Warren Amateur Radio Association W8VTD

WARA participated in Ohio State Parks on the Air (OSPOTA) once again in 2026.

September 12, 2026 10 am – 6 pm local time

We setup at Mosquito lake State Park near the marina (MST in OSPOTA and US-1978 for POTA). We were active on 80-10m SSB and CW.

Anyone interested in amateur radio were encouraged to stop out and visit.

Details of the event can be found at http://ospota.org/

Finshing up the set up of Steve’s (N8HRZ) Tower Trailer with Jim’s (K8CPG) V-Dipoles hanging from it. A big thank you to everyone who helped with the setup of all of the antennas! It took us close to 3 hours to get everything set up for the event. We were able to tear down in just over an hour. Rain was threatening which helped us move a lot faster.

Tom (K8CX) on CW and Jim (AE8TA) on SSB.

Dave (KF8EVL) on SSB with Ron (KE8TNW) spotting.

The Tower all set up attracted the attention of several people passing by. We met some local hams we had not met before.

We had to set up tents because it rained a bit that day. We were lucky, many other areas of Ohio had thunder and lightning storms. We heard that there was at least one other club that quit early due to the storms.

Jim (K8CPG) at his laptop and Gary (KB8GAB) working the radio in Jim’s trailer.

Jim’s (K8CPG) radio and laptop set up.

Thanks to everyone that helped make the 2026 hamfest such a success.

Our Check-in team hard at work

Yesterday our prep team got all of the tables set up and ready to go. It is 5:20am and time to finish up the preparations.

8:00am time to begin the hamfest. Not a bad turnout of vendors considering the threat of storms today. Fortunately the storms went around us this year

Some of the many outside vendors getting set up. More showed up shortly after this photo was taken.

Just after opening. Early birds get the good stuff! Some of our 250+ visitors.

A few of our club members busy working raffle and Chinese auction sales.

Food sales went really well. Gotta love those sausage & cheese english muffins, hot dogs and nacho chips. Then muffins and cookies for desert!

At the hangout tables waiting for the raffles and Chinese Auction.

Tonight’s meeting will be held at Mosquito Lake Beach at the Pavilion. Also, both August meetings will be at the pavilion. We will not be able to have meetings at the EMA because they are in the process of moving to the new location. Let’s hope the rain misses us.

Tuesday, July 7th from dawn to dusk, we will have a picnic at Mosquito Lake State Park under the pavilion near the beach. Some of us will be there by 8-10am. We will have at least a couple of radios available. You are welcome to bring your own radio and antennas, if you like. We can do some POTA and make some satellite contacts. We will also make a 10GHz airplane scatter contact.

Food is planned for late afternoon. Jennifer and her husband, Andy will be making brisket! Please bring a side dish or desert if possible.

Since this is our regular meeting day, we will have a very short meeting at 7:00pm.

Hope to see everyone there!