The Hawke’s Bay Hamfest April 5, 2014
After kicking around ideas for the past year the Napier Amateur radio club decided to to get stuck in and do it on the weekend of April 4th and 5th The planning paid off! Emails were sent to 40 clubs around the North island with an attached Flyer which they kindly sent out to their members. Thank you to the hard working club secretaries! With the Nelson Park Cricket Club in Napier venue arranged, the weather looked a bit ominous but typical of Hawke’s Bay the heavy weekend rain forecast turned into an insignificant shower Saturday morning. The Friday night get-together renewing old acquaintances and meeting new ones before the hamfest allowed hams to register before the opening the next day. Saturday morning saw a small car boot sale in the car park and an audience of nearly 70 hams gather to enjoy the day.
Powerpoint Presentations on SDR technology by Jan ZL2CZE, Antennas by ZL2AN, Solid State 2M KW Amplifier Construction by ZL2MQ, Propagation by ZL2AL and Mobile Installations by ZL2TC were thoroughly enjoyed by the audience. After lunch, Bob Sutton ZL1RS, a notable EME Dxers made a presention on his trips to Africa, the Pacific and other parts of the world operating EME for the past 25 years. Bob and Chris ZL2DX then did a live on screen demonstration of EME contacts using JT65B mode on 2M into the USA with his antenna array set up outside the venue.
Raffles and draws took place during the day. Thanks to ICOM NZ for their prize donations.
The day ended with a few drinks and a few farewells to those who had travelled long distances. About 20 hams and a few of their YLs stayed on and enjoyed the hospitality of the Napier RSA on Saturday night before traveling home the next day.
The Napier Amateur Radio club wishes to thank the six speaker/presenters and all the amateurs who helped us make the event so successful. In addition we say thank you to all the local amateurs and those who traveled long distances to be with us on the day.
It was a weekend of fun, absorbing new technology and refreshing old ones. The bonus was renewing old acquaintances and meeting new ones. Ham radio was the winner on the day.
73, Lee ZL2AL