18 & 19 October 2008

For your contacts with the press, have a look at the JOTA Press Guide and other material in the on-line library.

A high-resolution file with the JOTA logo can be downloaded here by clicking the logo.

Download the latest JOTA-JOTI information circular:

in English
in French

Check this space for updates. You can also subscribe to the alert service, which will send you an automatic email when updates are available.

During the JOTA weekend there is unfortunately one contest (amateur radio competition). It is an exception to the agreement that there will be no contests during the JOTA weekend. However, we're happy to announce that an agreement has been reached with the organizers of this German WAG contest on the use of amateur radio frequencies during the JOTA. The German contest stations will not operate in the following segments:

80 m: 3560–3800 kHz and 3650 - 3700 kHz
40 m: 7080 - 7140 kHz
20 m: 14060–14350 kHz, 14100 - 14125 and 14280 - 14350 kHz
15 m: 21350 - 21450 kHz
10 M: 28225 - 28400 kHz.

This leaves all World Scout Frequencies in the clear !!

Should you encounter contest stations that accidentily use the contest-free segment, please invite them politely to move out of these sections as they will not find other contest stations here anyway. The WAG organizers have informed the contest stations on their website.

Scout stations may use the whole of each amateur radio band. But if you experience any interference from the WAG contest, please move to the segments listed above to enjoy an interference free contact. (Many thanks to Klaus Sperling DC4NA and Guenter Erdmann DL9BCP for their continued efforts to solve the WAG interference problems.)

Life would be so much easier, but perhaps less interesting, if every Scout spoke the same language. But this is not the case. How can we help Scouts to communicate with fellow-Scouts that do not speak their language? Here are a few ideas:

The translator machine:

There is a free translation service available at the internet. You can enter up to one page of text in one language and ask it to translate it into another. It has over 20 different languages available. Last year, several JOTA groups used it to translate radio messages on the spot. It may not be very fast, but it is fun to do and it does help. You could even prepare a standard message for your Scouts in many different languages. Click on the “translate” button on the home page and it will get you to the translator machine.

The J-Code:

The J-code is a tool that enables a very basic conversation in those cases where there is no common language between the youngsters. The J-code is simply a set of abbreviations similar to the Q-Code used by radio amateurs. It is NOT a code intended to hide the contents of the transmissions, quite the opposite, it is intended to enable communication. As such it can be used over amateur radio and in internet chat contacts. The J-code is available in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian-Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, German, Norwegian and Chinese (more to follow) and can be downloaded from the library at the radio-scouting web site.

By using a JOTA-JOTI account Scout groups have access to several services. For example, the group can search for the location of other stations and can get additional contact details like email addresses, radio call signs or IRC nicknames. Furthermore, they can validate a JOTI contact by special online cards, generate their own participation certificates and get a special email address that prevents them from being bothered by junk mails later. Allthough one can register as an individual, the JOTA-JOTI account is primarily meant to be used by Scout groups. The service is offered to WOSM Scout groups. WAGGGS guide units are invited to join as well.

Click here to get your JOTA-JOTI account.

Associations who haven’t already done so are kindly requested to appoint a National JOTA Organizer (NJO) who:

• has the required organizational skills to support the Scout stations participating in the JOTA in his country;
• functions at a national level within his Scout Association (most NJO's are a member of an Association's international committee);
• communicates directly with the World JOTA Organizer at the World Scout Bureau and is the Scout Association's representative to the national amateur radio organization;
• is preferably someone with his own amateur radio licence, or at least with a vast knowledge of amateur radio;

The NJO has access to specific JOTA information on the web as well as to a restricted electronic forum. In this way he or she can directly exchange views with NJO’s of other countries, ask for assistance and organize activities.

With your help, the World Scout Bureau can compile a world-wide overview of the weekend and make it avail-able to all participants. Of course, the information has to come from the participating Scout groups in your country. So you may want to ask them to prepare for that and send a short story of their activities to their National Organizer after the event.

Good (colour) photographs will help to illustrate the event. Ask the help of a Scout photographer at your station. National organizers are kindly requested to send "the story" of their country to the World Scout Bureau soon after the event. Please write us your ideas and comments, suggestions for future programmes and a descrip-tion of the most exiting contacts. To help you compile your story, a form is available for download from the NJO-network web server. A paper version can be send to you upon request. Please contact the World Scout Bureau should you want to receive the paper form.

The figures that are requested on the form will be used to compile some statistics. A reasonable estimate would be appreciated if they cannot be specified accurately. Photographs showing Scouts in uniform at the microphone or keyboard and of other activities like electronic kit building, foxhunting, semaphore, map plotting and the like are most welcome. Please note that we do not need all your photographs (some Associations sent CD's full of them in the past), a selected set of e.g. the 5 best ones is greatly appreciated. So are clippings of local newspapers carrying the story of JOTA - JOTI in your local community.

To note also the on-line web log service where Scout groups can document their participation details. A web log is a on-line diary which is displayed in journal style on a website. Reports and photos can be added here as well as special JOTA-JOTI information like longest or interesting contact. Since Scouts do have a powerful tool with the web log software, documentation of the weekend is very easy. National Organizers can use the web log as a source for making their National JOTA-JOTI story. Also, the World Scout Bureau will be able to use it to supplement the world report.

We look forward to receive your input before the publishing deadline of:

15 December 2008.

We kindly ask you to please respect this deadline, as we unfortunately cannot guarantee publication of material received after this date.