Recent Posts

Pages: 1 ... 7 8 9 [10]

NEAR-Fest XXXI - April 29 & 30, 2022 / Where are the Forums and the HamJam?

« Last post by W1RC on April 21, 2022, 07:43:14 AM »

In the Arts and Crafts Building. See map. It is located across the road from the Admin Office Building. If you were going directly to it when entering the Fairgrounds you would turn LEFT as soon as you come in and you would see the back of the building straight ahead. Looking at the map it is ar Artisan Wat and Ferris Way. The entrance is across from the Admin. Office.

NEAR-Fest XXXI - April 29 & 30, 2022 / Re: Ham Jam!

« Last post by Adam KB1MRJ on April 20, 2022, 11:28:12 PM »

Hi all, I'm planning to attend JamFest as usual. I'll bring a cajon (loved playing it last time!) and some kind of keyboard rig. Got an extra mike and stand as well. I'm going to reach out to Bri as well; see if we can't maybe get him back into the fun!

NEAR-Fest XXXII - October 14 & 15 2022 / The MIT Flea SwapFest Lives Again!

« Last post by W1RC on April 20, 2022, 05:42:11 AM »

On Sunday, April 17th 2022, the Flea at MIT also known as Swapfest was reborn. Thanks to Mitch, N2YIC, Daniel, KC1EPN, Oliver, KM6WOX and several other dedicated volunteers the famous Boston area electronic flea market that ran for 35 years now lives again.

Schedule for 2022 is:
May 15
June 19
July 17
August 21
September 18
October 16

Started in 1985 by Steve Finberg, W1GSL, SK, "the Flea" reached its peak in the 1990s but was still going pretty strong despite the ongoing loss of real estate where it could be held as many MIT parking lots were turned into buildings. The 2020 and 2021 seasons were canceled due to Covid-19. Unfortunately, Steve became a SK in April 2021 taking with him many of the operational secrets so the Swapfest had to be pretty much reinvented. Mitch, N2YIC, a close friend of Steve and a long-time MIT staffer, along with a recent graduate, Daniel, KC1EPN, recruited some of the students who are licensed to bring back the flea. A freshman from California, Oliver, KM6WOX, offered to run the flea and soon found himself the Swapfest team leader.

I have been attending and enjoying the Flea since the 1980s and I immediately offered whatever assistance and support the NEAR- Fest team might be able to provide. Our first in person get-together took place at the Algonquin Club flea market in Marlborough MA in February 2022. Ironically it was Oliver?s first time at a flea market and it was pure pleasure watching him take it all in, almost in shock at what he was seeing. He was hooked.

I,along with NEAR-Fest's reknown Sergeant-at-Arms Paul, W1PRA, joined Oliver, Mitch and Daniel on a Zoom conference call where we offered whatever services we felt were needed to get the Flea going again.

Despite the fact the first Swapfest fell on Easter Sunday turnout was excellent. The team was well organized and the parking garage was ready for the vendors who were lined up outside. They opened up for the prepaid vendors pretty much on schedule and the ingress of vendors went very smoothly. Mitch presented Oliver with a straw cowboy hat much like the one worn by Steve for all those years which became instantly recognizable as his badge of office. Once the vendors were inside I conducted a brief training on enforcement. Three volunteers and I went through garage where I showed them how to inspect the vendors passes and make sure their passes matched the number of spaces they had occupied. Several additional seller spaces were sold without much opposition and the three learned the lessons well. They will be fine doing enforcement starting next month.

And yes, there was LOTS of good "stuff" and it was cheap!

Here is the famous and now very familiar flyer: https://web.mit.edu/w1mx/www/swapfest/swapfest-2022.04.pdf

NEAR-Fest XXXI - April 29 & 30, 2022 / Re: Ham Jam!

« Last post by n1bus on April 12, 2022, 10:53:26 AM »

Hello everyone, I plan to have an extra mike stand that can be used for the jam. I also should have some extra mike cables, XLR type, and plan to bring my 5 watt amp and my 10 watt amp. I also should have 2 extra microphones. The extra microphones require phantom power and I do have an adapter for them if the PA system doesn't have phantom power.

NEAR-Fest XXXI - April 29 & 30, 2022 / Re: Ham Jam!

