Scouts participate in ON8RT ON4EM EmComm Exercise and Red-Cross Community Preparedness Demonstration

Scouts from 1st.Brussels (British) Scouts voluntarily participated at a youth-oriented Emergency Communications (EmComm) Exercise and Red-Cross Community Preparedness Demonstration on Sunday the 19th. of October 2014 during 2014 JOTA-JOTI. Parents and Scout Leaders assisted by Scouts, Beavers and children from international schools in Brussels installed a portable amateur radio EmComm field station following instructions and under the supervision of HAREC certified radio-men. ON4EM (Manu) installed and operated CW (Morse Code) with a 1.5 watt QRP amateur radio station arousing the curiosity of children and adults alike. The light-weight portable inverted-V antenna used at the event was a SOTA returnee and had been deployed amongst other places in the French Alps at 2730m altitude on "La Roche de Mio" (SOTA F/AB-220) and at 2170m altitude on "Signal de l'Homme" (SOTA F/AB-322). SOTA stands for Summits-On-The-Air. ON8RT (Ravi) operated on SSB with the 100 watts EmComm station and a dual-band trapped dipole antenna hung between a tall tree and the Red Cross EmComm vehicle. During the event, children amazed the amateur radio operators with their thirst for knowledge. Topics of discussion included amateur radio licensing, structure of an amateur radio contact (QSO), radio frequency bands & spectrum, propagation of radio waves, types of radio antennae, Q-code signals, etc. Scouts undertook tasks to fulfil various requirements for their badge work under the supervision of the radio-men and scouters. Pierre-Arnaud, certified trainer for medical first responders, demonstrated Emergency First-Aid to raise public awareness on Recovery Position, Cardio-Pulmonaire Resuscitation (CPR), use of an Automated External Defibrillator and detection of symptoms of a Cerebro-vascular accident (CVA). Children were taught the optimal manner to call the European Emergency Number 12. All radio operations throughout the JOTA-JOTI weekend were conducted outdoors and were totally independent of public utility services. The rapid-response deployment exercise was a complete success with the flawless in-field deployment of the following assets : two fully autonomous man-portable multi-band multi-mode operating stations, a general coverage communications monitoring station, a mobile EmComm Command & Communications centre and a medical first-responder support vehicle. 2014 JOTA-JOTI provided the perfect opportunity for scouters, amateur radio operators and medical support staff to help our youth live up to the scout motto : "Be Prepared!" * With support from Youth Science Outreach & Enrichment Programme of Dr.G.Thanikaimoni Memorial Trust
Topics
Communications and Scouting Profile
Personal safety
Partnerships

Share via

Share