JOTA (Jamboree On The Air) – 1st Claremont’s 1st
On 19 October 2024, 8 1st Claremont members (Including our 2 most interesting 🤨 scouters) went to the CTARC (Cape Town Amateur Radio Club) next to 6th Rondebosch Scout Hall to try and communicate with scouts via long distance radios.
It was a dangerous and daring mission (not really) but incredible to see the equipment used and how the variable orientation allowed us to send and receive signals from different directions all over the world. Greg, who was highly certified in his radio knowledge, showed us around and we tried to get hold of any scouts also on the JOTA frequency.
Unfortunately, even though in previous years it has been done, we were unable to contact any scouts at all – possibly due to different time zones or different frequencies used. We did however manage to contact a random guy speaking German but that conversation ended quickly.
Although a slightly anticlimactic activity, everyone who went learned a few new things about long distance radios. (They have a big pole with receivers which can be rotated on command to face which part of the world we are contacting). It was a pretty fun activity either way and we even watched a bit of hockey afterwards.
The one problem is…
Still no one knows what happens if you pull “THE BIG SWITCH”!!!
Peter Raynham
JOTI (Jamboree on the Internet)
JOTI this year happened on the 18th of October, and for this event, scouts from different countries connected and enjoyed various online activities. This is an event where scouts can exchange ideas through online games and forums.
For our troop this year, five of our scouts participated. The evening began with a Discord call, where our scouts chatted with each other and engaged with other scouts worldwide via JOTI’s online chats and forums. After some conversations, we dived into gaming activities. We started by exploring the official Scout Minecraft servers.
To cap off the night, we played a few rounds of Last Train Out of Worm Town. This fun-filled activity was the perfect conclusion to an incredible evening of connection and adventure.
JOTI 2024 was an unforgettable experience, leaving us with lasting memories and an even stronger appreciation for the global scouting community.
Oliver Ringrose
