Greater Houston Hamfest

Welcome to the Greater Houston HamFest home page. The Greater Houston HamFest is the fastest growing hamfest in Texas with an estimated 1000+ attendees expected. This is the eighth year of the Fest, which began in 2002 at the Sugar Land Community Center as the Brazos Valley Radio Club Mix 'n Match HamFest. The hamfest has grown each year and the venue was moved two years ago to the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds to provide more room.

HAMFEST SUMMARY

Click here for flyer.

Date: Saturday, March 6, 2010
Time: 8AM to 1:30 PM -- registration begins at 7 AM
Location: Ft. Bend County Fairgrounds, Rosenberg, TX
About 30 miles S/W of downtown Houston
Food: Light breakfast and lunch will be available. DX Kid’s Café will be serving up some good food at the Greater Houston Ham Fest. Items like Breakfast Burritos, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, 100% Beef Hot Dogs, Nachos, water, sodas, coffee and other assorted snack items will be available. All proceeds from the café will go toward the Larkins Family Adoption Fund. (The café is being run by the Larkins Family, as a benefit to raise money to bring their children home.) Stop by the DX Kid’s Café and enjoy a tasty treat!

Admission: $5, Children under 14 free.
Each paid admission receives 1 free raffle ticket*

Tables: (click here for full details) (Note: pre-registration applications must be received by February 28.)

Over 120 indoor tables will be available for fleamarket-type tables. Pre-registration for sellers allows choice of tables ahead of time and free power (500W) if requested at time of pre-registration.

Tailgating: Tailgating is free. There is plenty of room at the fairgrounds for this. Buyers will have early access to tailgate sellers before main hall opens at 8 A.M. No travel trailers allowed in tailgate or vendor areas, Motorhomes and travel trailers can be in main parking lot or camping area only. (Sorry, only service animals allowed.)

Raffle :

Grand Prize - Yaesu FT-450-AT

(Click here for details of grand prize.)

Second Prize:

          Kenwood TH-F6A, Tri-Band HT.
          Arrow Duplexer - DUPLEXERSMA
          Arrow Split Boom Antenna - ARA 146/43710BP

Drawings for other prizes approximately every 15 minutes.

Winning numbers of prizes will be posted until the Grand Prize drawing at which time the unclaimed numbers will be redrawn.
VE (Ham radio) Testing –

Registration for testing will begin at 8AM. Actual testing will commence at 9AM with another session beginning at 10:30. Other testing will be scheduled as demand warrants. ARRL AREC certification testing will be at 11:00. You will need a photo ID, a copy of your existing Amateur Radio License (if upgrading) and $15.

Testing is on-site in the Sheriff Department Training Classroom just inside the front gate.

For more information contact John Moore, kk5nu, jwm@hal-pc.org (713-481-4107).

Greater Houston Ham Fest 2009

Programs and Featured Presentations (2010):

Featured Speaker:

Dan Henderson, N1ND ARRL Regulatory Information Manager
Various technical, operational and other informative lectures are scheduled. The final schedule is available at

ARRL Division Vice Director Dr. David Woolweaver

Exhibits and organization tables and demonstrations (typical) –

AMSAT
ARRL
DXCC card checking
ARES
QSO via satellite (presuming a reasonable pass is available).

Emergency Vehicles (typical)–

Red Cross
Sheriff’s Office
Police Vehicles
Private Vehicles.

Camping is available directly through the fairgrounds. The camping area is outside the interior fence on the west side of the fairgrounds:

36 spaces

All sites have full hookups (water, sewer, electric)

$15 per night

No reservations – first come first serve only.

When you arrive, park in the space of your choice, then go to fairgrounds office (next to the Hamfest main entrance) to pay the number of spaces you want to reserve (max 7).

You must arrive and pay FRIDAY while the Fairgrounds office is open (8:30am to 4:30pm).
Once you have paid, the Fairgrounds will turn on the electricity at the site you reserved.

* Travel Trailers and motorhomes are NOT allowed in the vendor or tailgate areas.

Call the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds for more info at 281-762-8818

Directions:

Going southwest on US-59 from Houston, pass Beltway-8. Continue about 17 miles to Highway 36 (you will see signs to Rosenberg and also to the Ft. Bend County Fairgrounds). Exit 59 and go south on 36 about 1 mile. You will see the fairgrounds on your right.

Talk-In: Primary - 146.94 Minus Offset Tone 167.9
Backup - 145.47 Minus Offset Tone 123.0
Club call: KK5W
Special Event call W5H

Coordinators for the 2010 event are John Chauvin, K5IZO, and Rick Hiller, W5RH. Many other members and friends have contributed to the success of the Hamfest.

Contact person Kirk Kendrick, KK2Z,( kk2z@arrl.net ) 281-639-5088.