Hoosier Hills Hamfest Is Saturday at the Lawrence County Fairgrounds
Zachary Campbell
Contributor
BEDFORD — The Hoosier Hills Hamfest is Saturday, Oct. 10, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern at the Lawrence County 4-H Fairgrounds, 11265 U.S. 50, about half a mile west of the State Road 37 junction. Admission is $5. Children 12 and under are free.
The sponsor is the Hoosier Hills Ham Club, call sign W9QYQ. The club dates the organization to 1962 and calls the hamfest Indiana’s oldest celebration of amateur radio. The American Radio Relay League lists the club as affiliated since 1955. A 1994 flyer already had it as the 33rd annual. The clubhouse is at 1508 Rariden Hill Road in Mitchell. Meetings are the first Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m.
What it is
A hamfest is a flea market for amateur radio, with a license exam on the side. Amateur radio is the licensed version of talking over the air. It is not CB. The Federal Communications Commission issues the license and the call sign after a written test. Operators use the license for hobby contacts, storm nets, and the club’s repeaters, which cover 2 meters, 1.25 meters, and 70 centimeters so a handheld in one part of the county can reach another.
Saturday is the once-a-year version of that hobby in a building: buy, sell, trade, ask a question, sit an exam.
Who is coming, and what is for sale
Vendors set up at 6 a.m. Indoor tables are $10, with a discount for more than one. Tailgating outside the main building is $5 a spot. Radio, electronics, and computer sellers are preferred. Other goods are allowed. A ham radio club gets one booth free if it brings a banner and wears the shirts. The club asks vendors to stay until 1 p.m. if they can.
Tables usually hold used transceivers, handhelds, power supplies, coax, antennas, old test gear, computer parts, and the box of connectors nobody labeled. New equipment shows up when a dealer makes the drive.
Busy B’z is the food truck, breakfast and lunch, smash burgers included. Silver sponsor listed on the site is Bedford Federal Savings Bank.
The morning schedule
Gates are the southeast door, under the Entrance banner. The $5 ticket goes into the drawing barrel at the club table. The grand prize is drawn at 1 p.m. The winner has to be present.
- 8:30 a.m. — forum on weather-balloon sonde tracking, Mike KF9NP, in the secondary building near the food truck.
- 9:30 a.m. — license-exam registration. The test starts at 10. Fee is $15. Two forms of identification, one a photo ID. An upgrade needs a copy of the current license. A first license needs an FCC Registration Number from the CORES system before the exam starts.
- Through the morning — Marsh N9PWW on the club call W9GUS, running high-frequency contacts. Transmitter hunting on foot on the fairgrounds, on the 2-meter band. Bring a setup or borrow one.
- 11 a.m. — forum on Meshcore and LoRa.
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