« Last post by Whoz Your Daddy on April 09, 2022, 08:11:33 PM »

Thanks for checking in Ben! No worries, I will bring a PA for the Jam.
It's getting close..........

73's
Rick

NEAR-Fest XXXI - April 29 & 30, 2022 / Re: Ham Jam!

« Last post by KB1NZN on April 07, 2022, 05:44:32 PM »

Hey Jammers!

I just want to give you guys a heads up that I will probably not be able to supply sound gear for the jam. Most of my gear will be set up supporting the streaming component of the forums. This streaming thing is pretty cool, but it's sucking up a lot of my time and resources. I am hoping as things evolve eventually it will have it's own gear and not be using as much of mine and my time producing the streaming sessions. I know there are people willing to help once we have more stable and predictable gear setups, and we are a step closer to that this spring.

We spent a fair amount of money in the last few months starting to obtain the necessary components but we have only obtained video gear so far, which is going to be a vast improvement over what we had last fall. For now though I am still supplying all the sound gear (speakers, mixers, audio cables, microphones), 2 computers and 3 monitors to make forums happen. It will probably take another year or two before funding is available to purchase all the necessary gear so the forums can stand on their own and be able to produce a reliable, quality product with reasonable PHD (push here dummy) simplicity.

I'll be around though and if I'm not flat on my face after a busy day I'll stop in at the jam for a listen.

73,

-Ben

Getting In: Ticket and Pass Information / NEAR-Fest Door Prize Giveaway Procedure and Policy

« Last post by W1RC on April 06, 2022, 03:40:23 PM »

On the subject of Door Prizes:

NEAR-Fest XXXI Friday Prize Draw Winners:

Grand Prize: Yaesu FT-891: Paul Gayet, AA1SU. Essex Jct VT.
Second Prize, SDRPlay DX SDR Dave McGaw, N1HAC, Canaan NH.

Saturday Winners:
Grand Prize: Yaesu FY-891: N1NUG, Rob Zielfelder, Jr, Ellington CT
Second Prize: SDRPlay 1A: N2MMV, Erl Svendsen, West Chazy, NY.
VNA Antenna Analyzer:
$50 HRO Gift Certificate: John Corini, KE1IH, Clifton Park NY.

We are made some important changes to our door prize giveaway procedures effective April 2022.

In the past our grand prizes were valued anywhere from $1,000.00 to $1,600.00. Over the years we gave away many ICOM IC-7300s, Elecraft K3s, KX3s, KX2s, etc, and people loved it.

But now there is an issue. We are required by the IRS to issue a 1099-MISC (now called a 1099-NEC) tax reporting form we must file to any prize we give away that is valued over $600.00.

This kinda takes some of the fun out of it; the joy of winning has now become a tax liability for the winner because all prizes that are won are considered as income by Uncle and should be declared at tax time. Issuing 1099s is also a real PITA for us as well. Plus, as of next January going forward, you are going to see a lot more if them, thanks to the American Recovery Act of 2021.

HOWEVER .... if we can manage to keep the value of our grand prize under $600 we are not required to report it (and whether you do or not is your business). With this in mind our Prizes Committee has decided to so this so we will not trigger a 1099-NEC. The good news is that we can now have two grand prizes instead of one.

At NEAR-Fest XXXII our grand prizes are a YAESU FT-891 with the second grand prizes being an SDR (Software Designed Receiver) from SDRPlay of England. These are both truly wonderful items. By having TWO grand prize drawings, one on each day we will have four happy people will taking home a significant prize from Deerfield.

The Friday prize drawing will be held at 5:00 PM in the Relaxation Area and the winner will have to be present to claim his or her prize. If a winner does not come forth after five draw attempts we reserve the right to defer the drawing to another time. As always the Saturday prize draw will be held at the closing ceremony at 2:00PM and this time the winner need not be present to win.

We want to thank DX ENGINEERING for helping us get our hands on a couple FT-891s dor NEAR-Fest XXXI when they were virtually unobtanium everywhere else along with Steve KI5ENW and HAM RADIO OUTLET for doing the same with the SDRPlays.

See you all at the Fester!

73,

MrMike, W1RC
May 5th, 2022.

Yaesu FT-891 Info. https://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=102&encProdID=DF4DB262968932E999EAF928B5B6A1A7&DivisionID=65&isArchived=0

SDRPlay info. https://www.sdrplay.com/products/