizona Petroleum Marketers Association, Teen Lifeline, and American Heart Association. A triathlete who has completed hundreds of races, Alexander has also mentored the women’s triathlon team at Arizona State University.

Glenn Adams

President, CEO & Managing Director
Stonetex Oil Corp.

Glenn Adams is a recipient of the Silver Beaver, Silver Antelope, Silver Buffalo, and Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He is the former president of the National Eagle Scout Association and established the Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award. He has more than 40 years of experience in the oil, gas, and energy fields, including serving as a president, owner, and CEO. Adams has also received multiple service awards from the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers.