On October 18, 2025, UPARC engaged in support of the Greater Tampa Bay Area Council’s Jamboree on the Air at Troop 12 in Lutz, Florida, for the fourth consecutive year. Our club participants included Ryan Rager (AF4O), Alan Streitman (W4UB), Olev Isak (N4OHI), Rob Bird (WD4IFT), Ron Ambrosio (N2SKH), Jack Kinney (N4KIN), Fred Botero (W2SUB), Joshua Luria (KO4VVX), Charlotte Luria (KO4WNK), Gabriel Luria (KS4GAB), and Melissa Luria (KS4MOM), with the logistical support of Tom Schaefer (NY4I).
The club members met up and worked with Troop 12 scouts to erect a 132-foot end-fed antenna, a vertical antenna for 20 meters, and a satellite antenna. The club donated the use of two of the Elecraft K3 radios. The event served 56 scouts of various ages from Cub Scouts to Scouts of troop age. The event also had participants from American Heritage Girls. During the event, fifteen Scouts worked towards obtaining their Radio Merit Badge, and all of them completed the station tour and radio activity requirements of the badge. While the merit badge presentation was going, we had dozens of Cub Scouts and American Heritage Girls scouts making contacts with the assistance of Bill Weber (KQ4CLL) of Amateur Radio Gals and Gentlemen (ARGG).
Ryan hosted a high stakes effort to make a contact off of the International Space Station (ISS) repeater. While nearly four dozen scouts looked on with laser focus, Ryan’s efforts were skirted by another ham who we heard making a contact off of the ISS. We also heard another JOTA make a contact off the ISS. While the contact effort was unsuccessful, the scouts remained impressed with the satellite activity.
During the course of the day, we made two DX contacts. Marcus Wong (KA2PWV) and his cub scout son on 10 meters with Uruguay (CX8BG)–4,679 miles from the hut. For this impressive contact, he and his son were provided one of the Bao Feng 5v HT. One of the scouts, working with Gabriel Luria made contact with Panama (HP2DPW) 1,335 miles from the hut. We had one small family of Scouts hit California on 10 meters. They were given the other Bao Feng 5v HT.
We made contacts with 13 different states. During the afternoon, the club worked with the scouts to build a dipole. We strung it up in an inverted V, and a scout earned his Radio merit badge by making a contact on QRP with Ohio and New York. During the entire day, we made contacts that mounted up to more than 35,000 miles of radio distance covered.
