Program

What inspires today’s youth in the amateur radio hobby? Find out what’s on the minds of our youngest hams in this captivating round-table discussion on Saturday, August 23 at 4 P.M. Moderated by Bob Phinney, K5TEC, this is a great learning opportunity for teachers, scout leaders, or clubs wanting to attract more youth to their local radio clubs. 

The Yankee Clipper Contest Club is a special-purpose amateur radio club devoted to the pursuit of operating and technical excellence. Our goals are simple:

• To promote the fun, satisfaction and competitive thrill of radio contesting
• To assist our members in the development of their operating and technical skills
• To win the club competition of the major amateur radio contests

The YCCC was founded in April 1977 and now boasts over 400 members located from New York City to Maine, Cape Cod to Upstate NY plus southern Quebec.  YCCC members have excelled in all areas of amateur radio contesting, DXing, technical design, and public service.

Gather with the Yankee Clipper Contest Club on Saturday, August 23 at 12 noon for introductions, club business, and information for new members at the 2025 Northeast HamXposition.

Getting regular participation for ARES and similar drills can be a lackluster event. Without a good focus going to an exercise participants can have a lackluster attitude. Rory Griffin, W4RJG, will discuss 4 P’s for each group to truly make the most of each training event.

Bio:

W4RJG has been licensed since 1983. After 9/11 he was involved in central NJ ARES with special pandemic and dirty bomb planning. He’s participated in multiple NYC Marathons and the Salute To Israel Parade (100k marchers). He started a Salvation Army VHF net covering all NJ, NYC and eastern PA. In 2022 he put together the first Field Day site in his county in over a decade. Since then, he was appointed ARRL EC and ADEC, EDM (Emergency Direct Messaging) Steering Committee member. Rory presents Amateur Radio Learning Sessions weekly on all aspects of the hobby. He also runs a weekly license prep class and is an ARRL and W5YI VE. Rory maintains five Winlink RMS stations and is currently building a BPQ32 station. 

The 2025 HamXposition QRP Build-A-Thon kit will be the “Cento Receivo”, a 40m direct conversion receiver kit! Another feature of this kit is that there is very little soldering involved in building this kit. All the components simply plug into SIP (single in-line pin) sockets….which allows for a quick build with a minimal set of tools.

The NEQRP sponsored Build-A-Thon is on Saturday at 7PM in the Marlborough Room W-9 and is opened for ANY and ALL Attendees of the Convention, young or old..

We recommend purchase the kit in advance: (There will be a ‘small number’ of kits at the Build-A-Thon for purchase if needed. … Why purchase the Build-A-Thon kit in advance? … So we can supply ALL participants a kit at 7PM on Saturday the 23rd. Again, ALL are Welcome to participate in the NEQRP Sponsored Build-A-Thon.

Purchase a kit at:

https://qrpme.com/?p=product&id=HX25

Again ALL interested parties, young and/or old builders, are invited to take-part in our Annual Build-A-Thon, starting at 7PM on Saturday, August 23rd, at the end of the West Wing hallway (Marlborough Room W-9). Kids or old-timers are welcome. It’s a FUN, EXCITING, and, LEARNING, Convention Activity/Event.

[See also: Full NEQRP Schedule]

Many new hams and retiring hams are living in apartments or condos where they have limited ability to get on HF while others have constraints like HOAs or family concerns about the aesthetics of wires, masts or beams hanging on the house. It takes more than reading an ad or buying a mobile antenna to get on HF. First, they must understand the basics of antennas or they are stymied. This presentation by Robert Glorioso, W1IS, covers the principles and discusses examples of successful HF antennas in restricted environments.

Bio:

Co-Authors Bob Glorioso, W1IS, and Bob Rose, KC1DSQ, have written two QST Cover Plaque articles since June 2021 and the 2024 Antenna Design Competition for their All Band 160m OCF in August 2025. They wrote several articles for CQ including as Guest Antenna Editors. They just released the Second Edition of their book on wire antennas available at OCFmasters.com. W1IS and KC1DSQ are retired engineers who have been working for the last seven years on antennas of all sizes and shapes, single band beams including phased dipoles and multi-band configurations, with a goal of delivering less than 3:1 SWR across a wide range of frequencies. 

Join Max Kendall, WØMXX, and learn how high altitude balloon programs can be used to inspire and engage youth to push themselves to new heights. As Amateur Radio operators, high altitude balloons offer us a low cost near-space platform for exciting engineering and radio projects. Learn from the New England Weather Balloon Society’s successes and failures and see what some of the work students are doing in the StratoScience Lab program this year.  [See HamX program schedule for date and time.]

