Hamfests & Conventions

The Lakes Region Repeater Association announces its 2021 LRRA W1BST Hamfest in Constitution Park, 505 Long Sands Road, Ossipee, New Hampshire, on August 28, 2021 from 8-2 PM.

Tickets are $8 prepaid* and $10 at the gate. Vendors pay $20 prepaid* and $30 at the gate. Vendor gates open at 7 AM.

 PayPal is accepted; go to “Donate Button” on the club’s web site. “First come, first served, as we have limited space.”

Talk-in will be provided on the 147.03 repeater (PL 88.5 Hz). 

No camping.

 
—
* non-refundable

The Lobstercon2021! event will be held at Thomas Point Beach & Campground in Brunswick, Maine on July 9-11, 2021. This is the 22nd year that W1REX has hosted the QRP event.

“… I plan on coming up with a few special activities to make our awakening event from this pandemic very special and an event that you will not want to miss,” writes Rex. “If you’ve thought about coming to Lobstercon but never got a round tuit, you had better make this one.”

Billed as New England’s premiere QRP gathering, Lobstercon is a weekend of QRP camping, BBQ eating, operating, socializing, lobster eating, prize winning, and all-round great QRP time. The $50.00 registration fee includes wake-up coffee, juice, cereal, bagels and donuts (if you wake up early enough) and two giant meals on Saturday: a BBQ lunch and fresh Maine lobster dinner.

“Lobstercon lobsters are fresh out of the ocean for less than an hour before they go into the pot. You can taste the difference.” 

For full details and to register, visit <https://www.qrpme.com/?p=product&id=L21>.

Tim Duffy, K3LR, writes on the Contest Reflector:

Attention Contesters and DXers! Contest-related activities that have previously taken place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel during the Dayton Hamvention® are moving to the Hope Hotel beginning in 2022.

In May 2022, official Contesting activities will be at the Hope Hotel, including four nights of the Contest Super Suite, Contest University, The Top Band Dinner, The Contest Dinner and the KC DX Club CW copying competition. There may be additional related events as well.

The Hope Hotel is an excellent facility, well suited for Contesters and DXers. There is plenty of parking and it is located closer to the Hamvention than the downtown Dayton hotels. The Hope Hotel is adjacent to the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Guests do not go through the security gate.

We have spent almost two years working on this project and we believe you will enjoy the change of venue.

Room reservations will be taken by the Hope Hotel starting on Tuesday June 8, 2021 at 9 AM EDT. Do not call them before that time. You can get room reservations by phone only. If you try to book on line you will see that there are no rooms for those dates. Every room in the Hope Hotel has been blocked for Contesters and DXers for Hamvention week.  Starting Tuesday June 8, 2021 at 9 AM EDT, you can call 937-879-2696 and ask for a reservation in the Contest University 2022 room block. There is no minimum night commitment. The room rate is $143 per night plus tax and that includes a hot buffet breakfast each day of your stay. The room rate is the same for a single queen, two queens or a single king with a pull out.

If you have 2022 reservations at the Crowne Plaza (now the Radisson Hotel Dayton) you can contact the Radisson  at (937) 224-0800 to cancel and obtain any refunds. The Radisson is aware of the venue change for our activities.

Please spread the word to all Contest Club reflectors, etc.

We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday night, May 18, 2022, for the first night of the 2022 Contest Super Suite at the Hope Hotel.

https://www.hopehotel.com/ 

73,

Tim K3LR

For the Contest Hotel Committee

Bob DeMattia, K1IW, writes:

HamXposition September 10, 11, and 12, 2021 at the Best Western Royal Plaza in Marlborough, MA

You’ve probably heard by now that all COVID restrictions in Massachusetts are lifted as of May 29, and the state of emergency is lifted as of June 15.

What this means is we are a go for HamXposition 2021!

Phil, K9HI, our forum chair has already begun seeking out guest speakers – You can sign up to be a speaker here: 2021 Early Speaker Signup.

In the coming weeks, we will be enabling volunteer signup, and will begin announcing program details, so come visit this website often.

Online ticket sales will begin on August 1.

