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The Livonia (Michigan) Amateur Radio Club (http://www.livoniaarc.com) is having our Swap & Shop on Saturday, February 22, 2025 from 8am till 12pm at Ward Church, Knox Hall, 40000 Six Mile Road, Northville, MI 48168. Our swap flier and more information can be found on their swap page: https://livoniaarc.com/larc-annual-swap-and-shop/

LARC Annual Swap and Shop

Yes, it’s time for this area favorite to return, and we’re excited about what we’ve got to offer! First off, we’re excited to report that we’re holding prices steady this year, with $8 advance admission tickets available online here. We expect an even larger turnout this year than the record-setting attendance last year, all due to the great mix of vendors who will be bringing lots of cool stuff!

Use our online registration tool to skip right to the front this year by ordering your tickets online. After last year’s record turnout, we’ve worked on improving our day-of-Fest traffic flow, but you can skip the line and get right into the Fest with your electronic tickets.

For those of you who still want paper tickets, remember that we need to receive your order by Saturday, March 1st, to insure that we can get your tickets back to you in time using the self-addressed stamped envelope you provide. Missed the deadline, or need to add an extra ticket at the last minute? Order tickets online and get them via email in mere seconds.

Hate the fuss of self-address stamped envelopes and the agony of having to wait forever to get your stuff back, but still want to order a table or tickets? Put the paper form down. Order it it online. Check your email. Done. And, while there is a convenience fee on credit/debit cards to cover the PayPal charges, it’s still way cheaper than two envelopes and two stamps.

Every drive off and forget your tickets at home? With our electronic ticketing, that worry is a thing of the past. If you can bring up your email on your phone, you can use your iPhone or Android smartphone as your eTicket! We can scan right from the phone, so you don’t even need to print anything!

One change this year is that we will not be running VE testing. We will be examining bringing back testing next year, but that isn’t an option this year. If you’re interested in testing to become an amateur radio operation or upgrade your existing license, drop by the TCARC Club table and we’ll have a list of other testing options in the area.

Got questions? Drop us an email at TCARC@W9MQB.org and a friendly Tri-County club member will get back to you as quickly as we can to help you.

See you on March 16th!

As you may have noticed, we’ve had an issue with our website for the last week or two, related to an inability to renew our SSL certificate. We were finally able to identify the cause of the blockage, so our site should be back to normal.

If you still encounter any messages about this page not being secure, you can reload the page to clear the message. If you still have problems, try clearing your browsing history. If that doesn’t resolve the issue, drop us a line at TCARC@W9MQB.org and we’ll see what we can do to help fix the problem for you.

The Madison Area Repeater Association 2025 Hamfest will take place on April
26th, 2025, from 8 AM until noon. VE testing will start at 10 AM. Admission is $8 if purchased on the Club’s website and $10 per person at the door (cash only). Tables are $20 if purchased before March 31 and $25 afterward, with chairs at $5 each, and an admission ticket is required for each seller.

For more information, or a Fest flyer, visit www.w9hsy.org.

Looking for something to do with all of that unused gear in your basement? Or hoping to add more? The Lyons (WI) Free Fest, sponsored by the Lakes Area Radio Club (WI9ELK) and the Lakeshore Repeater Association (KR9RK), will take place on Saturday, June 8th, from 6 am to 11 am, at Riverview Park, 1588 Mill Street, Lyons, WI (map and directions) This is a free outdoor event (weather permitting), so there is no admission charge to attend or to sell (bring your own tables). Talk-in will be on the W9ELK repeater at 146.865- (127.3).

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/752141054863802.

At our Club meeting tonight, we reviewed the results of the 2024 Tri-County SwapFest. All in all, the news was very, very good. We sold out on our planned tables (adding 4 extra that morning), with 91 vendor tables sold, and had an official attendance of 426. Both of these numbers were increases over our 2023 results of 86 tables and 396 tickets. While costs were up again this year, and projected to increase again in 2025, the event was financially profitable for the Club and will support our ongoing efforts to rebuild the W9MQB repeater.

At the meeting, Michael Zore (AE9MZ), our Fest Coordinator, made a number of recommendations for the Club to consider, as we begin to plan for Ham Fests in 2025 and in the second half of this decade. Those recommendations included:

• … that the club continues to offer up to 12 Free Table to other clubs, to help them engage new members
• … that we maintain our online presence and offer web ordering and fulfilment again in 2025
• … that we change our marketing focus to include the public, not just hams, centering our 2025 marketing and day-of-Fest actions on invites via Email and QR codes
• … that we increase 2025 prices to $10 (online) tickets and $20 (online) tables and attempt to hold prices level for ~5 years
• … that we consider dropping our “cash only” rule and bring back credit/debit card sales on the day of the event

These recommendations will be considered later this year as we begin to execute plans for the 2025 Fest will till take place on Sunday, March 16, 2025.

