Over the weekend, scouts from Swift Current and area got together to talk with other scouts from around the world.

The 61st-annual Scouts Jamboree On The Air in Gowan's Grove was held just south of Swift Current, where a radio was set up so that the Swift Current Group 2 Scouts could speak to other participating scouts in other areas of the world.

Swift Current Scouts have been participating in the event for the past 20 years.

The event saw the group of around 20 scouts use ham radios to get in contact with the groups of scouts.

Lloyd Fehr, along with Ray Gowan, who are both licensed to use the ham radio, hosted the event on Gowan's property.

Fehr, being a member of an amateur radio club, said that this was a great opportunity to get kids interested in radio.

"We talked to a Mexico scout group this year, and the kids were just amazed that the kids were just amazed that they're on a beach with their tents, and then they're talking to us, it was a different experience for them so they could see what goes on, and without cell phones either, just direct line of communication, no network, no internet nothing like that, so it was really cool for them to see."

Fehr said that the main draw to the radio for the kids was the machine's lack of a need for the internet.

"They were amazed, it took them a while to understand what we were doing because it's not just on the internet, and connecting with people that way, it's using radio waves and a different technology that can work when the internet is down, and work in remote areas like southwest Saskatchewan," said Fehr. "So yeah, they were impressed."

The scouts spoke to different groups from as far away as Copenhagen, Denmark, and contacted multiple groups of scouts in five countries.

In the past, Fehr said that the scouts had been in contact with a group of participants in the event on a submarine, using the ship's radio system.

Fehr said that the tradition of the Jamboree On The Air continues next year in Swift Current.