4S6STP Amateur Radio Station is run by the Scouts of 39th Colombo Scout Troop and hence it has the club membership of the Radio Society of Sri Lanka, Jamboree-On-The-Air Jamboree-On-The-Internet 2025 was planned ahead at S. Thomas’ Preparatory School premises. As the station was conducting both activities, this attracted the Colombo District Scout Branch of Sri Lanka Scout Association to be part of on request. This lead a good opportunity to introduce Amateur Radio to the District Commissioner, Asst District Commissioner – International in Colombo District which directly paves the path to the National Programme Committee.
The Colombo District JOTA JOTI Coordinator requested 4S6STP Amateur Radio Station to host a few schools who haven’t experienced JOTA operations & JOTI operations before.
The list of Schools and the participant count per school:
39th Colombo Scout Troop – S. Thomas’ Preparatory School Colombo 3 (ours) – 29 Scouts
5th Colombo Scout Troop – St. Benedicts College Colombo – 26 Scouts
42nd Colombo Scout Troop – Royal College Colombo – 4 Scouts
Total Participants: 73 The District Officials and titles who arrived during Station operations:
Mr. Sampath Wijesinghe – District Commissioner of Colombo District Scout Branch – Sri Lanka Scout Association
Mr. Rohitha Steinwall – Asst District Commissioner – International – Colombo District Scout Branch
Mr. Basura Ramanayake – District Scout Leader (JOTA JOTI District Coordinator)
Members who operated the 4S6STP Amateur Radio Station from the Radio Society of Sri Lanka:
Tithira Jayasekera 4S6TKA
Bharat Aponso 4S6ABC
Manoj Buddhika 4S6TAM
SWL Gayan Cooray
The School station is surrounded by high rise building hence the window to access repeaters are at a bare minimum.
However, in the tallest sector of the school, the access to the repeaters were not difficult meaning an antenna tower installation has to take place, due to partially coverage to salty breeze, best if the tower could be removed and erected when it was needed to avoid parts rusting and falling off during school hours which may raise a threat to the school children.
The activities were conducted using a Mag mount antenna by Bharat 4S6ABC.
JOTA Activities conducted for the Scouts
All Scouts were required to talk in Radio where we could talk to 4S7GGA – Girl Guides Association Colombo, 4S6RVD – Ravindu Balasooriya operating from Kurunegala and the Sri Lanka Scout Association operating via 4S7RS from the Scout Headquarters in Colombo.
Scouts in groups sang Scout Songs in return for other side of Scouts singing and got to know each other. All Scouts were taught about what is Amateur Radio, how to operate a radio using the standardized presentation used in JOTA JOTI. NATO Alphabet Printouts were handed over to familiarize the phonetic Alphabet. Scouts were requested to pronounce their names in phonetic alphabet to familiarize them.
A session about LoRa APRS, Gateway and Tracker was also shown to the Scouts – exposing to modern technologies they could make use of as most are pursuing STEM subjects and activities. This was not conducted in a deep level as most Scouts were aged 10.5 years to 16 years of age collectively A Practical demonstration was also conducted about SSTV via the obtained PMR sets to expose young Scouts about the possibilities of radio. There were a few hiccups lead for a shaky start but "A Scout smiles and whistles under all circumstances".
Problems Faced
The main problem was the unbearable shipping cost and duty cost for the designated shipments, no vat discounts even when addressed to a school institution
TRCSL staff had been replaced by an untrained staff until this month when the stipulated clearance was exceeded by 1 month for a transceiver, delays of them submitting to the Ministry of Defense. The Radio Society of Sri Lanka assisted in numerous ways to assist to aid the process.
We could only purchase one handheld device hence it is difficult to conduct a fox hunt for multiple groups
The location of the school is surrounded by high-rise buildings; hence an antenna tower needs to be erected or a cross band repeater needs to placed in another location. The built antenna bracket had a flaw in the design (Trial and Error – too heavy for a balcony to handle) then to be used as a removable antenna bracket in the new location.
Programming base transceiver needed a specific RT Systems Cable and cannot be used with an ordinary usb cable with RT Systems software (software bought already)
Handheld Yaesu FT65E needs a specific programming cable Yaesu SCU-59
Suitable weatherproof boxes are not in Sri Lanka and has to be imported from China or related country, the grant amount is insufficient
The ML&S Shipment with antennas did not arrive before the JOTA JOTI event (18th October 2025) and it is still pending clearance after all duty is paid resulting to totally depending on a mobile transceiver. UPS Broker – Fits Express is handling the clearance.
Vertical HF Antenna did not perform well on 40M as advised, only radio channels from Short Wave could be heard. Needs an End-Fed Antenna or a Dipole. Need to invest in quality RG Cables.
Antenna Bracket issue: Antenna Bracket was too heavy to depend on the ledge. There was no way to install the 20 feet GI pipe after the antenna bracket was mounted.
Humble thanks and forever grateful for ARDC for accepting our Grant Application and for assisting us to initiate this project and execute it. Forever grateful for opening young Scouts’ eyes, attract the oncoming batches, attract the Old Boys who are Hams around the world to contribute, enabling digital presence to make an impact.
This would not be possible without ARDC, Chelsea Parraga – our grant coordinator who helped us numerous times, responsive and attentive to details, requests. Chelsea made sure that we could execute this project and help when we were stuck. Chelsea was with us from A to Z and truly grateful for her and we wish ARDC the best, Chelsea the best of luck.
Humble Thanks to Ivan Cukerić from OCE, OCE Team for accepting our initiative, hosting and manageing our expenses, being the mediator for us enabling the Young Scouts' dreams a reality.
Looking forward to more activities with ARDC to enable young Scout’s dreams.
The Radio Society of Sri Lanka for assisting for clearance, recommendation letters and the technical advices
Tharanga 4S6TMP – President of RSSL
Victor 4S7VK – Secretary of RSSL
Jaliya 4S7JL
Bharat 4S6ABC
Reverend Father Nihal Fernando – Headmaster of S. Thomas’ Preparatory School Colombo 3 for approving the station equipment importing
Miss Yvonne Charles – Group Scout Leader of 39th Colombo Scout Group
Asst Scout Leader Nithieskanna Sivaraj and sister,Asst Scout Leader Vivek Subendran and father,
Asst Scout Leader Minuka Trikawalagoda for financial assistance to help with OCE reimbursements,
Open Collective Europe and Ivan at OCE for accepting out initiative
Future
Re-Apply for a grant o To purchase a HF Antenna (Dipole or an End-Fed) o To purchase a few handheld devices (4 devices) to assist with Fox Hunts o To purchase a mobile transceiver and another for a cross-band repeater o To purchase a Antenna Telescopic Mast o To purchase a good RG58 Cable and connectors o To purchase weatherproof storage boxes for the transceivers and accessories o To invest in Quality Connectors, Crimp Tools, Antenna Analyzer
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