Topic: Official NEAR-Fest XVI Schedule of Events

[GuinnessJohn]

NEAR-Fest XVI Schedule of Events   

Friday, October 10th 2014.

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:

NEAR-Fest Flea Market Parking Policy

This is the ENTERTAINMENT BUILDING, see map for location.

10:30 AM: Radio DX Secrets and win a prize!  By George Politzi K2ZZ
Owner of Radio Oasis, well known for supplying many Hams with high quality wire antennas, George is also on the top of the DX Charts with 353 overall confirmed countries (How many people do you know that have worked North Korea?) We are delighted to have him come tell us some of his secrets to better DX.  You don't need a huge tower or antenna to work the world!  George will also bring along his most proud QSL cards to show off.... I mean display!  As an added bonus, just for those who attend this session, George will kindly raffle off one of his famous 102 foot long G5RV antennas a $65.00 value!  How about that to start off NEAR-Fest XVI !?!  (Located in the Entertainment Building, see map)

12:00 PM: Topic: Old Transmissions and Voices from the Past. By John Dilks K2TQN
We are proud to announce and privileged to have John with us this fall.  For 15 years we enjoyed his Vintage Radio Colum in QST Magazine.  You will hear early Ship-Shore and Ship-Ship 500kc CW Transmissions, and see and hear the voices of the early Ham and Radio Pioneers. You'll hear them tell their own stories; Hear the voices of Marconi, Jack Binns, Irving Vermila, De Forest, Gernsback, Armstrong, Reinartz, Deloy - French 8ab, Elmo Pickerill, Art Collins, General Griswold, and CD Tuska speaking about starting QST magazine.You will also hear an actual SOS received by David Ring, N1EA, who was the operator on the Super Tanker "WILLIAMSBURGH" who answered the SOS from the passenger ship "PRINSENDAM" in 1980.

Notice: No recording of presentation by any means will be allowed, copyright.
 (Located in the Entertainment Building, see map)

1:30 PM: ?HAMCOW? By Roland Daignault Jr. N1JOY
What is a HAMCOW?  The HAMCOW was developed as a mobile communications center that can be used for all sorts of radio events from ECOMMs, Road Races, Amateur Radio contests, Field Day, Public Safety, and Public Service events.  It has been designed to sustain operations for days at a time and has been proving its worth on each and every trip.  Come hear Roland tell us about the development and deployment of the HAMCOW! (Located in the Entertainment Building, see map)

3:00 PM: Remote Operation is Here! A how-to for off-the-shelf remote HF operation by Gerry Hull, W1VE
Remote rig control is gaining popularity and has several applications.  This is a how to guide to get started and Gerry will demonstrate live, remote operation of the K2LE/1 Contest station in Readsboro, VT. Gerry has been a licensed for 39 years, holding a US Extra and also a Canadian Advanced Amateur ticket. Early on, he spent three years at ARRL HQ as a Lab Tech. and Assistant Technical Editor.  He has a wide variety of interests in the hobby though contesting takes up the majority of his time.  Gerry's vocation is software engineering and as part of that, was the original founder of the getscores.org Contest Live Scoring website. Gerry also holds the call signs VE1RM, VY2CDX, VO1CDX, VE9XDX, 8P9RM and 6Y6C.(Located in the Entertainment Building, see map)

4:30 PM:More R390a Fun with George Rancourt, K1ANX. Arrive early as this is always a packed house!  George will again share his experience with bringing back to life, this series of radio that, introduced in the early 1950?s, still holds its own against most of the radios available today!  All of us who own and operate this radio wish it could talk and tell us of it?s previous life in government service.  As complex as it looks, George shows us his tricks to keep these radios up and running!  (Located in the Entertainment Building, see map)

7:00 PM: NEAR-Fest's Legendary Ad-Hoc "Ham-Jam Session"
(Located in the Entertainment Building, see map)

For full details see:http://near-fest.com/index.php?topic=783.0

Saturday, October 11th, 2014.

9:00 AM: ?DMR New England Update? moderated by Bill Barber, NE1B.  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.  Bill Barber, NE1B, the contact for New England Digital Emergency Communications Network (NEDECN) will be back this fall. due to popular demand, to give us updates on whats going on in the DMR world and what you need to do to get involved.] (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: High Altitude Ballooning With Ham Radio by Lou Broad N1RCA As a veteran of 29 balloon launches over New England over the past 14 years, Lou has been actively using ham radio high altitude balloons in teaching high school physics and space science curriculum and recently (since 2009) with the University of New Hampshire Space Science department summer outreach.  His work in ballooning with students has led to over $25,000 in grants (GTE Corporation, Toyota, Best Buy, ARRL) as well as my receiving the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching.  Weather dependent (both at ground level, mid and high altitudes, we might even have a balloon launch onsite.  In any event, we are delighted to offer this new topic to our ever growing list of technical presententations here at NEAR-Fest.
(Located in the Entertainment Building, see map)

 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,

MisterMike, W1RC

[W1GUD]

As always a premier event! What great forums Mr Mike!!

[W1RC]

The one to thank is John, KB1FQG our forum Chairman.  He rolled this one by himself.  I did nothing.

73,

MrMike