Welcome to

The New England Amateur Radio Festival

Yes, we’re the Northeast’s biggest ham radio flea market. For a lot of us, though, NEAR-Fest is more than that. It’s a gathering.

Twice a year, hams, tinkerers, first-timers, and lifelong friends come together at the Hillsborough County 4H Fairgrounds to hunt for gear, catch up with each other, and celebrate the hobby. The flea market runs Friday and Saturday, though many attendees roll in Thursday for camping and setup. And once the day visitors head home, the fest keeps right on going.

The Largest Ham Flea Market in the Northeast

Rows and rows of tailgaters plus commercial vendors bringing new gear. Boat anchors, parts bins, kits, cables, connectors, antennas, radios old and new. If it’s ham radio related, someone’s selling it here.

A Social Event, First and Foremost

Beyond the buying and selling, NEAR-Fest is a reunion. It’s where you finally put a face to a callsign, swap stories over coffee, and start conversations that carry you until the next fest.

Camp on the Grounds

Setup starts Thursday at 3 PM. Bring a tent, a camper, or an RV, pitch it right in the fest area, and stay for the whole weekend. No packing up and driving home between days.

The Fest Keeps Going After Dark

When the day visitors head home Friday night, the campers stick around. Rig tours, the Friday-evening HAM-JAM acoustic music session, lantern-lit conversations, and long swaps of stories. That’s where a lot of NEAR-Fest actually happens.

Come for the flea market. Stay for the people. Camp with us for the weekend.

Midway Exhibits at NEAR-Fest
On the Midway

Our Midway Exhibitors

These friends of NEAR-Fest bring their gear, projects, and know-how to the Midway. Each card shows whether they will be at the upcoming event. Status is updated as exhibitors confirm their attendance.

N1JUR Amateur Radio logo

N1JUR & Brew and Activate

Unconfirmed for NEAR-Fest XLI

Livestreaming the fest, meeting the Brew Crew.

Eric, N1JUR, and the Brew & Activate team bring a camera, a coffee, and some giveaways to NEAR-Fest, streaming live from the grounds and hanging out with everyone who stops by. If you’re at the fest, come find them and say hello. If you’re watching from home, grab your coffee and join live.

Come for the antennas. Stay for the questionable decisions.

N1JUR Amateur Radio »

Chris Knox KI1P communications van

Chris Knox, KI1P

Unconfirmed for NEAR-Fest XLI

Shack-in-a-Van: A Full Amateur Station on Wheels

Chris Knox, KI1P, comes to the Midway with his fully-equipped mobile communications van, a converted broadcast truck built out as a self-contained ham station and emergency communications platform. The rig covers 1.8 to 902 MHz and includes hydraulic towers, a full stack of VHF/UHF antennas, an IC-7610 with two amplifiers capable of up to 1,200 watts, and on-board analog 2-meter, DMR, and VHF public-safety-band repeaters for use during emergencies. It even has sleeping quarters in the back.

Come climb aboard, take a look at the layout, and talk with Chris about mobile operating, contesting, and EmComm.

KI1P on QRZ »

xcl.is amateur cellular network logo

An Amateur Cellular Network on Ham Bands

Unconfirmed for NEAR-Fest XLI

Real LTE, on ham radio spectrum, under Part 97.

Mike McGinty, W2FBI, is building xcl.is, an amateur cellular network that runs real LTE on ham bands. This is not "ham radio" over Verizon or AT&T or T-Mobile. It’s actual ham radio, with ham radio rules and privileges.

Ham radio, by accident of international spectrum allocations, has spectrum overlap with some global LTE and 5G bands. By accident of globalization, your existing cell phone’s modem likely already supports those bands and will Just Work.

That means we, as hams, can operate ham radio cellular networks on ham radio frequencies, under ham radio rules, if we have a way to comply with all Part 97 requirements. W2FBI has published operating standards detailing the methods of complying with Part 97, including implementations of the xcl.is standard across open source cellular projects like Open5GS and srsRAN.

At NEAR-Fest, W2FBI brings demonstrations of existing, off-the-shelf cellular products that work with this standard, operating under full compliance with ham radio regulations. Many existing phones and modems will, just by switching a sim card or enrolling an eSIM, become amateur radios with all the capabilities that a ham-radio cellular network can provide.

Come by the Midway and see for yourself!

xcl.is »

Twin State Radio Club Communications Trailer v2.0 Twin State Radio Club Support Trailer

Twin State Radio Club, W1FN

Unconfirmed for NEAR-Fest XLI

Emergency Communications Trailer Fleet

The Twin State Radio Club (W1FN) rolls in with a collection of their emergency-communications trailers, some of the most capable ham radio trailers in the Northeast.

