There is a particular kind of nervousness that comes with your first amateur radio rally. You have passed your Foundation licence, your callsign has landed in the Ofcom portal, and now you are standing in a field surrounded by several hundred people who all appear to know exactly what a roller coaster ATU is and why it matters. I remember mine vividly. I bought a bag of connectors I did not need and failed to ask anyone a single useful question.

So with the National Hamfest landing at Newark Showground on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 September, I thought it was worth writing the guide I wish someone had handed me. This is the UK’s biggest amateur radio event of the year, and it is genuinely one of the best things a new licensee can do with a weekend.

So What Actually Is a Rally?

A rally is part trade show, part car boot sale, part enormous social gathering. Major dealers turn up with stock you can actually put your hands on rather than squint at on a website. Clubs and special interest groups set up stands. And then there is the outdoor flea market, which is where amateurs sell off the contents of their sheds at prices that range from delightful to frankly optimistic.

Newark runs from 9.30am to 4pm on both days, with doors opening at 10am on the Friday. It sits just off the A46 north of Newark, there is on-site camping if you fancy making a weekend of it, and booking your ticket in advance through nationalhamfest.org.uk saves you a couple of pounds against the on-the-door price. Worth doing before you set off.

The RSGB Village Is Where New Licensees Should Start

The RSGB is running a substantial presence this year, and almost all of it is aimed squarely at people who want to learn something rather than spend money. Everything is free and nothing needs booking in advance, which takes a lot of the pressure off.

The headline for me is the buildathon being run across both days by the RSGB Outreach team. This year’s kit is the Kanga Morse Tutor, so you can sit down, pick up an iron and build something that works before you go home. If you have never soldered, or you soldered once in a Foundation practical and have been quietly avoiding it since, this is exactly the low-stakes environment you want. Nobody is judging your joints.

There is also 3D printing running live on the stand, a chance to have your CW (Morse code) skills tested at a range of speeds against the RSGB Certificate of Competency, and displays from the RadCom Experimenters’ Corner feature alongside the winner of this year’s Construction Competition. If you have been wondering what people actually build at home, that last one answers the question better than any amount of reading does.

The QSL Bureau will be represented too, along with the Propagation Studies Committee and members of the RSGB Board. These are the people who can answer the awkward questions you have not wanted to ask on air, and in my experience they are delighted to be asked.

Surviving the Flea Market Without Buying Rubbish

The flea market is the fun bit and the dangerous bit. A few things I have learned the hard way:

• Take cash. Plenty of sellers take cards now, but plenty still do not, and the person with the exact thing you need at half price will always be the one with a tin.
• Bring a torch and a multimeter. A cheap meter lets you check continuity on a length of coax or an antenna before money changes hands.
• Ask what it was last used for. Most sellers are honest amateurs clearing space, and a vague answer usually means the item has been in a damp garage since 1998.
• Walk the whole thing once before buying anything. Prices vary enormously between pitches and you will kick yourself otherwise.
• Do not buy a transceiver you cannot test. Buy accessories with confidence, buy radios with caution.

What Is Actually Worth Your Money on a Foundation Licence

With a 25 watt Foundation power limit, your money goes much further into antennas and feedline than it does into a bigger radio. A decent roll of low-loss coax, proper PL-259 or N-type connectors, a length of wire and some insulators will transform what you can hear and work far more than an upgrade to a shinier rig. An antenna analyser, even a basic one, is the single most useful thing I bought in my first year.

Second-hand handhelds, mag-mount antennas, power supplies and coaxial adaptors are all sensible flea market buys. The RSGB bookstall is worth a look too, since the beyond-exam titles usually carry a show discount.

Go With a Question, Not Just a Wallet

Here is the thing I got wrong at my first rally. I treated it as shopping. It is not. It is the one day of the year where the people who can solve your specific problem are standing in one building, wearing name badges, waiting to be spoken to.

So write down a couple of things that are currently stumping you. Perhaps your SWR is stubbornly high, or you have no idea how to get started with data modes. Ask. Clubs and trade stands alike are full of people who will happily spend ten minutes sorting you out, and you will drive home having learned far more than the contents of your carrier bag would suggest.

If you cannot make Newark, keep an eye on what is coming up anyway. World Space Week runs from 4 to 10 October with the RSGB encouraging clubs to put on satellite and space-themed activities, and Jamboree on the Air follows between 16 and 18 October.

Newark is a good day out even if you buy nothing at all. Take a friend, take cash, take questions, and take a bag bigger than you think you need.

73 de M0LGI