[HBQRP] FW: [4DIJ-L] Lobstercon2009! & 4 days in July

Mon Jun 15 11:09:34 EDT 2009

Read the e-mail below and then think back to our group meeting this past weekend.
So ok, sounds like a challenge that Coincides with our discussions about why don't we have a CornCon (someone suggested HuskerCon but most of us liked the first one). July 11th just happens to be our next planned monthly get together. CornCon should work as a name as we have folks from Iowa, South Dakota and Nebraska who get to meetings.
-----
So, I am officially calling on all local and other members of the Midwest HomeBrewers and QRP Group to step up and give me a hand here. (No clapping you guys!) We need to find a local place to camp over night, one night this time. Saturday night the 11th of July. We will have to do this 'Pot Luck' this time too; we can sort out other things later. 
If we can't manage to cover a campout the first time, we can just do potluck dinner, and then operate into the dark and then go home.

We had a good showing at the Lark-in-the-Park this time and I've received a few e-mails from folks who couldn't make it and wanted to know if we could do it again in July.

If no one starts hollering at me and thinks I'm crazy (never mind Darrel!) I will make up a little flyer of sorts, and have it done in a day or two, we need a 'Publicity Czar' to send it out to all the local clubs that he (or she) can find in South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa as quickly as we can. We can hit as many of the QRP email groups as we can too!

As soon as the flier is ready, I will send one to Rex and take him up on his offer for a couple of door prizes. Then we will sit here in the middle of the country and rack up a bunch of new states because they will be operating east and west of us and we will have an advantage..

Come on folks...  Lets do it!!
73's

p.s. I figure we ought to be able to have a little flea market too!
Yippee, this will be fun

Darwin (Dar) Piatt - W9HZC
Midwest HomeBrewer's and QRP Group
http://www.qsl.net/hbqrp 

-----Original Message-----
From: Walter - K5EST [mailto:walter.k5est at gmail.com]  
Subject: Fwd: [4DIJ-L] Lobstercon2009! & 4 days in July

Hi Dar,

Did not know if you are on the LobsterCon mailing list............but
this is worth reading, at least the last half of the email.

Hope your Lark in the Park was fun!

73....Walter Dufrain - K5EST - Missouri - 4SQRP

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rex Harper <w1rex at megalink.net>
Date: Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 4:18 PM
Subject: [4DIJ-L] Lobstercon2009! & 4 days in July
To: 4dij-l at mailman.qth.net

QRP & Camping Gangue,

Lobstercon2009! is getting close and I'm now getting into the zone as
registrations are coming in and arrangements need to be arranged...

I know this little list has been pretty quiet, but there really hasn't
been any activity of note. One of the reasons for the list was to try to
get other QRP groups interested in having a similar activity on the same
weekend. While it takes some experience to hold an Event like
Lobstercon, starting a new event is not all that difficult and I would
like to impart some of my experience to anyone who would like to do
something similar.

My main motivation for Lobstercon is to meet and socialize with my
fellow QRPers from my area which is New England. I initially thought
that I would love to meet fellow QRP-L list members who lived in Maine.
I had attended my 2nd Dayton Hamvention AND my 1st FDIM (12 years ago)
so I was psyched up about QRP and wanted to bond with my fellow QRPers.
My thoughts gelled through the summer and I simply couldn't wait for the
following summer to meet everybody. I had done a favor for a local
attraction: The Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum in Portland Maine, knew
that they had a big parking lot and a small museum building that we
could use. I figured that if QRPers had more than 1 reason to come, that
it might help. So I asked the founder about using the museum building
and parking lot with the promise that we would be good and that I would
encourage everybody to make a contribution to the museum. He said fine,
and I picked a day: the 1st Saturday in November for the event. I put it
out over the QRP-L list and searched the list database for QRPers in
Maine. I sent out E-mails to everyone I could identify by call as
residing in Maine. It was a simple format: show up, bring a bag lunch,
show & tell, operate and simply chat. More of a social event than an
operating or seminar type event. November was an iffy time to schedule
an outside event in Maine but we also had the museum building so I
figured that we were 'covered'. I billed it as O(hf)DIN : One (hopefully
fine) Day in November in homage of FDIM. Saturday showed up along with
the SUN and 35 QRPers! We had a beautiful 75 degree sunny day where
everybody had a SUPER time showing off their rigs, chatting and some
even operated. I was elated and couldn't wait to do it again...only I
wasn't going to wait until November, so I immediately started thinking
of a picnic event in the Summer at a local park.

The following summer, I held another 'event' that I called Ft. Williams
in homage to Ft. Tuthill. I reasoned that these local events might be
even MORE important than the biggies as most QRPers can't afford to fly
half way across the country to attend a QRP event. I was lucky that I
was working for a company and could tailor my business travel to get me
really close to these events. My first Dayton Hamvention was paid for by
the company I worked for as I was working on an ink project and Dayton
just happens to be the 'ink capital' of the US.  So I ended up 'having'
to meet up with a PhD ink chemist consultant at the hamvention as he
also happened to be a ham. Our 1st meeting was at the Dayton Hamvention
flea market gate on Friday at 9am. Man was I good! Anyway, back to the
story... Ft. Williams took place at Ft. Williams Park in my hometown of
Cape Elizabeth, Maine and 18 QRPers showed up. I brought my gas grill
from home, some lobsters and we had another great day. Camping entered
the picture on the third event as I figured out that most of the
attendance was coming from afar and camping would boost the attendance
as loosing 5 or 6 hours in the day from traveling was bad. The third
event was the 1st billed as Lobstercon and this year will be the 10th
Lobstercon. We started as a Saturday only event and moved to Friday &
Saturday with overnight camping. I informally call it 4 days in July as
now they show up for camping on Thursday, and even Wednesday and some
don't leave until Monday. I settled on 4DIJ in homage to FDIM... but
made it different enough so that the FDIM guys won't get mad at me for
copying their name...hihi!

A local event does not mean that you have to have a big feast and a
daunting logistics problem. Keeping it relatively small and simple and
possibly letting it grow a little each year is a good recipe for
success! A nice beginning event could be more like a pot luck supper.
Everybody brings a dish of something, meet at a public place like a park
or someones field where you might be able to hang around a little later.
Most public parks close at sundown... Staying later into the evening
would make it more interesting as you could have a nice dinner, chat and
a little operating. I emphasize the operating as one of our biggest
activities at Lobstercon is trying to contact our 'sister' event
Salmoncon out in Seattle. If you held a local even in say Nebraska at
the same time, you would be in the thick of it Saturday night when both
the Lobstercon and Salmoncon guys are trying their best to QSL each other.

Now I've made it a little easier, as you don't have to pick a
date....hold a local event on Saturday July 11, 2009! I can guarantee
you that there will be others doing the same that night!

Pick a place: private field with all night access? Wally World parking
lot? Public park with late night access?

Pick a format: eat, operate, show & tell, swap, swindle, or a little of
everything?

Decide on some snackage: want pot luck? or everybody chip in for :
pizza, wings,  burgers, brats, buffalo oysters or some other indigenous
delicacy.

Get the word out and talk amongst yourselves...

I'll even make it a little easier! The first 25 groups that can convince
me that they are serious and on their way to putting on a local event
that covers July 11th 2009, will receive an absolutely free package from
me that will contain their 1st two attendance raffle prizes AND the
tickets to raffle them off with.

Let's get some SERIOUS QRP signals flying around the country on the
night of July 11, 2009!

72,
W1REX   Rex Harper  'The (Tuna) Tinman'   www.QRPme.com

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