Media Contacts

Jim Wilson, K5ND
jim.wilson@scouting.org 
Icom Contact
Ray Novak, N9JA
raynovak@icomamerica.com 

Plan includes arrangement for local councils to receive a loaner radio station

Irving, Texas, and Bellevue, Washington (May 18, 2012)—Today, at the 2012 Dayton Hamvention in Dayton, Ohio, Icom America announced a sponsorship agreement with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) for the organization’s 2013 National Scout Jamboree. As the BSA’s official amateur radio transceiver supplier for the jamboree, Icom will provide equipment and technical support for the K2BSA radio operation, the Radio merit badge, and Jamboree-on-the-Air.

Icom has supported the Boy Scouts of America’s jamboree amateur radio operation, K2BSA, since 1981. Over those eight Jamborees, more than 30,000 Scouts have been able to experience amateur radio as a potential lifetime hobby or as an entry to a vocation in technology and communication. For the 2013 jamboree, Icom will provide all amateur radio transceivers, associated power supplies, microphones, and speakers. They will also be installing VHF and UHF repeaters that will remain in place year round to support Summit activities and the local community.

In addition to supporting the jamboree, Icom America and the BSA will select local councils to receive a loan of a complete amateur radio station for use in merit badge advancement activities and to introduce Scouts to the fun and technology of amateur radio. Up to 10 stations will be available for this program beginning this year. Since its introduction, more than 150,000 Scouts have earned the Radio merit badge, which was introduced as the Wireless merit badge in 1918.

The BSA, by virtue of its active membership and its outdoor program, represents a significant source of potential new radio operators looking to use amateur radio for emergency communications while in the field, as well as for education, experimentation, and friendship. Leveraging Icom’s expertise in state-of-the-art amateur radio equipment, the BSA will be able to offer a first-class experience to jamboree participants and to the local councils selected for the station loan program.

Icom America is also a supporter of Jamboree-on-the-Air, the largest Scouting event in the world, with nearly 750,000 Scouts participating annually. In 2011, more than 6,000 amateur radio stations from 150 countries participated in the event, which takes place the third weekend of October each year. To find out more about JOTA, visit www.scouting.org/jota.

About Icom America

Icom America Inc. is part of Icom Incorporated, which was started in 1954 with a focus on designing, engineering, and manufacturing highly advanced, compact, solid-state radio equipment for use in the amateur radio industry. The company’s product line has expanded to include communications equipment and products based in the marine, avionics, land mobile, and wideband receiver industries. For more information on Icom America, please visit www.icomamerica.com/en/amateur/.

About the Boy Scouts of America

The Boy Scouts of America provides the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training, which helps young people be “Prepared. For Life.™” The Scouting organization is composed of 2.7 million youth members between the ages of 7 and 21 and more than a million volunteers in local councils throughout the United States and its territories. For more information on the Boy Scouts of America, please visit www.scouting.org.

About the K2BSA Amateur Radio Association
The K2BSA Amateur Radio Association is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that operates to support Radio Scouting activities and is considered the amateur radio station for the Boy Scouts of America’s National Council. It has operated at every national Scout jamboree since 1977. You can learn more at www.k2bsa.net.