Bio:

Max is a rising 9th grader at Medway High School. He is the vice-president of STARS radio club at New England Sci-Tech, the president of the 4-H Science Explorers, a mentor at the Medway Library Arduino club and STEAM classes, and founder of the New England Weather Balloon Society. He earned his Extra license in 2021. He enjoys working with robotics and electronics, and has been tinkering since he was a toddler. He is passionate about sharing his knowledge with other kids and adults alike. He teaches many classes and workshops at New England Sci-Tech, an educational non-profit. He also enjoys eating sushi, reading classics, math, and climbing. 

When Hurricane Helene tore through western North Carolina in the fall of 2024, the damage was swift, unexpected, and widespread. In this photo-rich presentation, Thomas Witherspoon, K4SWL, will share his firsthand account of the storm’s aftermath and how amateur radio played a crucial role in staying connected when everything else failed. He will also offer practical advice for operators—no matter where they live—on how to prepare for natural disasters, build resilient communication setups, and foster stronger local networks. Even if you think you’re “out of harm’s way,” consider this your wake-up call to be ready. 

Thomas Witherspoon, K4SWL, has been a ham radio operator since 1997, making most of his contacts in the field with low-power (QRP) gear. He runs QRPer.com, the SWLing Post, and the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive, and is a regular co-hosts the Ham Radio Workbench podcast. A 2023 inductee into the QRP Hall of Fame, Thomas has a deep love for chasing weak signals from the great outdoors. 

Digital signals sound just like noise in our narrowband receivers. You may not realize that some of the noise you hear is caused by DTV and other digital transmitters. Join Paul Wade, W1GHZ, who will help you identify this insidious noise raising your noise floor and reducing your receiver sensitivity, and what you can do about it.

Bio:

Paul Wade W1GHZ, previously N1BWT and WA2ZZF, has been licensed since 1962 . He has been a microwave experimenter for years and published numerous articles as well as writing the “Microwavelengths” column in QST. He was past President of the North East Weak Signal Group (NEWS). An ongoing project is the “W1GHZ Microwave Antenna Book” – online at www.w1ghz.org.

In 1997, he was honored to be named by the Central States VHF Society as the recipient of the Chambers Award. He has been honored by the ARRL with the 2000 Microwave Development Award, in 2001 with the Thomas Kirby Eastern VHF/UHF Society Award, and in 2009 by Microwave Update and the North Texas Microwave Society with the Don Hilliard Award for Technical Contributions to the Microwave Community. In 2025, he was honored to receive the ARRL Doug DeMaw, W1FB, Technical Excellence Award. Paul is a Life Member of the IEEE.

After a long career in electrical engineering, including microwaves, computer hardware, and signal integrity, he and Beth, N1SAI, are now happily retired in Vermont with a rescue dog named Daisy. He was also a ski instructor for a time, and now enjoys skiing on a new bionic knee, and skijoring with Daisy. 

The New England QRP Club has announced its full schedule of events and activities at the 2025 Northeast HamXposition on August 22-24, 2025. In addition to meals, a vendor night, and W1B talk-in station, NEQRP will host a Saturday afternoon seminar of talks and presentations. 

See https://hamxposition.org/new-england-qrp/ for the full schedule.

 

Due to unforeseen circumstances, our original banquet speaker Ned Sterns, AA7A, will be unavailable.

Tim Duffy, K3LR, will be the featured guest speaker at the Friday evening DX/Contest Banquet. Tim will discuss contesting history and what the future might hold with a focus on clubs and youth.

K3LR has been an active amateur radio operator for over 53 years – starting as WN3SZX in 1972.  He has hosted over 180 different ham radio operators from around the world as part of the K3LR Multi operator Multi transmitter radio sport contest efforts since 1992.  K3LR has built a 14 tower station with 11 operating positions.

Tim was the ARRL Atlantic Division Technical Achievement award winner in 1998.  He has been the moderator of the Hamvention Antenna forum for 41 years. K3LR serves as chairman of Contest University (16 years), the Dayton Contest Dinner (31 years), chairman of the Top Band Dinner – as well as co-coordinator of the Contest Super Suite (38 years) in Dayton during the yearly Dayton Hamvention. 

Tim is founder and moderator of the popular RFI Reflector (RFI@contesting.com) since 1999.  K3LR serves on the WRTC2026 Advisory Board. Tim serves on the board of directors of the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF) as Chairman and is President Emeritus of the Radio Club of America (RCA).  Tim is multiyear President of the Mercer County Amateur Radio Club (W3LIF/W3JTV). K3LR is President of the North Coast Contesters.

Tim serves on the electrical engineering advisory board for Grove City College. He was elected to the CQ Contest Hall of Fame in 2006.  K3LR was honored with the prestigious Barry Goldwater Amateur Radio service award by the RCA in 2010. Tim was honored in 2016 with the YASME Excellence award.  

K3LR was also honored as Hamvention Amateur of the Year in 2015 by the Dayton Amateur Radio Association. Tim is the Chief Executive Officer of DX Engineering. He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University.