MARA Activities

Annual Christmas Hamfest - This very popular event is held in December and draws participants, including dealers, from surrounding states and has gotten bigger each year. There is plenty to see and do for everyone, including testing sessions, special classes and great food. Door prizes are given that any ham would love to win. This event provides a "hamfest fix" during a period of the year during which few hamfests are held.

Minden Amateur Radio Association Hamfest 2009 - Dec 19

See a few photos of our 2009 Christmas Hamfest.

Location:
Our Annual Christmas Hamfest is held at the Minden, LA, City Hall located on 520 Broadway St, Minden, LA.

   

Prizes:

Great door prizes drawn throughout the day!

1st Prize:
The Yaesu FT-450 is compact 9"W x 3.3"H x 8.5"D, lightweight 7.9 pounds package designed to be used as a desktop radio at home or in portable applications. The FT-450 can also be used mobile with the MMB-90 convenient mobile bracket accessory. Besides home or mobile operation, this easy to pack radio is a DXpeditioner or Emergency Service Providers dream come true - compact, lightweight, high performance receiver, and 100 watts on 160 through 6 meters.
2nd Prize:
Icom IC-208h - High Power Dual Bander with Wideband Receiver. Individual MOS-FET power amplifier modules supply the power for Icom's most powerful dual band mobile with 55W/50W (VHF/UHF). Stable power for long distance communications plus reduced power settings (15/5W) for local communications.
3rd Prize:
The FT-60R, Yaesu's 144/430 MHz 5-Watt FM Hand-held was introduced at Dayton 2004. It includes wide receiver coverage, outstanding audio quality, the most CTCSS/DCS flexibility in the industry, and a new Emergency Automatic Identification (EAI) feature for search-and-rescue work.
4th Prize:
Dual Band Mobile Antenna
Participating Vendors:
Those vendors who have agreed to participate this year in the hamfest include:
* Houston Amateur Radio Supply, Inc.   Supplier of our prize radios.

Blue Star Antennas

Clear Signal Products (the Coaxman)

Palmetto Antennas, LLC

The SignMan of Baton Rouge

Times:
8:00am doors open. Prize drawing held approximately 2:00-3:00pm, with door prizes being drawn periodically during the event.

Talk-In: 147.300 (NLA Link System)

Swap tables will be available for $5 per table for those who wish to sell merchandise.

Tickets:
Entrance tickets are $5 each, available at door at the hamfest.
Prize tickets for the drawings are available at door or from club members and are priced: $1 each, 6-$5, 15-$10, 35-$20, 50-$25, 100-$50.

Tickets may be obtained from any member or contact Fran, KD5LKB, or Dusty, N5COL (email addresses at 'Contact Us' on main menu strip, top of page).

VE Testing - all levels, 9am to 12pm

Field Day Activities - Field Day activities for the club are held in conjunction with the ARRL's annual Field Day in June of each year. This national event tests the skills in setting up temporary communication equipment for possible use in emergencies, and contacts are made to as many other stations as possible during the two days. It provides family fun and operating experiences for all who wish to participate.

Field Day 2009 - June 27-28

This year's Field Day activities were held on June 27-28 (Sat & Sun). We gathered around 3:00pm to 4:00pm on Friday to put up the antennas, operating tents, and general setup of the area. Some of us camped out on the site and made contacts with other stations to test our equipment. As always, a lot of fun during the Friday setup and evening.

We operated a 2A setup, which means two HF rigs. We had one SSB, one CW, a GOTA (Get On The Air) tent for inactive hams, young people, or those merely interested in amateur radio, and a 6-meter operation. (The latter two do not count in the 2A classification.)

It was probably one of our hottest Field Days on record. Shreveport reported a record-breaking 102 degrees on the weekend and one of our thermometers showed 104. Our band of workers and visitors was smaller because of the heat, but our fun and numbers continued to climb, as did the heat. One trailer with air conditioning and that nice 6m shack saved the day. ........Still the show went on.

See a few photos of our 2009 Field Day.

Our Field Day site is just south of Sibley, LA, approximately 2 miles and to the west of Hwy 7 with a turn on Fraisier Road.