New Mexico TechFest

»»» Click here for 2025 TechFest prize drawing policy

»»» Click here for 2025 attendee randomly assigned prize drawing numbers

»»» Click here for description of prizes designated for the “Specialized” prize drawing 

Rocky Mountain Ham Radio, New Mexico is pleased to announce the 2025 New Mexico TechFest, an ARRL-sanctioned operating specialty event, on Saturday February 22, 2025 at the UNM Continuing Education Conference Center in Albuquerque, NM (1634 University Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87102).

New Mexico TechFest is a hybrid event: Both in-person and, for those unable to travel or attend in-person, online via Zoom’s professional webinar platform.

Join fellow amateur radio operators from around the Land of Enchantment (and beyond) for a day of quality presentations, demonstrations, and instruction provided by some of New Mexico and Colorado’s most experienced technical hams on a variety of emerging and relevant technical topics within amateur radio today. The New Mexico TechFest is designed to provide a unique opportunity for all hams interested in the technical aspects of our hobby to advance and expand their technical knowledge and to facilitate technical discussion, collaboration, and discuss ideas with one another.

Ham-specific and presentation-related prizes will be drawn throughout the TechFest event. Coffee, water, and light snacks will be available for in-person attendees.  An optional, catered lunch will be provided to in-person attendees who purchase one.

Mark your calendars, spread the word, and join us for TechFest 2025!

TechFest Presentation, Posterboard, and Demo Lineup and Schedule

(Times shown are MST.  Schedule times and order of presentations are subject to change.)

• 8:00am: Doors open, in-person registration check-in (no walk-ins permitted)
• 8:30-8:45am: TechFest kickoff, welcoming comments
• 8:45-9:00am: Overview of presentations
• 9:00-9:50am: Is Tropospheric Ducting a Myth? (by Mike Hasselbeck WB2FKO of High Springs, Florida)
• 10:00-10:50am: A Technical Overview of the NanoVNA: Where it Came From, How it Works and What You Can Do With It (by Larry Goga AE5CZ of Albuquerque, New Mexico)
• 11:00-11:50am: RMHAM Multi-State 5 GHz Microwave Network: A Realtime Demonstration of its Functionality and Capabilities (by Ed James KA8JMW of Edgewood, New Mexico and Brian Mileshosky N5ZGT of Albuquerque, New Mexico)
• 12:00-12:50pm: Lunch, attendee collaboration, demonstrations, and posterboards
• 1:00-1:50pm: Amateur Radio Hotspots – Not just for DMR (by Michael Lozano KØNGA of Aurora, Colorado)
• 2:00-2:50pm: Through-the-Earth Texting and Digital Sensor Data Communications in a New Mexico Cave (by John Lyles K5PRO of Los Alamos, New Mexico)
• 3:00-3:50pm:  Getting Started with LoRa APRS (by Steve Barkes W5RRX of Las Cruces, New Mexico)
• 3:50-4:15pm: Final prize drawings, closing comments
• 4:15-5:00pm: Open forum for TechFest attendees to collaborate

DEMONSTRATIONS:

• Amateur Radio Hotspots (by Mike Lozano KØNGA of Aurora, Colorado)
• The NanoVNA and What You Can Do With One (by Larry Goga AE5CZ of Albuquerque, New Mexico and Albert Richard K5AJR of Bernalillo, New Mexico)
• LoRa APRS (by Steve Barkes W5RRX of Las Cruces, New Mexico)
• 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing (by Jon Fox WØAMT of Albuquerque, New Mexico)
• Interested in providing a demonstration at TechFest? Please contact us at techfest@rmham.org

POSTERBOARD TALKS:

• Interested in providing a posterboard talk at TechFest? Please contact us at techfest@rmham.org

»»» Click here for presentation, posterboard and demonstration abstracts and speaker biographies

Register to Attend the New Mexico TechFest

TechFest admission is $15, payable via online registration. Pre-registration is required to attend (sorry, walk-up registrations cannot be accepted).

• IMPORTANT: Walk-in registrations at the event will not be accepted.  All attendees must register online, in advance.
• In-person attendees may purchase an optional catered lunch until 10:00PM MST Tuesday, February 17.
• Online registration — both in-person and virtual — will close at 5:00PM MST Thursday, February 20 (in-person registration will close earlier, if/when venue capacity is reached).

2025 TechFest Prize Lineup

We are excited to give away a number of purchased and donate prizes at this year’s event. Because TechFest is a hybrid event (in-person and virtual), we will ship/deliver prizes to lucky winners as needed.  NOTE: This prize lineup is subject to change.

2025 TechFest Prize Donors

Rocky Mountain Ham Radio and the New Mexico TechFest wishes to recognize and thank the following prize donors.

Interested in donating a prize to the New Mexico TechFest?  Please contact us via email at techfest@rmham.org.  Rocky Mountain Ham Radio is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization and donations are tax-deductible.

• ARRL
• Adafruit
• Alpha Antenna
• Bioenno Power
• Chris Gillespie W5CSG
• Digirig Ham Radio Equipment
• DX Engineering
• Easy Way Ham Books
• Ed James KA8JMW
• Electric Radio
• Halibut Electronics
• Hammond Manufacturing
• Ham Radio School
• Heil Ham Radio
• Jon Fox W0AMT
• Mastrant Antenna Guying
• N3FJP Amateur Radio Software
• Powerwerx
• QRZ
• Smiley Antenna Co.
• Steve Barkes W5RRX
• Taos Amateur Radio Club
• Additional prize donors will be added here.

What are New Mexico TechFest proceeds used for?

• • • Cost of all-day venue rental
    • Cost of license for professional Zoom webinar license to enable hybrid format
    • Purchase of coffee, water, and light snacks
    • Purchase of prizes (donations are increasingly hard to come by for many businesses given economic and supply chain challenges)
    • Cost to ship/deliver prizes to their lucky winners, as needed
    • Remaining proceeds are applied directly to the continued expansion of RMHAM’s 5-GHz multi-megabit amateur radio microwave network/backbone, an infrastructure that enables partnered amateur radio clubs to expand their repeater capabilities.

Event Flyer

A printable event flyer is available for posting on ham listserves, within your club’s newsletter, or on your club’s website. Please help us spread the word across the amateur radio community about this unique event.

»»» Download and help pass around the New Mexico TechFest flyer.

Important Dates & Deadlines

• December 1 thru January 25, 2025: Call for TechFest presentations, posterboards, and demos
• Saturday January 25, 2025: Deadline to submit summary/abstract of proposed presentation, posterboard, or demo
• Sunday, January 26, 2025: Summaries/abstracts reviewed by TechFest committee, presentation lineup finalized
• On/about February 1, 2025: TechFest presentation lineup announced and posted on website
• On/about February 1, 2025: TechFest online registration opens

Call for Presentations, Posterboards, and Demonstrations

The New Mexico TechFest is seeking presentations, posterboards and demos on emerging and relevant amateur radio technical topics, techniques, and applications. If you’ve been working on a special project, are researching a technical topic, or have discovered or adopted a technology or technique that you’re applying within amateur radio, TechFest is a great venue to share your knowledge with the amateur radio community in a casual and friendly environment. Presentation slots are 50 minutes in length, including all anticipated Q&A. Posterboards and demonstrations are more casual, shorter in length and occur during time slots during the day. Hams interested in providing a presentation, posterboard or demonstration are asked to submit a summary/abstract of their proposed topic for consideration by January 25, 2025. More than one presentation/posterboard/demo proposal may be submitted for consideration. Sales and promotional presentations are not permitted. For inquiries or to submit your technical presentation abstract, please email us at techfest@rmham.org