Hamfest features swap meet, demos

Valley of the Moon Amateur Radio Club, or VOMARC, is holding its annual Amateur Radio Relay League Hamfest from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 28, at the Sonoma Valley Veterans Memorial Building, 126 First St. W., Sonoma.

Admission is free for the Hamfest. The event will include a walk-in Volunteer Examiner license exam session for anyone interested in attaining their amateur radio license with registration starting at 9 a.m. and testing for all license elements immediately following.

There will be a radio and electronics swap meet with both indoor and outdoor spaces available and mounds of electronics goodies for sale. Mike Miller, WB6TMH will be covering the club sale table and other sellers can start setting up at 7 a.m. with spaces renting for $10. Space will be made available at no charge for amateur radio organizations, local nonprofits or other public service agencies for informational tables and displays.

The club will serve a full breakfast from 8 to 10 a.m., for $8.

Ongoing radio demonstrations will include an operating low power QRP radio station, emergency communications vehicles from local public safety agencies, a display of homebuilt equipment, the club swap table and a beginner’s D.F., or direction finding, transmitter hunt.

VOMARC President Jim Hill will be demonstrating an operating radio station and will be talking to other hams across the country and around the world. Guest operators are welcome to sit in and make a few contacts during the morning.

VOMARC has been partnering with Sonoma Skypark Airport to provide aerial disaster damage surveys with local pilots in their low-and-slow Piper Cubs and Aeronca Champs flying VOMARC radio operators over Sonoma Valley to relay real-time observation to the Sonoma Valley Emergency Operations Center in the Sonoma Police Station. Information on the disaster operations will be on display at the Hamfest.

For more information, visit the club website at vomarc.org and click on the “Annual Events” link. For those already licensed as amateur radio operators, talk-in will be on the 145.35 MHz repeater, with an access tone of 88.5Hz. For more information, email wd6bor@vom.com.