Communications Trailer v2.0. A 7×16 all-aluminum trailer with roof-mounted A/C and heat pump, ten roof-mounted antennas (eight VHF/UHF wideband plus two WiFi), a front-mounted 31-foot crank-up mast, VHF and UHF public-safety radios, a solar-charged LiFePo4 battery bank, a 1,200-watt inverter, an on-board laser printer, and a Honda propane generator. Built for regional public-service events, EmComm training, and major communications emergencies.

Support Trailer. A matching 7×16 rig with a 7-foot workbench, a portable VHF repeater and duplexer, HF beam and VHF/UHF vertical storage, two military AB-577 towers, a canopy, and portable lighting. It hauls the club’s gear and adds operating positions for Field Day and large public-service events.

Walk through, ask questions, and see what a full-scale EmComm deployment looks like.

Twin State Radio Club Projects »

RandTel logo

RandTel

Unconfirmed for NEAR-Fest XLI

Free Public Telephones for Rural Vermont

RandTel is a small Central Vermont telephone cooperative that runs a growing network of restored payphones. Think payphones without the “pay” part. The phones are free to use and are placed where cell coverage is spotty or unreliable, so anyone can make a call in an emergency, whether or not they have a cell phone or a charged battery.

RandTel takes classic hardened payphones and converts them to run over VoIP, so a familiar-looking payphone booth can be dropped almost anywhere with a bit of power and a network connection. On the Midway they bring working payphones set up and running, along with the back-end gear that makes it all go, so you can see the conversion up close, dial a call, and ask questions about the hardware, the SIP side, and how the whole system fits together.

randtel.co »

Ham Trunk fire truck with ladder extended and American flag

Ham Trunk

Unconfirmed for NEAR-Fest XLI

A Fire Truck Turned Mobile Ham Radio Station

Ham Trunk is a decommissioned fire truck that has been converted into a rolling amateur radio station, showing up at hamfests and community events with its unmistakable red-and-chrome presence and a full complement of ham gear on board.

Ham Trunk on Facebook »

More exhibitors will be announced as NEAR-Fest XLI approaches. Want to exhibit? See Midway Exhibits.

On the Grounds Again

MeshCore LoRa Mesh Announcements

A low-power, off-grid text network for everyone on the grounds. No cell service or WiFi required.

What is MeshCore?

MeshCore is an open, no-infrastructure text-messaging network that runs on inexpensive handheld LoRa radios. Devices in range hop messages to each other automatically, so a note sent at one end of the grounds finds its way to the other end without cellular, WiFi, or the internet. Think of it as walkie-talkie texting for the whole fest.

How We Use It at NEAR-Fest

  • General announcements: schedule updates, weather, safety notes, and anything else the fest staff wants to push out.
  • Prize drawing winners: winning numbers as they’re drawn, right on your device.
  • Two-way Q&A: ask a question, get an answer from staff without hiking back to the Information Building.
MeshCore NEAR-Fest channel QR code
Scan to Join
Our Channel
NEAR-Fest

Point your MeshCore-compatible device at the QR code to add the NEAR-Fest channel and start receiving fest announcements right away.

NEAR-Fest doesn’t sell MeshCore gear or run on-site demos. Curious about MeshCore itself? Head to meshcore.io for devices, documentation, and the community that builds it.

Do You Have Something Interesting to Share with Hams?

Midway Exhibits at NEAR-Fest

Our Midway Exhibits area is where hams show off. Think EmComm setups, portable HF stations, digital modes, SDR, satellite gear, homebrew builds, vintage restorations, and any other cool tech worth talking about. If you have an item, project, or demonstration that would interest the NEAR-Fest community, we’d love to have you on the Midway.

Approved non-commercial exhibitors are admitted on us. No admission fee for you and your exhibit crew.

Interested? Contact us to discuss being our guest, or read more on the Midway Exhibits page.

Photo Gallery

Sponsors & Supporters

NEAR-Fest thanks the following organizations for their generous support.

Ham Radio Outlet Salem, NH

Ham Radio Outlet, Salem NH

Our neighboring HRO store, right down the road in Salem, NH. New England’s own Ham Radio Outlet carries transceivers, antennas, accessories, and everything in between for the amateur radio operator. Stop in before or after the fest.

Adventure Camper Rentals LLC

Adventure Camper Rentals LLC

Provides excellent customer service and the rental campers we use to operate NEAR-Fest at a reasonable rate! If you have ever considered renting a camper for an event (even ours!) these are the folks to call.

Holiday Inn Manchester Airport

Holiday Inn Manchester Airport

NEAR-Fest's officially endorsed event accommodations. Clean, friendly and reasonably priced accommodations just under 30 minutes from the event grounds. Located in Manchester, NH adjacent to just about any restaurants or shopping you may desire.

Interested in becoming a sponsor? Contact us.