Hello ALL -
I would like to invite all ARRL Officers, Directors and Vice Directors
to visit the Central Division booth at the Oshkosh Airventure
Airshow in Oshkosh Wisconsin this July. We are in the process
of planning the presence at an indoor booth and would like
to have you consider joining the team that will represent
the League and amateur radio at the Airshow. I will be
organizing the booth staffing and already have two Board members
who have expressed interest in helping with this project.
Each year in July more than 10,000 aircraft converge in Central Wisconsin
at the Experimental Aircraft Association's Airventure. This seven
day event attracts a crowd of more than 500,000 people during that week
to view and enjoy the roots of aviation. The cross-over between amateur
radio operators and the pilots, aviation enthusiasts, and air show attendees
has a strong correlation. The attendees to this event represent a large
gathering of licensed and potential new amateur radio operators. If the
national average of hams in the general population is considered to be
a bottom line for an estimate of amateurs present then there is expect to
be at least 2,500 hams at EAA's Airventure 2018. The dates for Airventure this year is
July 23rd -to- July 29th, the week immediately after the July Board meeting.
The booth will be manned for the entire week.
The purpose of representing the ARRL with a booth at EAA's Airventure is to attract
new amateurs to the hobby, and to encourage already licensed hams
to become ARRL members. Since the greater percentage of EAA members
are licensed pilots who by nature are attracted to science and technology
who represent a large pool of potential amateur radio operators.
The ARRL Booth at the Airventure-2018 will also be able to draw upon
the attraction to the public display of the EAA Amateur Radio Special
Event station which is set-up annually at the Pioneer Airport airstrip
and hosted by local amateur radio operators. Since the attendees to
Air Venture come from all 50 states and dozens of countries it should be
anticipated that the interested generated by both the W9ZL special event
station and the ARRL booth will lead to interest by parties far beyond
the Oshkosh, Wisconsin local area.
Travel and lodging will not be reimbursable but if you plan
to visit Oshkosh, we would like to have your help at the Booth.
Lodging is available at a very inexpensive rate at a local College,
and RV camping at $35/night is available.
73, Kermit Carlson W9XA