Hamfests & Conventions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Phil Brooks, KA1PXZ, Chief of NEAR-Fest, is pleased to announce that, effective October 4th, 2024, the New England Amateur Radio Festival, known as NEAR-Fest, will be held at the Hillsborough County Agricultural Society Fairgrounds and Youth Center located at New Boston NH, approximately 15 miles west of Manchester.

The reason for the permanent change in venue is due to ongoing scheduling conflicts with other events at the Deerfield (NH) Fairgrounds, NEAR-Fest’s home for the past eighteen years.

The hard decision to move the popular New England hamfest was taken by a unanimous vote of NEAR-Fest’s Board of Directors on May 17th, 2024.

In endorsing the decision NEAR-Fest’s Benevolent Dictator Emeritus, Michael Crestohl, W1RC, aka “Mister Mike” commented: “This was inevitable. The Deerfield Fairgrounds is becoming more and more popular with exhibitors and, as a designated agricultural fairgrounds, they have to give priority to agricultural events. We had a fabulous eighteen-year run. I am confident that Phil and Kelley, along with their team, will take NEAR-Fest forward at our new location for many years to come.”

Other than the location nothing else will change. It is still the same NEAR-Fest we have all known and loved since 2007!

NEAR-Fest XXXVI will be held Friday October 4th and Saturday October 5th, 2024 at the Hillsborough County Agricultural Society Fairgrounds, located at 17 Hilldale Lane, (Route 13) New Boston NH. GPS Coordinates 42.9842430, -71.6793460.

See you there!

NEAR-Fest (The New England Amateur Radio Festival, Inc.)

PO Box 172, Barton VT 05822 (781) 639-9172

World Wide Web: www.near-fest.com E-mail: ka1pxz@near-fest.com

 

 

 

From The ARRL Letter, May 23, 2024:

The Northeast HamXposition and ARRL New England Division Convention announced a major addition to its program for 2024. The event runs from August 22 – 25, in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and will feature the Mini-Contest University (mini-CTU), based on Contest University. Contest University has been featured at Dayton Hamvention® since 2007 and presented in 15 countries to over 10,000 participants. A series of contest-oriented talks and presentations will be offered at HamXposition on Friday August 23. More information is available at hamxposition.org.

The Maine State Convention & Hamfest is about 3 months away, Saturday June 15th. The Androscoggin Amateur Radio Club is excited to host this at our new venue, the Augusta Civic Center. There is 32,000 square feet of vendor space!  Plenty of rooms for people to sell as well as club tables and EmComm groups. 

People are starting to get tables so be sure to purchase yours in advance.  73 Electronics has already confirmed their attendance. Individual vendors are also starting to buy their tables.

The following clubs will be in attendance: Androscoggin ARC, Wireless Society of Southern Maine, UFB New England, Women Radio Operators of Maine (WRONE) and York County ARC.  Androscoggin ARES/RACES will be in attendance for EmComm groups. We are hoping to see more Clubs and EmComm teams get a table.

Vendors can start setting up at 6:00 AM. Doors to the public will open at 8:00 AM. Hours for the convention will be 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. A variety of talks will be held including a club officer meeting, ARRL Forum, Parks-on-the-Air presentation, NanoVNA talk, Maine Mesh Project update, ARES/RACES/EMCOMM meeting as well as TWO VE Sessions (Morning – 9 AM and Afternoon 2 PM).

A general admission ticket gets you a chance to win a door prize. The Grand Door Prize is an Icom 7300 HF Radio. Other door prizes will be available. The winner does not need to be present.

A separate raffle is being held for a Honda 2200 watt super quiet generator (Model EU-2200i). You can contact an Androscoggin ARC member to buy raffle tickets or purchase them the day of the convention. Again, you do not need to be present to win.

Special Convention Hotel Rates are available – $140 per night. You can either stay Friday night into Saturday or Saturday night into Sunday, whichever you prefer.

Mention special discount code – Maine State Hamfest. If you are interested in camping, this option is also available. NO TENT CAMPING ALLOWED. You must be in a camper. Camping is free, but you must register with the Civic Center – check in NO LATER than 3 PM Friday. No water hookup. Electric hookup is available for $50 through the Civic Center.  

There are a number of flea markets and hamfests occurring in New England in 2024.  Here are just a few. For a complete list of events registered with ARRL, visit <https://www.arrl.org/hamfests/search/page:1/Location.division_id:NE/model:Event>.

 

02/17/2024 – Algonquin Amateur Radio Club Flea Market

Location: Marlborough, MA
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Sponsor: Algonquin Amateur Radio Club
Website: http://n1em.org
Learn More

HAMFEST/CONVENTION

02/24/2024 – HAM-CON, ARRL Vermont State Convention

Location: Colchester, VT
Type: ARRL Convention
Sponsor: Radio Amateurs of Northern Vermont
Website: http://www.ham-con.org
Learn More

HAMFEST/CONVENTION

03/02/2024 – 35th Amateur Radio & Electronics Hamfest

Location: Chicopee, MA
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Sponsor: Mount Tom Amateur Repeater Association
Website: http://www.mtara.org
Learn More

HAMFEST/CONVENTION

03/17/2024 – Contoocook Valley Radio Club Hamfest/Flea Market

Location: Henniker, NH
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Sponsor: Contoocook Valley Radio Club
Website: http://www.K1BKE.org
Learn More

HAMFEST/CONVENTION

04/06/2024 – Seacoast Amateur Radio Flea Market

Location: Hampton, NH
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Sponsor: Port City Amateur Radio Club
Website: http://www.w1wqm.org
Learn More

HAMFEST/CONVENTION

04/07/2024 – Southington ARA Hamfest

Location: Southington, CT
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Sponsor: Southington Amateur Radio Association
Learn More

HAMFEST/CONVENTION

04/13/2024 – Lakes Region Spring HamFest 2024

Location: Moultonborough, NH
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Sponsor: Lakes Region Repeater Association
Website: http://w1bst.org
Learn More

HAMFEST/CONVENTION

04/13/2024 – SECARS Auction

Location: Gales Ferry, CT
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Sponsor: Southeastern CT Amateur Radio Society
Website: https://secars.org
Learn More

HAM-CON 2024, the ARRL Vermont State Convention, will be held Saturday, February 24.

