Oklahoma Boy Scouts learn art of ham radio
Amateur radio enthusiasts taught Boy Scouts from Guthrie the art of ham radio during a three-day marathon.
A group of Oklahoma Boy Scouts used sticks, barbed wire and a hand-held radio to say hello to an astronaut in space.
“The boys were so excited that we got to talk to an astronaut, even if only for a few seconds,” said Doug Cook, an optometrist and an assistant scoutmaster from Guthrie.
The contact was part of the 52nd annual Jamboree-on-the-Air, an international Scouting event dedicated to the art of radio. Members of the Last Frontier Council gathered at Camp Nichols in southwest Oklahoma City.
Scouts learned to operate ham radios and tracked radio transmitters in the woods. They also performed radio surgery — on a pickle. They removed the pickle's bumps the same way Cook would remove bumps on the eyelids of his patients.
One of the projects was to contact Mike Fossum, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station. Fossum, who was an Eagle Scout, was participating in the jamboree and trying to contact as many Scouts as possible. Cook pointed the makeshift antenna toward the station and heard Fossum's voice through the static. He tried twice before Fossum returned his call.
Cook said he put a microphone to the radio for the Scouts to hear. The boys responded by shouting in unison, “Hi, Mike!”
In addition to that thrill, the boys especially loved using radios to contact other Scouts around the world, Cook said.
“Our Scouts can chat with a Scout from Australia or Great Britain or Indonesia,” Cook said. “It bridges the gap between them so that they can learn about other people, other cultures. It kind of makes the world a smaller place.”
Scout Carey McCachern, 17, was part of the jamboree. The Deer Creek High School student earned his ham radio technician license about a year ago, and he upgraded to a general license in April. He said he enjoyed introducing other Scouts to amateur radio.
“I believe that amateur radio and Scouts fit hand-in-hand because they encourage emergency preparedness, innovation, and goodwill toward others,” McCachern said.
Jeff Woolsey, executive for the Boy Scouts Last Frontier Council, said he hopes the jamboree sparked an interest in the boys.
“Technology today is so readily available that boys take it for granted,” Woolsey said. “Most kids do. It's important for them to learn the roots of where all this came from.”
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