The Tampa Bay Hamfest, hosting the ARRL West Central Florida Convention, is pleased to offer a number of forums and programs at this years Hamfest.

Manatee Civic Center has excellent meeting room facilities which are located on the northeast side of the building closest to the main parking lot.   All meeting rooms are carpeted, and have excellent acoustics.  

Tampa Bay Hamfest
2007 Forum Schedule

SATURDAY DECEMBER 1, 2007  

   

SUNDAY December 2, 2007

START TIME	PALMA SOLA NORTH	PALMA SOLA SOUTH	ANNA MARIA NORTH	ANNA MARIA SOUTH
9:00	9:00-10:30  D-Star Open house	9:00-2:00 DXCC/WAS/ VUCC card check	9:00-2:00     VE Exams Reservations Only
9:30
10
10:30				10:30-11:30               Geoff Haines Tech homebrew forum
11
11:30
12				12:00-1:00            Basic Skywarn
12:30
1				1:00-2:00            Advanced Skywarn
1:30

 

On Saturday:

 AMSAT, MARS and The Florida Repeater Council will all have meeting, all being open to all interested parties.

 The Florida Contest Group contesting symposium!  They will discuss Contesting with the following scheduled presentations:

 - Field Day On A Budget - the W1HR/4 expeditions

- A trip to PJ2T - Not Your Father's DXpedition by Ron Harps - K8NZ

- Lightning Protection and Grounding by George Wagner K5KG (aka E51MMM if he gets back in time)

- HI3A - The FCG DXpedition for CQ-WW-CW - 2007 by Dan Street K1TO

- Contesting Basics - How to compete in NAQP - by Lu Romero W4LT

- possibly 2 other Presentations, Pictures, Sounds, and possibly... PIZZA!

 The ARRL West Central Florida Section forum will have representatives from both the Division and Headquarters in attendance in addition to our Section Officials.  Visit and meet your elected officials.  Ask questions and hear the latest from Headquarters. 

Speaking of ARRL Headquarters, Katie Breen, W1KRB, the League Membership Manger will give her Tour of Headquarters presentation which proved to be very popular at the National Convention in Huntsville.  Katie will also be in the ARRL forum later in the day. 

D-Star will have an open house room all day.  Greg Sarrett, our newly elected Division Director and past Alabama Section Manager will give his Intro to D-Star forum in the morning.  Then from 2 to 3 in the afternoon there will be an Advanced D-Star forum.  The room will be open the rest of the day for demonstrations, questions and answers, and just sitting around and talking D-Star.  Curious, have a general question or maybe you need some specific help on D-Star.  Or maybe you have some knowledge to share with others!  This is the place to be! 

Another all day will be the DXCC/WAS/ VUCC card checking.  Drop off your cards and have them checked while you attend a forum, visit your favorite commercial vendor or stroll the tailgate area. 

And yet another all day event, VE Exams are available all day except two half hour breaks.  Come on in and upgrade or bring your spouse or child in for his/her Technician license. 

ARRL ARECC Exams will also be given in the afternoon in the room with the VE Exams.

 Public Information Officer Forum for anyone interested in public relations and publicizing out favorite hobby, "Publicity Boot Camp - Back to the Basics" with Sherri Brower, W4STB  

Intro to Digital for all those who have heard of digital modes but want to know a little more and see a demo before jumping on the bandwagon.  

QSL/LoTW is just the right place to learn all about QSLing, why, how, who and anything else you can ask.  Learn all about setting up and using Log Book of The World.

 We have a Youth Forum for the young who want to learn more about amateur radio.

 Also offered is the YL Forum for all the YLs and XYLs.  I am not allowed to know what goes on in there but they seem to have a good time!

  

On Sunday:

 The D-Star open house room may be operating depending on the interest shown on Saturday.  Go by and check it out.

 Geoff Haines, the Section Technical wizard and published homebrew tinker will give his Homebrew Forum, always interesting and informative. 

DXCC/WAS/ VUCC card checking will be offered all day again. 

VE Exams will be available all day on a reserved basis only , no walk-ins. 

On Sunday afternoon both Basic and Advanced Skywarn classes are offered.  Come in and get certified or renew your existing certification.

DX Century Club (DXCC) card checking will be available at the ARRL booth after 1:30 PM

Amateur Radio testing  FCC exam fee is $14.00.  

The ARECC exam fee is $10.00 per exam.

Please pre-register for the Sunday Amateur Radio Exams.

If you have questions or would like to schedule your group's meeting or informal gathering please contact Bill, AG4QX, at forums@fgcarc.org