Boy Scouts from Troop 106 in Ironton on Saturday joined ham radio operators at the Ohio University Southern Campus and Community Center for the 56th “Jamboree on the Air.”

The event is touted as the largest scouting event worldwide with approximately 750,000 Scouts around the world participating.

“They get on the air and say ‘CQ for Jamboree’ and people respond,” Tim Nicely, assistant scoutmaster of Troop 106, said. “There are people from everywhere already on the air.”

The Jamboree has dedicated frequencies and the ham radio operator tunes in a frequency and the Scouts speak into a receiver and ask for a reply.

“As soon as the radios came on this morning there was someone on the air from Arizona,” Nicely said.

The event was slated to take place in the field behind Central Christian Church, but a last-minute scheduling conflict forced the Scouts and ham radio operators to re-locate.

“Through the efforts of Troop 106 Scoutmaster Dave Lucas, we were able to obtain another location,” Ken Massie, public information officer for the Southern Ohio Amateur Radio Association, said. “It is only about 500 feet from our previous planned location.”

The location change and rainy weather didn’t hamper the event, however, as scouts and operators set up tents, erected antennae and began the global link to Scouts around the world via radio.

To ensure all Scouts are on the air at the same time and to allow for time of day differences, the event began late Friday night and lasts until approximately midnight Sunday.