Two long-term recommendations were also made, which might take a few years to consider and implement:

• … that we examine the options to move the Fest to a Saturday in February event starting in 2026
• … that we examine the options to add informational forums in a Full-Day event starting in 2027

Copies of the PowerPoint presentation are available, if you wish to learn more, by emailing a request to the Club.

The Ozaukee Radio Club presents its 44th Annual Spring Indoor Amateur Radio, Electronics & Computer SWAPFEST featuring TOWER ELECTRONICS, Saturday, April 27, 2024 from 8 AM to 12 PM at the Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s Center (Milwaukee Curling Club),
W67 N890 Washington Ave., in Cedarburg, WI. Vendor setup begins at 6 AM, doors open to the public at 8 AM. Talk-in on 146.97 MHz – PL 127.3 Hz. Door Prizes! Free WIFI. Food sold by Cub Scout Pack 516/586

Admission is $7.00 at the gate, with children 12 and under FREE, with a paid adult admission. Want to clear out your shack to make room for your new finds? 6 foot tables will cost $12.00 in advance, $15.00 at the door, if available.

Help support your local ham clubs AND have fun at the same time! For more information or to download an order form, visit https://www.ozaukeeradioclub.org/ or https://www.facebook.com/orcwi

Quick Links for this story:

• Buy tickets or reserve table space to sell your stuff here
• Questions? Email us here

So, what is a SwapFest?

You might be new to Amateur Radio, so let me introduce you to the idea of a SwapFest. Most are short, half-day events, but some national events (such as the Dayton HamVention) can last for several days. Our Fest is one of the half-day-long variety, but we pack a lot into that day!

The biggest component of the event is the “swap” part. Early in the morning, about 100 tables are filled with the widest range of products. Some tables are manned by local dealers who can introduce you to the latest in digital communication tools. Others sell antennas that allow you to connect to everything from the friendly ham up the block, to satellites in orbit in space. There are vendors offers study guides which can help you take the next step in your radio journey. Others have high-quality used equipment to help you stretch your dollar. Others offer parts for the hobbyist, and controls to help run your smart home.

Then we have tables with the weirdest range of stuff you might find interested. Some have called it “Rummage-O-Rama with a power cord” and you’ll find stuff you just don’t get to see anywhere else. This is what you’ll often read about when a reporter stumbles through an event like this for their first time: “I bought a World War II tube radio!”

Headlines like this miss the more important parts. We’re sponsoring “Club Corner” again this year, a place to meet up with local ham clubs to learn more and have fun. Ham radio attracts people from all walks of life, because it provides tools to carry on when everything falls apart. We’ve all felt those helpless moments when power takes out the power and the cell phone. Ham radio gives you the power to communicate to get help, even at moments like that.

TCARC operates a local ham radio repeater, a radio network that allows you to use a very small, hand-held radio to communicate to other hams over a very wide area. In our case, we cover the bulk of three Wisconsin counties: Jefferson, Rock and Walworth. When you hear severe weather has been reported in our area, very often this information has been reported by volunteers communicating over a “weather net” on a repeater like ours.

SwapFests also fill one very important role: they help pay for the equipment we as a club use to make that possible. Under FCC rules, hams can’t get paid to do what we do. Fund-raising events like this provide a year-round benefit for our community. Linked with the hundreds of hours of time our members volunteer for community event, severe weather events, and other local emergencies, your attendance ticket empowers us to make these vitals services to our community possible.

How do I get tickets?

If you’d like to join into the fun, you can show up after 8 AM at the Jefferson County Fair Park, located at 503 N Jackson in Jefferson WI (maps and directions here) where tickets will be $10 per person. Kids 10 and under are free. If you’d like to save time waiting in line AND save 20%, you can order your tickets using our online ordering system or by clicking the ticket symbol at https://www.w9mqb.org/SwapFest/. The Fest is open until noon, but the best deals come early.

See you on March 17th!

Questions? Drop a comment below or send us an email at HamFest@W9MQB.org.

