[MIham] Newspaper article for the "ham shack" / mini-swap this Saturday

Thu Apr 12 07:09:39 EDT 2007

This Saturday, April 14, mini-swaps return to the Grand Rapids area.
Signage is posted at the site along heavilly traveled M-21 inviting the public: "RADIO
ELECTRONICS SWAP MEET SATURDAY 10AM FREE ADMISSION". Come out to look, come out to sell.
Together this can be a great event.

A nice article appears in today's (April 11) Lowell Ledger. They got all the details
correct. I would hope so since I'm the one who made the submission.

A photo of adult and youth members operating in the shack accompanyed the article.

Here is the article as appears in the paper with the minor changes the editor made.

-----------------------------------------

New Location for the “Ham Shack”

      The Lowell Amateur Radio Club (L.A.R.C.) and the Amateur Radio Group of Youth in
Lowell (A.R.G.Y.L.) have moved their “ham shack” into a new home located in the former
Cumberland Manor Building – just down the hall from the new Flat River Outreach Ministries
(F.R.O.M.) Thrift Store, 11535 Fulton St E.
     The new “shack” will be christened with a swap meet this Saturday.
     The ham shack will provide a hub for volunteer communications for the area. Amateur
radio organizations throughout the world provide communications during emergencies and
community events. Ham communications also use radio repeaters. In Lowell, the repeater
frequency is 145.27 MHz.
     L.A.R.C. and A.R.G.Y.L. members also have fun. With permission of F.R.O.M., beginning
this Saturday, April 14, and about once a month into Fall, L.A.R.C. will host a
“Mini-Hamfest”, an Electronics-Radio flea market, held outside in the circle drive in front
of the building. Selling starts the same time the Thrift Store opens at 10AM and goes until
sometime past noon. Admission is free and open to the public. Sellers are asked for a
nominal contribution. Items offered for sale are limited to the theme of the swap meet:
electronics, radios, computers, and related items. The idea is to complement the Thrift
Store, not compete with it.
     A “Mini-Hamfest” is a smaller, mostly general area event, unlike a full fledged
“Hamfest” which attracts buyers and sellers including new equipment vendors, from a wider
region.
The “GRAHamfest” (Grand Rapids Area Hamfest), sponsored by the Grand Rapids Amateur Radio
Association, will be held at the Fairgrounds on Saturday, Sept. 8. The “Year End Hamfest”,
sponsored by A.R.G.Y.L., will take place at Lowell High School, on Saturday, December 15.
Call 897-6885 for more information.
     L.A.R.C. meetings are on the second Saturday of the month, 9AM during the “mini-swap”
season. Visitors always welcome. Updates can be found at http://www.w8lrc.org
     A.R.G.Y.L. meetings are on the first Saturday of the month at 9AM. Membership open to
school age youth. More information can be found at http://www.argyl.org

--------------------------

The Lowell Amateur Radio Club http://www.w8lrc.org/ is pleased to announce the summer 2007
series of Asphalt Adventure mini-hamfests.

First one STARTING SATURDAY, APRIL 14. Setup 9AM, begin 10AM "until it ends", figure
sometime past noon.
Frank, N8UVI, will be operating the club's service monitor in the new club shack. If you
want to see how your radio's performing, bring it. (Thanks Tom KB8VEE for the idea! :) For
those of you in the Muskegon area, the Tool Max store will have a service monitor available
on the same morning.)

Here's the deal. The monthly LARC meeting will begin at 9, the swap immediately follows at
10. (Visitors always welcome at our meetings) Seller setup can begin at 9.
Location, just outside the new shack, 11435 Fulton St E (Hwy-M21), West end of Lowell,
between Cumberland Dr and Alden Nash Dr. About 11 miles from GR city limits. Same location
as the FLAT RIVER OUTREACH MINISTRIES (F.R.O.M.) THRIFT STORE.
Former location of Cumberland Manor.
Yahoo Map:
http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=11435+Fulton+St+E&csz=49331&country=us&new=1&name=&qt
y=

What is a mini-swap? It's a small version of a Hamfest. Not nearly the planning or
advertising that goes into a full fledged Hamfest, you don't have a variety of commercial
vendors. But their fun and cheep to operate.

Advantages of a mini-swap at this location, besides being where the LARC Ham shack is
located:
Lots of traffic passing by on Hwy M-21. Signs will be placed to attract spectators.
Co-located with the Thrift Store, which also opens at 10.
Set-up is on a circle drive in front of the building, out of the way of other building
traffic on main driveway, yet easily seen from the main driveway as well as Hwy M-21.
Just outside the windows of the LARC ham shack. If you need electricity, bring your own
cord.

What's the catch? Sure we'd like to raise a couple bucks with this FUNdraiser, but we
certainly don't have grandeurs of cleaning up either.
ADMISSION IS FREE.
Sellers are asked to contribute $10 per setup*. (Please read statement at bottom)
Considering the location, with no admission fee, lots of drive by traffic, potential
shoppers from the Thrift Store, that's really a good deal.
Coffee, pop, and donuts available. Sellers get free coffee.

TALK-IN: 145.27-(94.8Hz) Lowell (naturally) repeater.

Here's the summer 2007 schedule:

April 14, Saturday

May - Likely, SUNDAY, May 13, to avoid conflict with the need for ham radio volunteers for
the River Bank Run on the 12th. Stay tuned! VOLUNTEER at http://www.kcraces.net

June - NO mini-swap, enjoy the IRA's Hamfestival at Hudsonville Fairgrounds, Saturday, June
2. http://www.w8hvg.org/IRAfest2k.htm

July 14, Saturday

August 11, Saturday

September - NO mini-swap, enjoy GRARA's GRAHamfest 2ØØ7 at Kent County Fairgrounds, Lowell,
Saturday, September 8. http://www.grahamfest.org/

October 13, Saturday

*SETUP: We really don't want to get into fine details here. Your open trunk, with or without
your buddies = 1 Setup. Your open trunk next to your buddy's open trunk = 2 setups. Your van
with trailer with a bunch of tables = 1 Setup. You get the idea. No measuring tapes here. If
there's a disagreement on what constitutes a setup, you win. Can't get better than that.
WHAT TO SELL: In respect to the co-located Thrift Store, who's owners have granted us
permission to pursue our mini-swaps (its their property after all), LARC must insist that
items offered for sale stay with the theme of this event.  Radio, electronics, computers and
related items only. General household items sold at the Thrift Store should not be sold at
our swap meet (however, TVs radios stereos computers, anything electronics is OK). If you
have good general household items you no longer need, please consider donating to the Flat
River Outreach Ministries Thrift Store. F.R.O.M. is a 501c3 organization.

Let's have fun, see you there.

More information, contact:
Jack Amelar
E-mail: mailto:jamelar at localnet.com
Phone-Home: (616)897-6885
     -Office/Days: (616)493-8736
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