Rockhampton And District Amateur Radio Club

Jamboree On The Air

We had a great JOTA 09 at the Guide Hut in Rockhampton. Radio Amateurs at the RADAR CLUB JOTA station at the May Morgan Hut were Don VK4BY, John VK4KDN, Jim VK4JYM, Doug VK4DUG and Nick VK4CNQ and Margart Hale OAM Guide Leader. Margaret has been involved with Guides since 1947. Don VK4BY brought along his TS430 and we had a continuous contact with VK4FNQ on 7095 on a long wire antenna. All 37 girls had a go and Margaret out staged them all, she heard from someone who had known her when she first started with Guides. There were ongoing well planned activities run by Guide leaders all day and the girls all had a wounderful time. To get the girls ready to talking on the radio, leaders used UHF handhelds and paired the girls up for a talk activity. One activity got John VK4KDN going on the old Morse Code. The Guides have a battery operated Key and John got the girls sending morse to him and he'd read it back to them. As the day got smokier, we all watched on as the fire bombing helicopter and aircraft made desparate missions to try to stop the fire. Ash was floating into the camp site and all were very vigilant watching for live embers. The whole district was covered in smoke and certain areas in Rockhampton were evacuated and one of those was Seeoonie Park where the JOTA Scouts were camped. Seeoonie is situated very close to the Mt Archer National Park and by 1300 all had evacuated and Jim VK4JYM is now concerned for the buildings and equipment housed at Seeoonie. I have no names for any people except the Radio Amateurs and Margaret. Roll on JOTA 2010 All the best Cheers & 73's Nick VK4CNQ