About

HamfestIndia is a national convention of amateur radio enthusiasts, often combining a trade show, flea market, and various other activities of interest to amateur radio operators (hams). Hams talk to each other on the radio regularly, but they hardly meet each other personally. Hams enjoy meeting fallow Hams called Eyeball QSO during Hamfest. Hamfests may also include meetings and proceedings of amateur radio clubs, seminars on technical, operational, or legal aspects of amateur radio, and license examination sessions. Commercial sellers of Ham Radio equipment also display and sell the types of UHF, VHF and HF radios at the venue. Individual Hams also display their products for sale. Cultural programs and photo sessions are also part of the attraction.

History of Hamfest India

Hamfest India is a popular annual amateur radio event held in India since 1991. The venue of an upcoming Hamfest India is decided by the General Body of the last Hamfest India. The event is an excellent occasion for Hams and SWLs to meet each other and to keep updated on the latest developments. It usually has technical sessions, presentations, exhibitions, demonstrations, sales of radio equipment and a flea market. The event also proposes to create more awareness on Ham Radio. ‘Hamfest India’ is precisely the largest gathering of Indian HAMs in one place.

Sr	Year	City	Convener
1	1991	Kuttikkanam	Joseph Mattappally VU2JIM
2	1992	Kochi	K N Gopinadhan VU2EGM
3	1993	Salem	Premchand K VU2RPC
4	1994	Mysore	K R Madhukar VU2MUD
5	1995	Mumbai	Adolph Shephard VU2AF
6	1996	Kolkata	Avinash Misra VU2EM
7	1997	Kochi	S Suresh VU2SUO
8	1998	Bangalore	Ramachandra VU2RCR
9	1999	Mysore	M T Kesari VU2MTK
10	2000	Hyderabad	Chalam Chivukula VU2CLM
11	2001	Nagpur	Shrikant Jichkar VU2SJA
12	2002	Chennai	M Saravanan VU2MSS
13	2003	Gandhinagar	S K Nanda IAS SWL
14	2004	Mumbai	Nilesh Rathod VU2NLF
15	2005	NOT HELD
16	2006	Kollam	K G Nadarajan VU2KGN
17	2007	Guntur	R Sarath Babu VU2RS
18	2008	Gandhinagar	S K Nanda IAS SWL
19	2009	Bangaluru	M R Sampath Kumar VU2YZ
20	2010	Pollachi	S Vijayan VU2WDP
21	2011	Kochi	K G Girish Babu VU2KGB
22	2012	Chennai	K M Devadas VU2DH
23	2013	Gwalior	Jayant Bide VU2JAU
24	2014	Hyderabad	Ashaar Farhan VU2ESE
25	2015	Rajkot	S K Nanda, I.A.S SWL
26	2016	Mount Abu	Yeshwant Patil VU3YOR
27	2017	Kolkata	VU2HRF Mohammad Ariff
28	2018	Bangalore	Dr S Sathyapal VU2FI
29	2019	Kanyakumari	RAJA VU2PAJ
30	2020	NOT HELD
31	2021	NOT HELD
32	2022	Mysore	Shankar Prasad VU2SPK

HAMFest in Gujarat

Gujarat state had faced a number of natural calamities, but the earthquake of 26th January 2001 which, resulted in the gigantic loss of human and infrastructure resources. Also it exposed the need of disaster mitigation policies to be taken up rapidly in the state to cease future losses due to any hazard. The aftermath of the earthquake was very tragic with the trauma and despair of the affected people beyond comprehension. A large area of the state was affected and there was a communication blackout which resulted kehos in gathering information and managing rescue & relief work. Hams from other states joined group of Gujarat Hams in providing emergency communication in the large affected area of the state. This resulted understanding need of Ham Institute to promote Ham activity in the state. And eventually Gujarat Institute of Amateur Radio(GIAR) was established o 4^th March, 2001 under the leadership of Dr. S.K. Nanda, Senior IAS officer & Ex-Chief Secretary and Mr. E.Radhakrishna, Senior IPS officer & Ex-Police Commissioner Vadodara.

Journey of GIAR of more than two decades started with a small group of Hams of Gandhinagar & Ahmedabad. GIAR has completed more than 70 training batches in Gandhinagr, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Junagadh and other places and successful in addition of 2000 new licences by the efforts. Now Gujarat has network of 5 VHF repeaters, host of 3 HFI events in 2003, 2008 and 2015. GIAR participated in a number of emergency communication during disasters right from Gujarat Earthquake to T-Sunami at Andaman & Nikobar, Flood at Surat, Nilofar Cyclone, Nepal earthquake, Tauktae Cyclone and set up emergency communication network during several forecasts of cyclones and heavy rainfalls.