News Posts

MESAC At The Costa Mesa Scarecrow Festival

MESAC participated in the Costa Mesa Scarecrow Festival Oct. 17 & 18, 2015, at Goat Hill Junction. Visitors to our booth learned more about how MESAC assists with emergency communications in times of need. Adjacent to our info booth was a group of Scouts operating ham radios for the worldwide JOTA (“Jamboree On The Air”), an annual scouting event involving ham radio communications.

 

Boy Scouts Jamboree On The Air (JOTA)

jota1_2015
MESAC hosted a group of local Scouts on October 17, 2015, at Goat Hill Junction. The event is known as “Jamboree On The Air” and scouts from around the world participate by operating ham radios and connecting with other scout groups. Scouts of all ages participate, from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts and Venturers. Temporary ham radio stations were set up at Goat Hill Park and the communication involved scouts speaking into a microphone and listening on the station speakers. The exchanges included such information as name, location (called QTH in ham speak), Scout rank, age, and hobbies. The World Scout Bureau reported that the 2014 JOTA had more than 1 million Scout participants from more than 11,500 stations, nearly 20,000 amateur radio operators, and reached 157 countries.

MESAC coordinated the scouting event along side an information booth set up for the Costa Mesa Scarecrow Festival.