Worldwide station registration is open for the 2015 Boy Scouts Jamboree On The Air/Jamboree On The Internet (JOTA/JOTI), which will take place over the October 16-18 weekend. Registration requires a scout.org user name, which gives full access to the registration system as well as to many of the JOTA/JOTI activities that will be under way during the weekend. JOTA is aimed at fostering Scout-to-Scout communication across borders and is the largest Scouting event in the world, with upward of 750,000 Scouts participating from some 6000 stations in 150 countries. In the US 13,326 Scouts and visitors took part in JOTA 2014.

Registration will also provide everything needed to take part in JamPuz (short for “Jamboree Puzzle), an identity code that JOTA/JOTI participants exchange with one another. Required JID codes will not be issued until later in September, and participation in JamPuz is optional.

The Boy Scouts encourage participating stations to submit JOTA reports and photos following this fall’s event.

“We need your report to demonstrate the success of JOTA to those in Scouting and Amateur Radio,” said Jim Wilson, K5ND, the national JOTA organizer. He asks stations to note down the number of Scouts participating, Amateur Radio licensees, and radios on the air, as well as the total number of contacts and states and countries contacted.

“We would also like to see your best photos and hear some stories about your event,” Wilson said. He urged local JOTA team organizers to add these tasks to their “to-do” lists.

The K2BSA call sign will be in use for JOTA in nearly every US call district as well as from KH6 and KL7. As of September 1, only K2BSA/1 remained available. Wilson suggested that JOTA groups may want to consider obtaining a 1 × 1 special event call sign for their operations.

The 2015 JOTA patch is expected to be available for ordering from BSA Supply starting on or about September 17. The order number is 622541. (The JOTI patch will be available at the same time. Its order number is 622542.)

The 2015 event will mark the 58th JOTA, which is held each year on the third weekend in October.