LARGEST HAM RADIO DEMONSTRATION IN THE SOUTHEAST – N4F AT THE NC MOUNTAIN STATE FAIR (9/11-20) – The following information was received from Philip Jenkins, N4HF: “The LARGEST ham radio demonstration in the Southeast – N4F will be held during the 10 day-long NC Mountain State Fair! To see what we’ve done in past years, check out the article in September 2015 QST, pages 65-66, and www.HamRadioNow.tv, episode 171.
For the third consecutive year, there will be a
Special Event Station – and ham radio demonstrations for the general public – at
the NC Mountain State Fair, September 11-20, near Asheville, NC. This year we
welcome new friends – Lenoir ARC, Mayland ARC, Thermal Belt ARC, and individuals
from Watauga ARC – as well as our “old faithfuls” from the Cleveland County ARS,
Blue Ridge ARC, The Road Show ARC, and other individuals from Haywood County
ARC.
WHY are we doing this? To spread the word about ham
radio as an interesting, multi-faceted hobby to members of the public who may
not have ever heard of ham radio. We’ve gotten 20-25 new hams each of the past
two years, and rekindled interest in some who have been inactive, or have let
their licenses lapse.
WHAT are we doing to accomplish this? There are two
prongs. First, N4F is a Special Event Station – see details in September 2015
QST, page 94 – so we can let other hams and clubs nationwide know what we are
doing, and encourage other clubs to band together to engage in their own large
publicity events like ours. There’s also a visitor’s tent – with attached
antenna farm – where the public can come in and not only see different modes of
ham radio communication and experimentation, but actually do it hands-on!
Proposed new activities for this year in the visitor’s tent are: workshops on
building tape measure antennas for working the International Space Station
(ISS); daily fox-hunts using those tape-measure antennas; teaching a few
characters of CW; decoding AO-73 telemetry; a PSK-31 station; an HF SSB/CW
station; SO-50 QSOs; ISS APRS/packet; a WinLink/Pactor station; and video via
Broadband-Hamnet of the Fair’s blacksmith (Billy, KB4YKP). Past activities that
may be included this year include: D-STAR demonstration; 2 meter GOTA station;
IRLP demonstrations; videos on the history and contributions of ham radio; an
active APRS set-up; brochures on ARES/MARS; and, a kit-building/rig repair
station.
HOW do we do all this? Almost all of the equipment –
except for the visitor’s tent – is being loaned to N4F by members of
participating clubs. Elecraft and Icom have generously provided HF and some VHF
radios to use at the Fair. We also ask for contributions and donations from the
ham community to help with expenses, eg, tent rental, banner printing, some
equipment and supply rentals, etc.
WHEN does this happen? On different days, different
local/regional ham clubs volunteer to staff the visitor’s tent and answer
questions about the various dimensions of ham radio, how someone who is
interested can get a ham license, etc. Fair hours (for us) are 10:00 AM to 10:00
PM Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; and, 3:00 to 10:00 PM on Monday – Thursday. We
still need individuals (and clubs) to step up to help on both Fridays (9/11,
9/18), Saturday (9/12), both Sundays (9/13, 9/20), Monday (9/14) and Tuesday
(9/15). People are also encouraged to help with the Fair station set-up on
Wednesday (9/9) and Thursday (9/10), and break-down on Monday (9/21). You do NOT
have to be a member of ANY club to participate with the N4F event at any time!
So, WHERE does all this take place? At the NC
Agricultural Center, Highway 280, just across from the Asheville Airport, exit
40 on I-26. All the fun starts the weekend AFTER the Shelby Hamfest.
HOW can I help? And, WHERE do I get more information?
Contact Philip Jenkins, N4HF at [email protected] for general information about the
Fair/N4F; and, Bill Van Nuys, N4OOC at [email protected] for Fair scheduling. For
additional information, see www.theroadshowarc.com” Thanks to Philip Jenkins,
N4HF, an ARRL-trained Public Information Officer for providing this information!
For further information on the NC Mountain State Fair, see
http://www.wncagcenter.org/p/mountainstatefair