ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, is scheduled to attend the RRRA 2022 Hamfest & ARRL Dakota Division Convention.
Plans subject to change without notice. Please visit our schedule of events for more information
Purchase your early-bird tickets for the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo 2022 live on-line March 12–13 (and on-demand until April 12th) 2022.
Event tickets are $10 through March 6th and $13.50 thereafter.
More than 60 speakers will deliver presentations on their subject areas.
“There’s content for everyone, whether a newly licensed ham looking for next steps#or [an experienced] ham looking for new projects,” QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo organizers promise.
Presentations will include “Core HF Communication Concepts: Fundamentals of Shortwave Propagation;” “Deep Dive of An FPGA DVB-S2 Implementation;” “Fun With The NanoVNA,” and “Helically Wound Vertical for 160 Meters.” The complete list of presentations is available from the Virtual Ham Expo home page.
Virtual visitors may watch as many presentations as they want and return any time within 30 days to view other speakers and presentations, as well as explore exhibitor offerings. This Virtual Ham Expo will debut new technology that organizers say will “further improve the live video interaction experience with exhibitors and fellow operators.” 1
Please visit the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo website for more information about this event.
Amateur radio is like a big circus. It has its main tent with three rings in the center. In those rings could be Contesting, DXing, and Rag Chewing. However, amateur radio now has a “midway of a thousand smaller tents” according to Eric Guth, 4Z1UG, founder of the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo, and host of the QSO Today Podcast, a interview program featuring the most interesting amateur radio operators. It is exactly this midway that the “Expo” was founded to explore.
The Expo has … become the place to discover more niches in amateur radio through the presentations given at each one. In March 2021, while there was some difficulty with the platforms, over 6000 hams came and viewed almost 100,000 presentations from the over 80 that were offered in March. [The] Expo in August 2021 had over 90 presentations in 8 tracks of amazing amateur radio content. 2
The QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo is owned and operated by KEG Media, Inc.
QSO Today is a podcast about the international hobby of amateur radio also known as ham radio. Every week, [Eric 4Z1UG / WA6IGR interviews] a “ham” to hear their ham radio story and what they are doing now. Many of the technologies that we enjoy today including television and radio, cell phones, computers, and the Internet were born out amateur radio hobbyists experimenting with electronics and radio in their basements and garages. Amateur radio was and still is the frontier where hams conducted electronic experiments in order to make that wireless contact around the World.
As a kid growing up in Southern California during the 60s, amateur radio was Eric’s ticket to electronics, science, and technology. Its hams were [his] mentors. These interviews allow [Eric] to share the ham radio stories to inspire you to join this amazing hobby, or if you are already here, to grow and learn more from these stories. 3
“Next QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo set for Mid-March”, ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio, accessed February 1 2022, http://www.arrl.org/news/next-qso-today-virtual-ham-expo-set-for-mid-march. ↩︎
“About the Expo”, QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo, accessed February 1 2022, https://www.qsotodayhamexpo.com/. ↩︎
“What is QSO Today?”, QSO Today Amateur Radio Podcast, accessed February 1 2022, https://www.qsotoday.com/about.html. ↩︎
RRRA is conducting their 2021 Hamfest and ARRL Dakota Division Convention and providing communication support for the 2021 Fargo Marathon on September 25th, 2021.
As of the close of the August RRRA Business Meeting
Your participation is essential to the success of these events.
Please visit the RRRA Club Discussions archive to view the list of unfilled volunteer positions.
Thanks in advance for your participation in the RRRA Hamfest and Fargo Marathon!
The 2021 RRRA Hamfest is currently featured in the image scroller on the ARRL home page along with the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo, the Huntsville Hamfest, and the Northeast HamXposition.
Click the image to view a complete screenshot of the ARRL homepage.
Purchase your early-bird tickets for the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo 2021 live on-line March 13th and 14th—and on-demand until April 12th—2021.
According to QSO Today Podcast host Eric Guth, 4Z1UG/WA6IGR, “the inaugural QSO Today Expo last August attracted more than 16,000 attendees, and … the March 2021 event will be even more successful.” 1
The event organizers have been “working hard to make [their] upcoming Expo even better with new speakers, panel discussions, kit building workshops, easy-to-use video technology to meet with exhibitors, and much more.” 2 All without the risk and expense of travel.
According to the event sponsors, attendees will have the opportunity to:
- Listen to and engage with 60+ internationally recognized ham radio luminaries that have committed to lead expo sessions
- Take part in Live virtual kit building workshops. Kits will be available for purchase and delivered to you in time for the Expo so you can participate and build from the convenience of your home
- Walk through [their] virtual exhibit hall filled with popular amateur radio suppliers. Watch new product demos, interact directly with booth staff using video, audio, or text conferencing
- Prior to the Expo, take advantage of our new speaker calendar technology to download speaker times in your local time zones to Google and Outlook calendars. This way you’ll have a complete schedule of what sessions you want to participate in
- Return over the next 30 days to re-visit, explore, and re-engage exhibitor offerings 2
Read the ARRL News “QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo Returning in March” article or visit the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo website for more information about this event.
