Given all the news coverage, there have been rumors circulating that we will not be having the Joplin Hamfest this year, and I have been asked to address the issue before folks make other plans.

I have been in contact with the managers of the convention center, as well as some hotels in the area, and have confirmed that we are still on track. The storm passed about a mile north of the main lodging areas, and the convention center was unaffected.

We are scheduled to have the hamfest as planned. In addition to the forums, we intend to host a discussion that will address the uses for amateur radio during disasters such as the one experienced here. It should be interesting!

We are looking forward to hosting hams from all over the Midwest, and are hoping that our 22nd Joplin Hamfest will be the biggest ever!

Please, if you can help me get the word out that the event is going ahead as scheduled, I would greatly appreciate it!

Kindest Regards, & ’73

Jim Scott
WB0IYC
Chairman – 2011 Joplin Hamfest
Joplin, MO

The Joplin HAMFEST is held the 4th weekend each August at the John Q. Hammons Convention Center located on the outer road at Exit 8-B & I-44, Joplin, Missouri. Ample free parking, air conditioned, with 20,000 sq-ft indoors and over 200 tables. Plan to attend August 26-27, 2011. Friday 4-9, Saturday 8-2. Club Cookout Friday at 5:30pm
http://www.joplin-arc.org for more information.

Joplin ARC Establishes Fund for Tornado Relief Donations

The Midwest is no stranger to bad weather. But the Spring of 2011 has been particularly devastating, with severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, flooding, and range fires throughout much of the Midwest, including all four states in our ARRL Midwest Division – Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska. Many have suffered loss of lives, injury, and damage to home and businesses. None has been harder hit than Joplin, Missouri, in which 141 people died, countless others were injured, and much of the town was totally destroyed by an EF5 tornado.

The Joplin Amateur Radio Club and Radio Amateurs from the Southwest Missouri area as well as throughout the Midwest answered the call for volunteers to help with emergency communications and relief operations.

Hams assisted ARES, SATERN, Red Cross, local, state, and Federal emergency management teams, doctors and emergency medical providers, and other relief agencies, and provided countless hours and days helping this stricken community. A long and difficult road to recovery lies ahead, but the brave citizens of the Joplin area have already begun the task of restoring and rebuilding lives and looking to the future.

The Joplin Amateur Radio Club says there are at least eleven local ham radio operators who have lost equipment or antennas, and some have lost their homes. The Joplin ARC is establishing an account to accept donations for the benefit of local hams who have suffered personal losses as a result of the Joplin tornado. Anyone interested in sending contributions or gifts of equipment to the club to aid the tornado victims should mark it “Tornado Relief.” Contributions will be used by the club as needed to help the storm victims and their families.

Monetary donations should be sent to Joplin ARC, PO BOX 2983, Joplin MO 64803-2983. Donations of equipment may be shipped to the club in care of Jim Scott WB0IYC’s office at the following address: Joplin ARC, c/o Scott Electronic Systems, 310 S. Wall Ave. Joplin, MO 64801.
Anyone having questions about donations may contact the club Treasurer, Jim Johannes N0ZSQ [email protected]. The Joplin Amateur Radio Club http://www.joplin-arc.org is a not for profit corporation, tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(4).

Contributions or gifts to the Joplin Amateur Radio Club are not deductible as charitable contributions for Federal income tax purposes.