Discounted room rates of $99 are available now by calling the hotel directly – (508) 460-0700. Tell them you will be attending the HamXposition. This rate is only available through the local hotel phone number and will not work with their online reservation system or their national reservation number.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Bob DeMattia, K1IW
President, FEMARA

ARRL New England Division Director Fred Hopengarten, K1VR, has approved the application from organizers of the Northern Berkshire Amateur Radio Club to host a sanctioned ARRL hamfest in Adams, Massachusetts (Western Massachusetts Section) on August 22, 2021. 

ARRL New England Division Director Fred Hopengarten, K1VR, has approved the application from organizers of the Hermon Hamfest in Hermon, Maine, to become a sanctioned ARRL Hamfest.  The event, sponsored by the Pine State Amateur Radio Club will be held on June 5, 2021.

For additional information, visit <https://n1me.org/home/hamfest_2021.php>.

KU1U and W1SK write on the Maine ARRL Members List on February 27, 2021:

The Maine Virtual Hamfest is 1 week away! SATURDAY MARCH 6, 2021, 9 AM to 4 PM Eastern.

If you have not yet registered, please register now so we will know how many people will be attending. You can go here to register: http://mainearrl.org/MVH.

Talks will be via Zoom and are limited to 500 people.

There will be other rooms available using FreeConferenceCall.com which allow up to 1000 people per room. FCC will have video conference rooms for “Eyeball” QSOs and a Swap/Buy/Sell room for people to showcase items they want to sell.

There will also be an IRC webchat in the room #mainehams for people who might be mic/camera shy.

We understand this hamfest is taking place during a major contest weekend. We wish that we could have had it on another date, but the fester was moved once already and to ask our keynote speakers to move a third time did not seem fair. To all of the contesters, we wish you luck in representing the State of Maine well in the contest.

We will be recording the talk sessions for those to view at a later date in case you are not able to attend the hamfest.

There will also be a phone call-in option for those who may not have the ability to get online. Phones numbers will be shared this week on various nets. We kindly ask that you use only one option per conference room since tuning in via the web AND calling by phone will take up 2 seats in the limited seating available.

We look forward to “seeing” you next Saturday between 9AM and 4PM. Please visit mainearrl.org for more information, click on the hamfest button at the top which will take you to the Maine Virtual Hamfest website. If you have already registered, please do not submit duplicate registrations.

73 DE KU1U and W1SK
Cory and Joe
Maine Virtual Hamfest Co-Chairs

New England Division Director Fred Hopengarten, K1VR, has approved the applications for sanctioning for two New England hamfests and one convention:

• 29th Annual Southern Berkshire Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Goshen, Connecticut, on May 22, 2021
• Windsor Hamfest (Maine) on Saturday, September 11, 2021
• Northeast HamXposition  a.k.a. New England Division Convention in Marlborough, Massachusetts on September 10, 11, 12, 2021

The events will be publicized on the ARRL website’s Hamfest and Convention Calendar as well as the appropriate upcoming issues of QST.

Paul N Gayet, AA1SU, writes on the ARRL Vermont Members list:

Same great forums, flea market and attendees as the live show, with the exception that you don’t have to drive in winter! And it costs ….. nothing!

If you are planning to attend, please go to the HAM-CON site and register to attend and to be in the running for door prizes. While there, you can check out the lineup of forums running all day.

You will need a free Zoom account on your computer to fully take part in all the activities. But if you are not set up for this, you can still see many of the forums on YouTube.

HAM-CON is different than other On-Line events in that we have selling rooms and chat rooms where you can do some shopping or else meet up with pals you haven’t see in a while. Oh, and if you have stuff to sell, please consider being a vendor. All you need is a table full of stuff and a camera.

So far, we have a couple hundred folks from all over the country registered. We’d like to see more of those rare Vermont hams too!

So go to http://www.ham-con.org and register. Also, if you check this site Tuesday night after 6PM you can join our HAM-CON discussion where you can test out your Zoom settings and ask questions. If you are already registered, that’s GREAT!

Please pass this information to other hams and potential hams you know.

Hope to see many of you at HAM-CON!

Mitch
W1SJ@arrl.net

——————————————————————–
ARRL Vermont Section
Section Manager: Paul N Gayet, AA1SU
aa1su@arrl.org
——————————————————————–