QSO Today is a podcast about the international hobby of amateur radio also known as ham radio. Every week, [Eric WA6IGR interviews] a “ham” to hear their ham radio story and what they are doing now. Many of the technologies that we enjoy today including television and radio, cell phones, computers, and the Internet were born out amateur radio hobbyists experimenting with electronics and radio in their basements and garages. Amateur radio was and still is the frontier where hams conducted electronic experiments in order to make that wireless contact around the World.
As a kid growing up in Southern California during the 60s, amateur radio was WA6IGR’s ticket to electronics, science, and technology. Its hams were [his] mentors. These interviews allow [WA6IGR] to share the ham radio stories to inspire you to join this amazing hobby, or if you are already here, to grow and learn more from these stories. 3
“QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo Returning in March”, ARRL the national association for Amateur Radio, accessed January 8 2021, http://www.arrl.org/news/qso-today-virtual-ham-expo-returning-in-march. ↩︎
“QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo”, QSO Today, accessed January 8 2021, https://www.qsotodayhamexpo.com/. ↩︎ ↩︎
“What is QSO Today?”, QSO Today Amateur Radio Podcast, accessed July 1 2020, https://www.qsotoday.com/about.html. ↩︎
Get your free tickets to the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo today!
This virtual expo is intended give Amateur Radio Operators, and others interested in the hobby, an opportunity to “engage with amazing speakers, leading suppliers of equipment, parts and services, and fellow attendees”1 without exposing themselves to COVID-19.
The QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo is sponsored by the QSO Today Amateur Radio Podcast and is hosted on the vFairs virtual events platform.
According to the event sponsors, attendees will have the opportunity to:
- Listen to and engage with 30+ internationally recognized ham radio luminaries that have committed to lead expo sessions
- Interact with fellow participants in a variety of break out rooms on topics such as Contesting, DX, and Digital Modes
- Walk through our virtual exhibit hall filled with popular amateur radio suppliers. Watch new product demos, interact directly with booth staff using video, audio, or text conferencing.
- Engage with fellow hams without leaving your home ham shack. And save thousands of dollars since you don’t have to worry about travel, food, and lodging!
- Return over the next 30 days to re-visit, explore, and re-engage exhibitor offerings 1
QSO Today is a podcast about the international hobby of amateur radio also known as ham radio. Every week, [Eric WA6IGR interviews] a “ham” to hear their ham radio story and what they are doing now. Many of the technologies that we enjoy today including television and radio, cell phones, computers, and the Internet were born out amateur radio hobbyists experimenting with electronics and radio in their basements and garages. Amateur radio was and still is the frontier where hams conducted electronic experiments in order to make that wireless contact around the World.
As a kid growing up in Southern California during the 60s, amateur radio was WA6IGR’s ticket to electronics, science, and technology. Its hams were [his] mentors. These interviews allow [WA6IGR] to share the ham radio stories to inspire you to join this amazing hobby, or if you are already here, to grow and learn more from these stories. 2
“QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo”, QSO Today, accessed July 1 2020, https://www.qsotodayhamexpo.com/. ↩︎ ↩︎
“What is QSO Today?”, QSO Today Amateur Radio Podcast, retrieved July 1 2020, https://www.qsotoday.com/about.html. ↩︎
In response to the ongoing COVID-19 situation ARRL has published a URL
that will
search the ARRL Hamfest and Convention Database for canceled events.
No ARRL sanctioned Dakota Division Hamfests or Conventions have been
canceled as of the date of this article.
The cancellation of a number of Amateur Radio related events has been announced in ARRL’s Visalia International DX Convention, Other Events Cancelled Due to Coronavirus Worries article. These cancellations include:
along with a number of international events. Please read the ARRL article for more information.
One positive note is the Dayton Hamvention® COVID19 Update which states, “the COVID19 pandemic is a very fluid situation and the Hamvention Executive Committee is constantly in touch with the Greene County Department of Health and in turn they have daily meetings with the Ohio Department of Health. As of now we plan on holding Hamvention unless otherwise directed.” 1
Hamvention attendees—and anyone else interested in this event—may sign up for Hamvention SMS alerts by texting Hamvention to 888777 (smartphone-only link).
“COVID19 Update”, Dayton Hamvention®, accessed March 12 2020, https://hamvention.org/covid19-update/. ↩︎
On March 10, 2019, Mike NY0MN announced cancellation of the first 2019 Hamfest Committee planning meeting with the following message on the Hamfest mailing list:
Due to the bad weather over the [weekend] The hamfest meeting scheduled for today has been canceled.
If you know of someone that is not on the hamfest mailing list and wants to come, let them know the meeting has been canceled. the next meeting will be rescheduled for later this month.
Hamfest Committee volunteers are asked to subscribe to the hamfest mailing list so that they can stay informed and be a part of the conversation. Returning volunteers must re-subscribe to the hamfest list to confirm their participation.
