I second this... and agree wholeheartedly. When I lived in the Atlanta area it seemed like we had a decent hamfest at least once every couple of months. That may not be exactly what was real but it felt that way. And not just tailgates but actual hamfests. A couple of those were fairly sizable. When I moved to Houston, I was expecting a HUGE amount of them and activity, etc. but was met with disappointment. Houston is what, the 4th largest City in the US and we have a VERY weak ham turnout. The creation of an organization would help relieve some of the stresses of setting up and running a decent hamfest. AGAIN, maybe some calls to the groups that run the big shows such as Dayton and get advice on how to do it. I cant imagine they would refuse that. I like to believe that hams overall want to do everything they can to promote the hobby and keep it alive.
Also, a centralized location would also help. Or we could call it the "way out in the boonies countryfied hamfest" jk. Just my 12.345 cents. 73 Mike KG4NDS From: BVARC <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Christopher Boone via BVARC Sent: Friday, August 26, 2022 8:15 AM To: BRAZOS VALLEY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB <[email protected]> Cc: Christopher Boone <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [BVARC] Greater Houston Hamfest JP brings up an excellent idea. I'd like to remind everybody that HamCom in Dallas was an independent organization made up of members from various clubs that formed a corporation to run the hamfest. Perhaps this is something to look at in Houston. Form a corporation as a non-profit group and have members of the various clubs on the board. It needs to be a metro-wide area group. Houston is always been lacking compared to the DFW area in amateur activities, which I don't understand why. Even my good friend and silent key Andy McAllister once said " Houston hams suck." The old Houston Amateur Radio Club used to have bi-monthly auctions at its clubhouse on OST. Sadly that club went under and the property was sold. Which was a damn shame because it was a very nice clubhouse with a fully operational HF station. And unfortunately that just proved Andy's statement. I think it's time to change that. Chris WB5ITT Texas State Employees ARS, T-SEARS On Fri, Aug 26, 2022, 8:04 AM JP Pritchard via BVARC <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Dear friends, It is heartening to see the club get off to an earlier that usual start in planning for the hamfest, and of course the expected calls for ideas and actual real volunteers. Finding reliable volunteers is always a problem because most of us already have full plates, with work, family, etc. So here's an old idea, submitted for yet another round of retorts that resurface every time someone makes a suggestion --"But we've already tried that." I suggest we offer to partner with the other clubs in the metro to help make it a true "Greater Houston Hamfest." It does work when applied to Field Day. Why not try again to apply it to the hamfest? Net income from the event might be divided according to a formula that reflects two factors -- each club's membership headcount, and each club's actual participation (expressed in numbers of participating volunteers). Such a system would give all clubs a stake in the success of the event. I'm now feeling verklempt, so this is your chance to discuss among yourselves. Or not. 73, JP, K5JPP ________________________________________________ Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club BVARC mailing list [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmail.bvarc.org%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fbvarc_bvarc.org&data=05%7C01%7C%7C357eef3b5f864d6a5e4a08da876520d5%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637971165660914617%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Xia8eIKPIjOTndV2hKJr4kOZe%2FpcC6gkUIjcJdyZCdU%3D&reserved=0> Publicly available archives are available here: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mail-archive.com%2Fbvarc%40bvarc.org%2F&data=05%7C01%7C%7C357eef3b5f864d6a5e4a08da876520d5%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637971165661070840%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=0aWjcHf8SPITuMb9SNCxwYA44Z5jEntSCoAduUSQlNc%3D&reserved=0>
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