The Madison Area Repeater Association 2024 Hamfest will be on April
13th and features vendors of new and used equipment for Amateur Radio, Electronics, Computers, computer parts and software. Come their huge Flea Market in the Mandt Community Center’s spacious 26,000 sq ft main hall. VE testing starts at 10:00 AM. Vendor space is sold on a “first come, first served” basis.

Location: Mandt Community Center (same location since 2000)
GPS: North 42.91157, West 89.21647
Address: 499 Mandt Parkway, Stoughton, WI
Directions: Take US Hwy 51 S from Madison to downtown Stoughton, WI. Turn South on 4th Street and the Mandt Center is 3 blocks ahead on the left.
Talk in: MARA’s Wide Area Repeater 147.150 (+600) pl 123.0
Parking: free
Tickets: purchased on the website $8 per person; $10 at the door, cash only
8′ Vendor tables: Purchased by March 25th, $20; after 3/25: $25
Chairs: $5
AC Service: $30
Admission tickets are NOT included in the price of tables

Hamfest tickets, and vendor table space can be purchased at the MARA website: www.w9hsy.org.

Their fest flyer can be found at: https://w9hsy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/MARA-Hamfest-Flyer-2024-1.pdf.

As a Club, we know that this is a difficult time for many ham clubs. The costs of running a swapfest or repeater increase every year but the funds we have to work with don’t. It’s hard to keep current members, as many move to new digs (in warmer locations!) and even harder to connect with new members. As a club, TCARC shares in your pain and decided we wanted to do something about it this year, through our Swap Fest.

As a result, at our January meeting, the Club voted to provide a free table to area Ham clubs that want to attract new members to their club. The rules are simple:

1. You must represent an area amateur radio club, with active members, looking to add new members.
2. We will provide a free table in “Club Corner”, located close to the donuts and coffee to encourage traffic to your tables. We want new hams to be able to find lots of local options to connect, all in one place. If you wish a table elsewhere in the Fest, you may purchase one separately online.
3. You may bring any number of people to staff your tables but you pay admission for each. Make it a club-supporting club social event!
4. Feel free to enjoy the Fest, but plan to continuously staff your tables from 8 AM to noon. No tables with a stack of literature out and no one to represent your group, please. Our goal is to help clubs connect with new members; empty tables don’t do that.
5. Set up will be between 7 and 8 AM, to allow other vendors with large amounts of stuff to get through the doors first.
6. You may sell things at your table and buy from other tables like any other vendor. Please abide by the usual rules of no-pre-8-AM-sales to give the attendees (who pay to make this event possible) the same chance to make great finds as you. See #4 above.
7. Your club info will be available online, as we post a “what’s at my table” entry which can be searched online. You can post any information that might help draw people to your group’s table (subject to approval).
8. At present, we’ve purchased 12 tables for clubs and tables are first-come, first-served. Respond soon.

Here are answers for what we expect will be Frequently Asked Questions:

• How do we reserve a table? Simply send an email to TCARC (at) W9MQB.org with the Club name, mailing address, email, any website or social media (i.e. Facebook, etc), contact person with telephone numbers (only used if we have any unexpected problems. Remember March 2020?), and a club contact email address (which may not be where this message was sent). We’ll follow up with you using that contact information to process your request. Your table reservation information will be emailed back to you at that email address once processed.
• How do we get admission tickets? Order online at https://www.W9MQB.org/SwapFest/ or download the Fest Flyer from that page and mail it in with a check. Pre-sales tickets are offered at a 20% discount of day-of-Fest tickets.
• How many people can we bring for our table? At least one and as many as you’d like. Simply purchase tickets for the number coming.
• How many people attend the Fest? The Fest typically draws around 400 people and we expect the same this year. Most are current hams but some will have just passed their tests to become hams, so be prepared for a mix of both, in addition to interested hobbyists and the general public.
• Is a Fest Flyer available? Yes, download a flyer on the SwapFest home page at https://www.W9MQB.org/SwapFest/. If you want printed copies sent to your club, drop us an email.
• What happens if you run out of tables? This is the first year we’ve tried this. We thought about it last year but couldn’t get organized in time. This year, we’re organized earlier, so we’re starting with 12 tables for clubs. Honestly, we haven’t decided what to do if those run out so tables are first-come, first-served. If this is a popular idea this year, we may improve on this next year. We’d like to include as many area clubs as possible but the cost of these tables come out of the income that we use to fund our events year-round, so we’re starting small.

Questions? Drop an email to HamFest@W9MQB.org and we’ll do our best to help. Hope to see you on Sunday, March 17th!