Published: August 20, 2007 11:30 am         

Amateur-radio fest to show benefits

DANVILLE — The Vermilion County Amateur Radio Association hasn’t held a hamfest in several years.

“We don’t know what to expect,” member Aaron Broderick of Danville said. “But we’re hoping for the best.”

The group is wrapping up plans for its first hamfest since 2001 and hopes to make it an annual event.

“We decided to try it again to see what happens,” president Kathy Tucker of Alvin said.

Members expect about 300 people to turn out for the festival Sunday at the Vermilion County Fairgrounds.

Called hamfest (because amateur radio is often called ham radio), the event will feature a flea market and vendors’ booths with both new and used items. Most of the booths will be ham radio-related equipment and accessories, but some are more general, such as a vendor who will embroider whatever you want on a hat.

The new items and equipment, most sold by businesses, will be located indoors. Charge to set up indoors is $5.

Older equipment and used items will be sold outdoors. There is no charge to set up. A vendor with a pickup truck, for example, may pull up and open its tailgate.

Vendors are asked to contact the group in advance.

“You’ll find all types of stuff inside and outside,” Broderick, co-chairman of the event, said. Basic electronics will be featured, from phones to laptops.

Coffee and donuts will be for sale in the morning; hot dogs and chips in the afternoon.

Tests for an entry-level amateur radio license will be offered at 11 a.m.

Raffles will be conducted, too, with the grand prize being a handheld police scanner.

Broderick came up with the idea, recalling hamfests he had been to in the past. When he mentioned the idea to Tucker, she said that was fine — as long as he organized it.

“A lot of work goes into it,” he said. “We didn’t have a template to go off of. We’ll do better each year.”

Josh Kittle of Danville, co-chairman of hamfest and vice president of the club, said amateur radio enthusiasts have to travel a distance to enjoy such events. The largest ones in the area are in Kankakee, Peoria and Lafayette, Ind.

Brochures will be distributed at hamfest to tell people about the services offered by amateur radio operators. The Vermilion County club has about 40 members; the youngest is 14 years old.

“We’re trying to get young people interested, to keep it growing,” Broderick said.

The group, for example, helps Boy Scouts get a radio badge.

Broderick got his license in 1996 when he was stationed with the military in Alaska; the hobby kept him busy.

“I’ve always been fascinated with communications,” he said. “You can do a lot of networking with amateur radio and meet people.”

Someone sitting in Danville can communicate with a person across the world in Australia, for example.

Tucker and her husband, Bob Wittig, lived in a motor home for 10 years and used amateur radio for communication. She got her license in 2002.

As for the benefits, she said, “To me, it’s to supply communication when there’s a disaster.”

When a storm knocks out electricity, amateur-radio users are a vital link with emergency services.

The club members have done exercises to show how they can help in a disaster, and plan to give a presentation in October to the Emergency Management Agency.

Kittle, who got his license in 1994, when he was in high school, noted that amateur radio was used in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“There’s been a big push by the Department of Homeland Security to get ham-radio users trained and available,” he said, “so they can react in a disaster situation.”

Some people are involved in ham radio because they enjoy tinkering with electronics.

“It can get quite involved, depending on what level you want to take it to,” Broderick said. People can even send photos from the Internet through ham radio.

The good thing about the hobby is that it can be done by anyone, anywhere — and is especially accessible to people who are homebound.

“They can participate and feel connected with the world,” Tucker said.

The local club can trace its roots to the first part of the 20th century, but has been active since the 1950s. Its A-frame build-ing, constructed in the 1960s, sits on several acres of land that is part of Harrison Park West on Woodbury Hill west of Danville. The club rents the land from the city.

COMING UP

The East Central Illinois Hamfest will be from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at the Vermilion County Fairgrounds. Admission is $3 for adults and free for ages 12 and under.

License exams will be given at 11 a.m. For more information about the hamfest or requirements to take the exam, visit the group’s Web site at http://www.vcara.org or call Josh Kittle at 442-0578.

The Amateur Radio Relay League Web site is http://www.arrl.org.