Hamfest India
Annual Indian amateur radio event
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hamfest India is an annual amateur radio convention held in India since 1991. The event typically includes technical[ambiguous] sessions, presentations, exhibitions, demonstrations, sales of radio equipment, and a flea market aimed at ham operators. It also seeks to promote interest in ham radio.[1]
The venue for the next event is decided by the General Body of the previous event.
History
A series of meetings organised by the All Kerala Amateur Radio Clubs' Coordination Committee in Kerala, lead to the idea of a yearly convention. In August 1991, a net featuring discussions on technical[ambiguous] topics named Hinet was launched.[note 1]
The hinet discussions lead to the idea of organizing a "Hamfest" where HAMs[jargon] and SWLs[jargon] could meet and share ideas and techniques. The Kerala Amateur Radio Clubs Coordination Committee organized the first Hamfest on 28 and 29 December 1991 at Government Guest House, Kuttikkanam. The meeting had 38 participants.
Host cities with Convenors
| Year | Place | Convenor name | Convenor call sign |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Kuttikkanam | Joseph Mattappally | VU2JIM |
| 1992 | Aluva | K. N. Gopinadhan | VU2EGM |
| 1993 | Salem | Premchand K. | VU2RPC |
| 1994 | Mysore | K. R. Madhukar | VU2MUD |
| 1995 | Mumbai | Adolph Shephard | VU2AF |
| 1996 | Kolkata | Avinash Misra | VU2EM |
| 1997 | Kochi (Cochin) | S. Suresh | VU2SUO |
| 1998 | Bangalore | Ramachandra | VU2RCR |
| 1999 | Mysore | M. T. Kesari | VU2MTK |
| 2000 | Hyderabad | Chalam Chivukula | VU2CLM |
| 2001 | Nagpur | Shrikant Jichkar | VU2SJA |
| 2002 | Chennai | M. Saravanan | VU2MSS |
| 2003 | Gandhinagar | S. K. Nanda[note 2] | SWL[note 3] |
| 2004 | Mumbai | Nilesh Rathod | VU2NLF |
| 2005 | not held | ||
| 2006 | Kollam | K. G. Nadarajan | VU2KGN |
| 2007 | Guntur | R. Sarath Babu | VU2RS |
| 2008 | Gandhinagar | Dr S. K. Nanda[note 2][note 4] | SWL[note 3] |
| 2009 | Bangaluru | M. R. Sampath Kumar | VU2YZ |
| 2010 | Pollachi | S. Vijayan | VU2WDP |
| 2011 | Kochi (Cochin) | K. G. Girish Babu | VU2KGB |
| 2012 | Chennai | K. M. Devadas | VU2DH |
| 2013 | Gwalior | Jayant Bide | VU2JAU |
| 2014 | Hyderabad | Ashaar Farhan | VU2ESE |
| 2015 | Rajkot | S, K. Nanda, I.A.S[note 2] | SWL[note 3] |
| 2016 | Mount Abu | Yeshwant Patil | VU3YOR |
| 2017 | Kolkata | Mohammad Ariff[2] | VU2HRF[2] |
| 2018 | Bangalore | Dr S. Sathyapal[3] | VU2FI[3] |
| 2019 | Kanyakumari | P. A. Kumarasamy Raja | VU2PAJ |
| 2020 | not held | ||
| 2021 | |||
| 2022 | Mysore | Shankar Prasad[4] | VU2SPK[4] |
| 2023 | Ahmedabad | E. Radhakrishna | SWL[note 3] |
| 2024 | Kolkata | Nilkantha Chatterjee | VU2OII |
| 2025 | Goa | Sandesh Bhat | VU22DX (ex VU3FGJ) |