Bangalore: Bangalore Amateur Radio Club VU2ARC hosted HamfestIndia-2009, the annual gathering of radio amateurs from India on 7th & 8th Nov, at the sprawling Sri Nijagunara Kshetra, opposite to the Bull Temple, Basavanagudi Bengaluru. This year Bangalore Amateur Radio Club (BARC) celebrated its Golden Jubilee.

Around 700 delegates from different parts of India, mostly from the southern part of the country, attended the 18th hamfest. Proceedings started with a Kannada devotional song followed by lighting of the inaugral lamp by VU3VIP, K.B.KrishnaMurthy,Secretary AICC & Ex MP.

A Bangalore Amateur Radio Club, VU2ARC cover with special postal cancellation approved by India Post Karnataka Circle was released by the special guest on the occassion. The special postal cancellation had Bangalore Amateur Radio Club VU2ARC Golden Jubliee Celebrations written in Hindi and English language and was conceived & printed by VU2JHM, Lion Ajoy, member HFI 2009 Organsing Committee & Director, Lions International Stamp Club.

Speaking on the ocassion VU3VIP, K.B.KrishnaMurthy,Secretary AICC & Ex MP said that "radio communication is also about saving lives". He also emphasised that the motto of the hams is to serve the nation through this hobby. He urged all the hams present on the occassion to help the authorities at the time of disaster.

VU2YZ, Sampath Kumaran, General Convenor HFI 2009, VU2GGM,Govind Girimaji, Joint Convenor HFI 2009, VU2MY, S.Suri, Chairman National Institute of Amateur Radio & VU2GMN, Gopal Madhavan, President of Amateur Radio Society of India also adressed the gathering on the occassion.

VU2GGM,Govind Girimaji, Joint Convenor HFI 2009 said that hamfest is festival of hams most of whom we have never met & this is the oppurtunity to eyeball. VU2GMN, Gopal Madhavan, President of Amateur Radio Society of India urged the  youngsters to get into this hobby of radio. Inaugration of exhibition & stalls was done just after that by the special guest.

After the lunch was over brief presentations were made by the representatives of clubs on promotional aspects of amateur radio. Those who presented their viewpoints were VU2JOS, Jose Jacob from National Institute of Amateur Radio, VU2AMB, Ananda Bose from Kolkata, VU2WMY, Subramani, Secretary of ISRO Satellite Centre's Upagrah Amateur Radio Club (VU2URC)..etc.

Presentations made during the Hamfest included:

1) Multiband HF Transceiver by VU2HMY, Dr.P.Rajshekhar

2) Lightening & Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse by Prof. G.R.Nagabhushana

3) Software Defined Radio by VU2ZAZ, Dr.Bnam Naidu

4) Hombrewed 40m HF QRP Txer by VU2DEV, Rama Prabhu

5) AMSAT India by VU3TYG, Nitin

6) YL Expedition to Svalbrad by VU2SWS, Sarla

7) NIAR team in recent floods by VU2YAM, Yamini

The evening culminated with a cultural programme highlighting the culture and traditions of Karnataka followed by a gala dinner.

On 8th Nov, golden jubilee celebrations of Bangalore Amateur Radio Club VU2ARC (1959-2009) was held in which chief guest was Bhaskar Rao, Commissioner for transport & road safety, Govt. of Karnataka. Two of the founder members of BARC were present on the ocassion & they shared their experinces abot the club & hobby in general.. Presentation of prizes for the different events & contests held during the year 2009 was done soon after that.

Of special interest this year was auction of new & used equipments, which was quite popular among hams & they bidded vociferously for the rigs, antennas & other accessories that were put under hammer.

An open session was held just after the lunch followed by bidding was held for Hamfest 2010 in which there was only one bid from VU2WDP & it was unanimously decided to host the Hamfest 2010 at Pollachi, Tamil Nadu.