6:00 AM: Fairgrounds Gate 'G' opens for Blue (Staff) and Yellow (Commercial Vendors) ONLY. Commercial buildings open and set up commences.
7:00 AM: Fairgrounds Gate 'G' opens for Clubs & Associations passholders only to occupy their traditional spaces. NO "FOR SALE" ITEMS DISPLAYED OR SELLING IS PERMITTED UNTIL 9:00AM!
9:00 AM: Pre-Paid Entry, Gate 'F' opens for RED ticket and passholders only. Once the Pre-Paid entry line has entered the General Admission line will enter through Gate 'E'. Flea Market and Tailgating buying and selling commences. Please note our flea market parking policy:
This is the ENTERTAINMENT BUILDING, see map for location.
Many of us have installed or own a standby generator to be used in times of extended power outages. Yet few likely realize the potential safety and even legal issues involved with their use, however. Would your homeowner's insurance pay for damages caused by improper installation or usage? Could your installation cause injury or even death to others?
Tom's presentation deals with the correct methods and equipment for connecting generators to homes. This is a rapidly expanding field that has out-paced electrical codes, code enforcement officials and most electricians. As well as holding his amateur license for over 20 years, Tom has also been a licensed Master Electrician for 25 years, has attended many seminars and classes for code enforcement officials, and spent 30 years with the Durham NH Fire Dept. You'll get the information you need from a highly-qualified person with actual experience in this area.
12:00 PM: "My Town Won't Let Me Erect A Tower. What Do I Do Now?" presented by Jason Jarvin, WA1NH. (Located in the Entertainment Building, see map) Jason will give us a walk through of the appeal process and include information on how to get your zoning changed to accommodate amateur radio antenna systems. Jason tells us "I will use NH law and regulations in my examples. It will not touch on condominium covenants nor will it entail in depth discussion of PRB-1." As you can see in his brief 'Bio." below, Jason has real world experience in this topic and we hope if you are currently having an issue in your town, or are considering installing a tower, this presentation will prepare you for the work ahead!
Licensed in 1991 as N1KOZ, Jason is presently Advanced Class, WA1NH (ex-KD1VR) and is Commissioner at Rockingham Planning Commission and Vice-Chairman of Seabrook, NH municipal Planning Board, as well as former Emergency Coordinator of East Rockingham, NHARES.
1:30 PM: ?Achievements In The Early Days of Amateur and Broadcast Radio? presented by Donna Halper. (Located in the Entertainment Building, see map) We are delighted to announce that we will have local author and historian Donna Halper with an exciting talk about the achievements of New England's amateurs from about 1912 - 1930--- How these pioneering men and women not only advanced ham radio but created commercial broadcast radio too.
Donna Halper is a respected and experienced media historian, whose research has resulted in appearances on both radio and TV. These includeChronicle (WCVB, Channel 5 in Boston), Voice of America, PBS/NewsHour, CTV News (Toronto), National Public Radio/Weekend America, New England Cable News, History Channel, ABC Nightline, WBZ Radio (Boston), WBZ-TV, WGBH-FM (Boston), WGBH-TV, WBUR-FM(Boston), WRKO (Boston), WATD-FM (Marshfield MA), WSCA-FM(Portsmouth NH), WIBC (Indianapolis), and WNYC-FM (New York). She has also been quoted in a number of newspapers, magazines, and text-books. Ms. Halper often writes about media history for encyclopedias?for example, she has six essays in the Biographical Encyclopedia of American Radio, about pioneering women and minorities in early broadcasting.
Ms. Halper is the author of six books, the most recent of which is a newly revised and expanded second edition of ?Invisible Stars: A Social History of Women in American Broadcasting,? published in March 2014. She is also the author of ?Boston Radio 1920-2010,? a history of Boston radio in words and pictures, published in 2011. Her other books include ?Icons of Talk: The Media Mouths that Changed America,? a history of talk shows (2008); and the first edition of ?Invisible Stars: A Social History of Women in American Broadcasting? (2001). In addition, she has written about baseball history for several SABR books, including ?Opening Fenway Park in Style: The 1912 World Champion Red Sox,? and ?The Miracle Braves of 1914.? Ms. Halper has written book reviews for academic journals, and she also writes occasional free-lance articles for magazines and newspapers. One of her essays, about the importance of fact-checking, was the #5 most-shared article of 2013 on Skeptic Magazinewebsite.
