Radio and Scouting at Philmont Training Center

Amateur Radio and Scouting are the perfect STEM combination. Since 1957, and every year after, Jamboree on the Air has brought millions of Scouts together using amateur radio — long before the Internet.

Radio Merit Badge began life as the Wireless Merit Badge in 1918, moving to Radio Merit Badge in 1923. Since that time, nearly 200,000 Scouts have earned the badge, gaining their introduction radio technology and communication.

This course will address key element of running an active Radio Scout program in your council, district, or unit.

  • Discover resources to help Scouts complete requirements for Radio and other merit badges. 
  • Learn how to talk to astronauts on the International Space Station and how to communicate using amateur radio satellites.  
  • Explore how to get an FCC amateur radio license and encourage youth in to do the same.
  • Review other Radio Scouting awards including the Morse Code Interpreter Strip, the
    Amateur Radio Operator Rating Strip, and the Amateur Radio Service to Scouting award.
  • Help your communities through radio assistance at events and in emergency service.

All this and much more are found in the new Radio and Scouting course at Philmont Training Center. 

 

Please sign up for email notices about the PTC course.

PTC Radio and Scouting
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License Exam at PTC

We will offer the potential for Scouters to take an examination for any one of the three levels of licenses: Techician, General and Extra. To make maximum use of the PTC, attendees should do at home study in preparation to test for the Technician licence. Self study time for this license is approximately 6-10 hours. If there is sufficient demand, on Monday we will offer exams for all three license levels: Technician, General and Extra.

There will be antenna construction projects with low cost materials. These antenna construction projects will be well within the reach of Scouts to make their own.

We will cover:

  • The basics of how radio communication works including wave propagation
  • Modes of transmission, including modern digital modes only invented within the last five years
  • Radio Merit Badge requirements
  • Resources for open source (free) software in popular use for amateur radio
  • Resources for learning Morse Code
  • How to get Scouts interested in Jamboree on the Air and Internet on the Air (both Scouting programs)
  • Various antenna designs in popular use
  • Satellite communication
  • How to serve your community as a licensed radio operator
  • Voice over IP modes such as D-Star, Fusion and DMR

Who Will be Interested in Attending?

Scouters who already have amateur radio licenses or are interesting in studying for one and who are interested in resources to promote radio education and potential licensing in their Scouting environments.

What if Attendees Don’t Have a License?

We have ways of simulating amateur radio broadcast modes that do not use actual broadcasting. Essentially, it is a laptop to laptop mode that mimics broadcast. No license is required. Non-licensed attendees also may talk on our radio broadcast as long as a licensed operator keys the transmitter.

However, those who study at home and pass the FCC Technician license will be able to immediately do broadcast activities. Those who take the pass the exam on Monday, will likely have their license by the middle of the week.

After PTC, Then What?

This website will provide a central document and link resource hub for materials used at PTC and after. The course participants will be able to use the website to maintain email communcation with the instructors and other participants. The sharing of best practices as they are developed in home councils will be instrumental in improving the website.

Initial Faculty

James Brown, WØRLD, Dale Finley, KB5NFT, and Demi Pulas Jr., K4BSA, will be the initial faculty coordinators and bring in others as required.