SCOUTS HAM IT UP AT RADIO JAMBOREE.

Byline: Sylvia L. Oliande Daily News Staff Writer

While the day was marked by technical difficulties from high winds and unpredictable equipment, the 41st annual Boy Scout Jamboree on the Air event Saturday gave youths a chance to learn about the world of ham radio and to talk with other Scouts across the country.

The Ventura County Council of the Boy Scouts had four jamboree locations running. Scouts gathered at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Stake Center in Newbury Park, Berylwood Elementary School in Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks Methodist Church in Thousand Oaks and the Boy Scouts office in Camarillo to try to make radio contact with thousands of troops also on the airwaves this weekend. Girl Scouts were allowed to participate as well.

``It was fun,'' said Tyler Rettig, 7, a Scout from Newbury Park, after he talked on a portable radio with Jim, a radio operator from Thousand Oaks. ``I might do it again, but not today.''

But two minutes later, the boy was sitting behind the microphone of another radio, ready to talk to a group of Scouts transmitting from Utah.

The jamboree is sponsored by the World Bureau of the World Organization of the Scouting Movement. It connects Scouts from all over the United States with those from other countries, including Japan, Australia and Switzerland.

The boys received a communications merit badge for participating.

Radio operators from the Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club provided the equipment and the operational know-how. They took turns running the high-frequency, single-sideband transceiver as boys and girls in Scout uniforms waited for some sign of life amid the static.

Operators rattled off their call letters and numbers, and then listened for others to respond. When they did, the Scouts took the mike.

They talked to fellow Scouts and other enthusiasts about their hobbies, where they go to school and what they like to do in their spare time.

``I've been doing this for 24 years, and this hobby has given a lot to me,'' said Eddie Pierce, vice president of the Conejo Valley club. ``This is my way of giving back to it.''

Hand-held radios were the most successful method of communication Saturday morning, but the distance they reached was limited. The farthest was a conversation with a teacher from Pasadena who was driving through Riverside County and heard their transmissions.

But a tall antenna mounted on top of a communications van enabled the Scouts to reach much farther, eventually. They were able to contact jamborees around the country, from Tennessee to Utah, Arizona and Alaska.

``They always hear about international Scouting, but this is one of the few ways to give them that concept,'' said Ben Odle, the Scouting coordinator of the event.

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3 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Ham radio operator Robert Campbell of Thousand Oaks is surrounded by Scouts at the Boy Scout Jamboree on the Air in Newbury Park on Saturday.

(2-3--Color) (Ran in Conejo Edition only) The boys received a communications merit badge, left, for their participation in the 41st annual event. Seven-year-old Tyler Rettig, above, a Scout from Newbury Park, enjoys talking on a hand-held radio at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Stake Center in Newbury Park, one of four local sites used for the jamboree.

Tina Gerson/Daily News