09/05/2025
By ARRL New England Division Vice Director Phil Temples, K9HI
The Northeast HamXposition ("HamX") - hosting the ARRL New England Division
Convention - held on August 21 - 24, 2025, was a resounding success. The
weather for the Marlborough, Massachusetts event was picture-perfect, the flea
market was buzzing with sales, and major equipment manufacturers were back,
along with other vendors inside the bustling exhibition area.
According to HamX Program Chair Skip Youngberg, K1NKR,"This year's four-day
program featured 72 presenters who gave 82 talks and four workshops spanning
over 101 hours."
Topics included everything from antennas and EmComm vans and trailers on
display, to on-air activities such as POTA, contesting, and DX. There was even
a special technical talk entitled "Demystifying Quantum Computing: Application
of RF Control System."
HamXposition kicked off on Thursday night, featuring nationally-known comedian
Juston McKinney. On Friday, full-length educational seminars were held,
including the ever-popular mini-Contest University. Twenty convention-goers
went on a bus tour of W1AW, the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station, and ARRL
Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut.
The Friday evening DX/Contest banquet talk was presented by well-known
multi-multi station owner Tim Duffy, K3LR, CEO of DX Engineering.
On Saturday morning, popular QRP YouTube podcaster and influencer Thomas
Witherspoon, K4SWL, gave an inspirational convention keynote address to a
standing-room-only crowd.
The Saturday Grand Banquet featured Dr. Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, from the
University of Scranton. Frissell is the founder of Ham Radio Science Citizen
Investigation (HamSCI). He shared with the audience descriptions of
cutting-edge experiments conducted by ordinary radio amateurs who are helping
to advance the knowledge of propagation and the Earth's ionosphere.
Dozens of youth members of New England Sci-Tech, a nearby STEM/makerspace,
attended throughout the weekend and at the two evening banquets. "Having young
hams in the middle of the action... and running a number of presentations
demonstrated the spirit of the future leaders in our hobby," said Volunteer
Chair Barbara Irby, KC1KGS.
HamX also featured kit-building sessions led by Bob Phinney, K5TEC, and other
volunteers. Under supervision, beginners were invited to build easy kits for a
nominal cost in under an hour, ranging from Morse code oscillators to blinking
name badges and night lights. All tools were provided. The kits were developed
by students from New England Sci-Tech.
See more of this story on the ARRL New England Division website[1].
[1] https://arrl.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0zNDI2OTI1JnA9MSZ1PTUyNTgxODI4NCZsaT0zO
TUxNzY5OQ/index.html
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