Scout Meeting 17/10/2011

Scout Meeting 17/10/2011

Hi All,

On Monday 17th October we took our Scouts to Sutton Park to find a geocache buried somewhere near the Jamboree Stone.

Geocaching is an outdoor sporting activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", anywhere in the world.

A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook where the geocacher enters the date they found it and signs it with their established code name. Larger containers such as plastic storage containers (tupperware or similar) or ammunition boxes can also contain items for trading, usually toys or trinkets of little value. Geocaching is often described as a "game of high-tech hide and seek", sharing many aspects with benchmarking, trigpointing, orienteering, treasure-hunting, letterboxing, and waymarking.

Geocaches are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica. After 10 years of activity there are over 1,532,000 active geocaches published on various websites. There are over 5 million geocachers worldwide.

We divided our Scouts into two teams and they were each given a GPS device loaded with the coordinates of the first location. The teams were also given some clues to find the location of the geocache once they got there.

Geocaching is fun. Geocaching by night is even more fun!

After much searching, one of the teams successfully managed to find the Geocache. It was hidden at the bottom of a multi-trunked silver birch tree located in a small copse.
We signed the logbook and put the geocache back as we had found it before heading back to Boldmere gate.

Geocaching is a great family activity that gets you outdoors to see things that you never thought you would see.

All the best,

Adam & Jason

JOTA/JOTI 2011

JOTA/JOTI 2011

Hi All,

Please click on the above image to see more pictures taken during the Jamboree On The Air/Jamboree On The Internet (JOTA/JOTI) event which took place over the weekend of 15th/16th October 2011.

What is the Jamboree-On-The-Air?
The JOTA is an annual event in which about half-a-million Scouts and Guides all over the world make contacts with each other by means of amateur radio. Short-wave radio signals carry their voices to virtually any corner of the world. It’s the shear excitement of having a live conversation with a fellow Scout or Guide at some other place in the world that attracts so many young people to this event. JOTA is a true Jamboree during which Scouting experiences are exchanged and ideas are shared. It’s a unique opportunity for each individual Scout to get the real feeling of belonging to a worldwide movement.

What is the Jamboree-On-The-Internet?
Similarly to the JOTA, the Jamboree-On-The-Internet connects Scouts using Internet techniques. The JOTI is a separate event, but held on the same weekend as the Jamboree-On-the-Air. Units can choose to take part in either one, or both events.

Basically, the aim of the event is to make contact with other Scout Groups worldwide using radio communication and/or Internet chat or voice.

During the event, which we ran from 6.30pm Saturday night through to 1pm Sunday morning, we set-up an amateur radio station inside HQ to allow us to make contact via radio communication and, we also set-up a notebook PC to allow us to make contact over the Internet, using a mobile broadband connection.

To make allowances for the different timezones across the world and to sustain interest if contacts were intermittant, we set-up camp inside HQ with the pop-up tents for a sleepover!

There was also a Wii and a DVD player plus projector on offer for further entertainment.

We asked the Scouts to bring along some food for a little midnight feasting, play games, read, chat and watch some films, as well as take part in the main JOTA/JOTI theme of the evening.

In the morning we cooked bacon and sausage sandwiches for breakfast.

As you can see from the pictures, I even put some some pioneering skills to good use by constructing two tripods and masts for the HF antenna that was raised up at the back of HQ! I also fixed up a long wire antenna to allow the Scouts to listen to another communication receiver.

The agenda for the weekend was as follows;

Arrive at our Scout HQ on Sat 16th Oct around 6.30pm

Take part in JOTA/JOTI event and other activities on offer

Sleepover in pop-up tents

Breakfast

Arrange for parents to collect from HQ at 1pm on Sunday 16th Oct

Have a load of fun for 18 hours!

During the weekend we made radio contact with other Scout Groups in Sweden, Portugal, England and Switzerland (see pictures of Gil from Portugal).

We made plenty of other contacts all over the world via the Internet.

The Scouts also did some work towards the radio communicator badge by sending messages to each other using the phonetic alphabet, using a pair of handheld radios.

The event was a great success and although most of us got no sleep Saturday night(!), we would have to say that the Scouts had a fantastic time!

We will definitely be taking part in the event again next year.

All the best,

Adam & Jason

Brumventure 2011

Brumventure 2011

Hi All,

Latest pictures from our participation in the Brumventure 2011 event, which took place at Pikes Pool, near Bromsgrove.

Once again we entered one of the largest contingent of Scouts from any one group in the district and we took part in the DIY, Navigator, Camp Cook, Photographer, Radio Communicator, Mechanic, Canoeing and Pioneering badges.

This year I was badge Leader for the Radio Communicator badge in charge of 8 Scouts. We had a great time slinging up our aerials between the trees, learning how to use communication receivers properly and logging all the stations we heard. We also did several activities around Camp with some handheld radio's and on the Sunday, 4 of the Scouts managed to talk to other radio amateurs in Northern Ireland, Luton and Bath!

It was a fantastic event and all the Members from our Troop who attended the event received their badges at the end of the weekend.

Brumventure takes place every year and it is an excellent opportunity to gain an activity badge in a short space of time.

Well done to all those who took part!

Hope you enjoy the photo’s.

All the best,

Adam

Expedition Challenge 2011

Expedition Challenge 2011

Hi All,

Latest pictures from our participation in this year’s Expedition Challenge event, which took place on 1st & 2nd October in the beautiful White Peak area of the Peak District National Park.

During the expedition, our team had to;

- journey for at least 4 hours a day
- use a map to keep track of where they were
- play a full part in the team
- achieve at least one goal (cooking a hot meal)
- stay overnight in a hostel

The weather was absolutely gorgeous for hiking, if a little too hot at times!

Our team of 6, plus two from the 23rd, did exceptionally well and they were the only team to complete each route within the allotted time on each day.

They all received their badges at the end of the 2 day event.

Congratulations to Jacob H, Jacob B, Vincent, Pia, Jenny and Liam W for taking part and completing the Challenge so admirably.

Hope you enjoy the photo’s!

All the best,

Adam

Practise Hike on the Leicestershire Round

Practise Hike Sun 25th Sept 2011

Hi All,

On Sunday 25th Sept I took 4 of our team of 6 Challengers to the county of Leicestershire for a 12 mile hike around ‘Battle of Bosworth’ country, in preparation for the Expedition Challenge on 1st-2nd October.

We were also joined by a couple of parents who walked the route with us.

Once again the Challengers were asked to navigate the route on their own and cook a meal on the way.

The weather in the morning was absolutely glorious for hiking and the team did very well with the distance and cooked an excellent meal of macaroni cheese.
In the afternoon it hammered down with rain, but this was good preparation just in case there were any surprises on the day!

They should have no problem with the Challenge this weekend.

Click on the above image to see some more pictures and video.

Good luck to our Challengers this Saturday!

I will let you know how they get on.

All the best,

Adam