HAM-CON is a fully hybrid show, meeting live at the Hampton Inn in Colchester, Vermont AND also ON-LINE at http://ham-con.org/ If you are not in a position to join us live, you have the opportunity to join us from the comfort of home!

We have a great line-up of speakers and events. These include:

Considering a New HF Rig? – NC0B
Grounding and Bonding – N0AX
Winning the WRTC – VE3DZ
HAM-SCI Solar Eclipse – N1XGB
ARRL Forum – AB1OC
The KI1P Ham Van – KI1P

In addition we will also have the W1V Special Event Station, the DMR table, Tech table and N1YD Science Demonstration.

And, not seen at any other Ham Event anywhere, we have GAME SHOWS:

Who Wants to Run a DXpedition?
The Weakest Radio Link

All this and a flea market and hundreds of hams from the North Country. It is a GREAT WAY to spend your Saturday morning!

Advance sale tickets are only $7 – a real special deal considering the cost of everything these days. If you plan to attend, we also have a special room rate at the Hampton Inn. But you must act soon as the special rate for the hotel ends February 10 and the special rate for HAM-CON ends February 15.

Full details on HAM-CON are at  http://ham-con.org/

To buy tickets go directly to: http://ham-con.org/hamconpay.html

Please be sure to let your ham radio friends know about HAM-CON!

So, Don’t sit home thinking about Ham Radio. Instead join us for HAM RADIO FUN at HAM-CON 2024!

Mike Crestohl, W1RC, writes on January 27, 2024:

Dear Friends of NEAR-Fest:

Please note this is an updated announcement. Please disregard any other notices you may have read.

Our Spring 2024 hamfest, NEAR-Fest XXXV, will be held on Thursday April 25th and Friday April 26th 2024. There will be no hamfest activity on Saturday due to an unfortunate scheduling conflict with the Deerfield Fairgrounds. We had originally announced that the event would take place only on Friday but due to popular demand and the cooperation of the Deerfield Fair Association we are pleased to announce this new full two-day schedule.

Our 2024 Fall NEAR-Fest XXXVI is scheduled for October 11th and 12th and will be the same as always for the past eighteen years, on Friday and Saturday.

The gates will open on Thursday morning at 7:00 AM for PREPAID TICKET HOLDERS ONLY so you might want to buy your tickets online well in advance starting February 1st 2024 on our Web site, www.near-fest.com, or in March at the Ham Radio Outlet store in Salem NH and at Ross Hochstrasser’s Clock Shop in Whitman MA and get your favorite spot. NEAR-Fest XXXV will end at 3:00 PM on Friday.

Prepaid ticket holders will line up and enter via Gate C as we did in the Fall. They MUST have ALL of their needed tickets and inside parking passes or they will be sent to Gate F. This includes all Campers, RVs, tenters, who MUST also have their overnight camping passes as there will be NO tickets or passes sold at Gate C. Anyone needing to buy tickets or parking passes will go to Gate F and will be admitted starting at 8:00AM. Once the line has entered at Gate C it will close and all others entering the grounds will proceed to Gate F.

For this event only admission per person is $10.00 whether you buy your ticket online or in advance or at the gate. Overnight parking and tent passes are $15.00 regardless of whether you plug into an electric outlet or not. Campers, RVs and overnight stayers will go directly into the Fairgrounds as we will not be using the campgrounds this time. The cost of the pass for RVs, Campers, Motorhomes, etc, is $30.00. All vehicles that remain in the Fairgrounds overnight (after 9:00 PM) will require an overnight parking pass in addition to an inside parking pass for Friday.

Everyone over 21 will need an admission ticket except unlicensed spouses, active duty military, full-time students (with ID) and other valid pass holders.

If you buy something big and heavy in the flea market one of our volunteer staff members will be glad to transport it and you to your vehicle at no charge as we have been doing for many years. As always inside parking for disabled persons is free of charge and they may use a single person “mobility device” as well. NEAR-Fest reserves the right to limit the use of golf carts and “other power driven mobility devices” due to safety concerns and potential liability issues.

Please visit our Web site, www.near-fest.com, or our Facebook page, NearFest NH for any further updates. We apologize for any inconvenience that this modified version of NEAR-Fest may have caused but it is only for this time. We appreciate your indulgence and understanding.

See you at Deerfield!

73,

MisterMike, W1RC

We’re pleased to announce that Dr. Tamitha Skov, WX6SWW, will be the invited guest speaker for the Northeast HamXposition / ARRL New England Division Grand Banquet on Saturday, August 24, 2024.

Tamitha is a new kind of weather forecaster for our modern world. As we become more reliant on technology like our cell phones, GPS (GNSS), and other satellite services (and our use of the Amateur Radio bands) we find we are more susceptible to the effects of Space Weather. Just like terrestrial weather on Weather can Earth, Space be as mild as a rainstorm or as wild as a hurricane.

WX6SWW will show you in non-science jargon how this new kind of weather impacts your daily life. You will never look at the Sun or the Earth in the same way again. After all, Space Weather is just like the weather in your own backyard, it’s just a little further up.

2024flyer