Scout ham radio jamboree is Saturday

Staff report

CANFIELD

Scouts and their families and friends in the Whispering Pines District of the Great Trail Council, Boy Scouts of America, are participating Saturday in the 60th international Jamboree-on-the-Air, an annual event in which Scouts from all over the world speak to each other by means of amateur radio.

Scouting experiences are exchanged and ideas are shared via ham-radio waves. Many contacts made during JOTA, the largest Scouting event in the world, resulted in pen pals and links between troops that have lasted many years.

The Mahoning Valley Amateur Radio Association will be at Camp Stambaugh’s Brown Pavilion, 3712 Leffingwell Road, Saturday.

Radios will be working by 9 a.m.

The council serves Scouts in Mahoning County and Hubbard.

The World Scout Bureau reported that the 2016 JOTA had nearly 1.3 million Scout participants from more than 30,000 locations who reached 156 countries.