W4H RADIO GOES ON THE AIR AT HUNTERDON'S 4-H FAIR

FLEMINGTON -

Cherryville Repeater Association II announces the W4H special event radio station. W4H honors the 2005 Hunterdon County 4H & Agricultural Fair running from Wednesday, August 24 through Sunday, August 28 at the new fairgrounds in Ringoes, NJ. The fair is the current incarnation of the historical Flemington Fair, which ran in Hunterdon County since the 1840's.

The public is invited to visit the Cherryville Repeater Association booth and talk live on the air. You might talk to a new friend across the country, or around the world. No license or experience is required, and each participant will receive his or her own personalized color certificate to memorialize their on air experience (see below). 

In addition, Cherryville Repeater members will be selling tickets to a very special raffle drawing to be held on Sunday, August 28, at 2:00 p.m. Sunday is the last day of the 4H Fair, and the drawing will be held at the Cherryville booth. First prize is an HP Pavilion dv1010us laptop computer, second prize is a hand-sewn Amish quilt, plus three other prizes. Donation is $5 per ticket, and they will be available at the Cherryville booth.

Special Event radio stations in the amateur radio hobby are put on the air to celebrate important historical events. They honor the event by contacting other amateur radio stations across the country and around the world from the site. The station operators provide special "QSL" cards or certificates to those radio operators to acknowledge the contacts and memorialize the event.

Cherryville's booth will present "Amateur Radio Today," a documentary featuring world famous newscaster and ham radio operator, Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD. The film shows amateur radio coming to the aid of communities everywhere in all sorts of emergencies.

Amateur television, satellite and automatic position reporting stations (APRS) will also be demonstrated. A broad range of brochures on how to become involved in Amateur Radio will be available.

There are more than 650,000 amateur radio operators in the United States and more than 2.5 million worldwide. We are in the middle of a telecommunications revolution, and Amateur Radio is right in the middle of the action. We are making friends around the world, getting young people interested in technology and helping our communities when disaster strikes.

We hope you will come out to our booth at the Hunterdon 4-H Fair and experience first hand what it's all about.

W4H will operate at the Cherryville Repeater Association booth, just outside the "Community Tent" area of the fair. Fair hours are 10 AM to 10 PM, from Wednesday August 24 until Saturday, August 27, and from 10 AM to 6 PM on Sunday, August 28. Frequencies will be on or near 7.275 MHz, 14.275 MHz, 21.375 MHz, and 28.375 MHz.

The Cherryville Repeater Association is a non-profit organization of over one hundred amateur radio operators or "hams" dedicated to providing community service using their communications skills. They provide free communications services for many local events where the safety of both participants and spectators is a concern, including the March Of Dime Walk-a-thon, Skylands Triathlon, Lebanon's 4th of July parade, equestrian events, scout jamborees, and the like.

Several members are also active in state and local Radio Amateur Civilian Emergency Service (RACES), Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) and have provided emergency communication support to local authorities during disasters such as hurricanes, floods, etc.

Club meetings are at 7:30 p.m. the second Friday of each month at the Flemington Baptist Church, at the corner of Church and Main Streets. All interested persons are welcome. Classes to teach newcomers how to become an amateur radio operator are offered by the association and are scheduled to begin in September in association with Hunterdon County Red Cross in Flemington. For more information call the club information line on 908-788-4080. The Cherryville Repeater Association web site can be found at http://www.qsl.net/w2cra.

HERE IS THE CERTIFICATE YOU WILL RECEIVE WHEN YOU GO "ON-THE-AIR" AT W4H!