The first “MacGyver” antenna building session held during the 2008 JOTA operation at Canyon Lake, Texas was so successful that in the afternoon several scout moms cornered me and almost begged that I run it again so the afternoon group could join in on the fun.
What was the “MacGyver” antenna project?
The scouts began at a long table where I dumped the contents of a large popcorn tin, which was filled with wire, plastic pieces, odd metal parts, tools, two 12 foot measuring tapes, a spark plug wire and other useful and useless items along with a scrap of paper which had a hand-drawn diagram of a dipole antenna with just a series of total length per bands scrawled on the top.
It was up to the scouts to find the proper pieces and share in the building of a simple dipole under the supervision and extensive verbal support, cheering and crying of the “MacGyver Special Assistance Team”.
The scouts measured and cut wire, stripped ends, put on PVC end insulators, a center connector was added, and put rope on each end. Imagine their surprise when we ran the dipole up the “flag-pole” masting and promptly made a contact to a ham in Oklahoma!
The joy on their faces knowing that they made contact with a station hundreds of miles away with an antenna THEY made is a memory they’ll remember for a long time. Below are some pictures of the two “MacGyver” antenna building sessions.
More about the entire JOTA event, three stations operating different modes, merit badge classes, foxhunting basics, geocaching and more as soon as I can review the additional pix. Over 60 scouts and countless parents joined in on the first JOTA event at Canyon Lake, Texas.
Hams on board were: Mike – AB5EB, Rich – N5RAG, KE5DFK – Carlos, and Bob – W2IK.Bob – W2IK