Ms. Halper has had a successful career in broadcasting, including more than 29 years as a radio programming and management consultant in markets of all sizes, both college and commercial stations, all over North America. She has hired and trained staffs, worked with and developed talent, helped to choose or improve formats, conducted music and market research, and helped her client stations to get better ratings. Prior to becoming a consultant, she spent thirteen years as an announcer, music director and assistant program director in four major markets. In addition to Ms. Halper?s long career in both radio and print, she is well-known for discovering the rock group Rush, who dedicated their first two albums to her. She is seen four times in the 2010 documentary about the band, ?Beyond the Lighted Stage.?
3:00 PM: ? Introduction to Software Defined Radio Using Inexpensive USB TV Tuner Sticks? presented by Ron Senykoff, KB1UMH(Located in the Entertainment Building, see map) One of the latest cool things to do is to use Asian or European USB TV Tuner sticks and free SDR software to put together receivers for simple radio reception. This has grown into even more applications including trunked radio, digital signal decoding and Aircraft tracking of Mode S transponders. Ron will give us an introduction to this, reviewing some of the basic hardware and software options. Showing you how, using an existing computer and antenna, you can get a system up and running for less than $25!
4:30 PM:The R-390A Workshop with George Rancourt, K1ANX. (Located in the Entertainment Building, see map) The R-390A Workshop is NEAR-Fest's longest-running forum; this is the fourteenth session. This time George will discuss "spy radios" and bring along a couple of these neat compact covert equipment in a suitcase from his personal collection as well as the R-390A and its' PTO. There will be some more discussion on the German "Wollenweber" direction-finding equipment.
7:00 PM: NEAR-Fest's Legendary Ad-Hoc "Ham-Jam Session"
(Located in the Entertainment Building, see map) For full details see
The Ham-Jam BoardSaturday, May 3rd, 2014.
9:00 AM: ?DMR New England Update? moderated by Bill Barber, NE1B. (Located in the Entertainment Building, see map) New DMR repeaters continue to pop up all over New England. Now with NEW DMR radios available for $180, more and more people are getting active in this interesting mode. As Rick Zach, K1RJZ says "Resistance is futile" Bill Barber, NE1B, the contact for New England Digital Emergency Communications Network (NEDECN) will give us updates on whats going on in the DMR world and what you need to do to get involved .[/b] (Located in the
Entertainment Building, see map)
10:30 AM:Volunteer Exam Session conducted by Bruce Anderson, W1LUS and the NEAR-Fest VE Team The exam session is located in the Meeting Room (in the Arts & Crafts Building) right across from the flagpole. The entrance is around the back of the building, (see map)The Volunteer Examination session begins at 10:30 sharp. Be sure to have two forms of identification (one with photo), original and one copy of your Amateur license (if you have one), documentation and $15.00 exam fee ready. For more information on the Volunteer exams or if you are a ARRL accredited VE wishing to help, please contact the VE Coordinator at w1lus@verizon.net. Despite what it says on the ARRL Web site, pre-registration is not required. Just show up and give it your best shot. Try the higher level exams even if you don't feel you are ready - you never know..........at least you'll know what to expect the next time. Good luck!
10:30 AM: ?D-Star Communications Symposium? moderated by Paul Anzalone, N1PA. (Located in the Entertainment Building, see map) Worldwide, the D-Star network continues to grow. The "New England D-Star Go To Guys", Terry Stader KA8SCP, Dave Taylor N1FCC, Paul Anzalone. N1PA and possibly other invited speakers will give us the "State of the State address on DStar and help guide you to get started with this very flexible communications mode.
2:00 PM: Awards Ceremony and Door Prize Drawing (Located in the Relaxation Grove, see map) More than simply a prize drawing, this is the time we honor individuals, present updates to the NEAR-Fest mission, and provide a little insight as to what lies ahead. See a list of past LIFETIME PASS recipients:
http://forum.near-fest.com/index.php?topic=1133.0
See you all at Deerfield bright and early Friday morning!
73,
John, KB1FQG,
Forums Co-Chairman 
