It is with deep regret that the Board members of Huntsville Hamfest Association announces the passing of Charles Emerson (Charlie) on January 14, 2017 of an apparent heart attack. Charlie was the current President of Huntsville Hamfest Association, a position he had held for many years. Under Charlie's leadership, Huntsville Hamfest maintained its growth and position in the Amateur Radio industry as one of the top hamfest organizations in the nation. Charlie had come to be the face and voice of Huntsville Hamfest among amateur radio equipment manufacturers, dealers, and attending ham operators. Known by his amateur radio callsign N4OKL, Charlie will be remembered as always laughing and telling jokes and acting as peacemaker whenever necessary.

Huntsville Hamfest was Charlie's pride and joy and he never missed an opportunity to promote the show or ham radio as a hobby. He was always anxious to support organizations in the development of young hams in areas of science and technology through ham radio. The loss of Charlie will leave a huge hole in the heart of the amateur radio community as well as all who knew him. Our heartfelt condolences go out to Charlie's wife Nina and the rest of his family while they make arrangements for a memorial service to celebrate Charlie's life and honor him in death. The details for Charlie's memorial service are available here.

Despite this great loss to our hamfest organization, the Huntsville Hamfest board is dedicated to continuing the tradition of service to the amateur radio community by opening its doors as usual on the third weekend of August (date shown above). We look forward to honoring Charlie's memory in August at the 2017 Huntsville Hamfest.

• Hours? Price? Other Details? — See the "Activities" link on the left.
• Where is everything??? — See the map of the South Hall here.
• Young Ham of the Year — We are pleased to announce that Skyler Fennell, KD0WHB, of Denver CO is this year's winner. Be sure to meet this fine young ham!
• Alabama Young Ham of the Year — We are also pleased to announce that Mark Roberson, KM4DEF, of Birmingham, AL, is this year's winner. Come and meet this fine & very active young ham!
• Youth Lounge! — What are we doing in the Youth Lounge? Click on the link and find out!
• Prize for the Youngest Ham! — Sam Adams will be giving away a very nice quad copter with camera to the youngest licensed ham at the Hamfest on Sat., including any that might have passed the exam on Sat.
• Hiram Percy Maxim Award Winner — Christopher Brault will be present at Huntsville. You can meet with him at the ARRL booth.
• Forums — We have the best lineup of forums for any hamfest. Check out the Forums page for details and schedule.
• The 3.885 AM Gang will meet at 12:00 PM on Sat Aug. 20 in front of Flea Market Table 131 for a meet and greet.
• DX Club Banquet — Guest speaker Bob Allphin, K4UEE, will give a talk titled, "A Preview of the Upcoming Bouvet Island DXpedition (3Y0Z): The Challenges and the Adventure." Banquet will be at the Best Western in Madison. Tickets are $38 and can be purchased here.
• W5KUB will be here again covering the Huntsville Hamfest with his famous live webcam!
• Ted Randall, WB8PUM will be doing his QSO Radio Show broadcast live from the Huntsville Hamfest on WTWW shortwave.
• Huntsville's Wide Coverage D-STAR System is W4WBC: 145.36-, 443.425+, 1285+ and 1251 DD
• Yaesu Digital Fusion Users: Use 147.14+, 100 Hz PL
• DMR Users: DMR Networked System 444.975+. For Talk Group info, go to N4HSV.net for more and code plugs.
• Limited, first-come, RV parking available — See the “RV & Camping” link for details.
• Bring the family along! — Lots to do in the Huntsville area! Check out the “Tourism” link.
• Talk-in: Will be on the 146.94 repeater, 100Hz tone, and the backup in case of failure will be on the 145.33-, 100Hz tone, repeater.