What is the Youtubers Hamfest?
The Youtubers Hamfest was formed in 2020 as a way to reach more hams worldwide in a centralized location to discuss and learn about all things ham radio. It is a collection of some of the best and most talented ham radio youtubers online today.
The setup is as follows: Youtubers create content or go live on youtube based upon a schedule that is predetermined. The content and videos contain reviews of new gear, interviews with manufacturers like Icom & Yaesu as well as how to videos, modes of operation, demonstrations, live builds and just fun general ham radio discussion.
The Youtubers Hamfest is a great way for hams all over the world to be able to attend a virtual hamfest, free of charge and from the comfort of your home.
This event happens annually around the Memorial Day Weekend each year and runs from the Friday before through Sunday before Memorial Day.
The YTHF has channels from all over the world including Ham Radio Crash Course, Ham Radio 2.0, K8MRD Radio Stuff, Ham Radio DX and many more. Some of the channels participate in giveaways for some really nice gear and prizes. This year some of the giveaways included a Buddi-Stick Hex beam Antenna, Bioenno batteries and gift cards for DX Engineering among other items.
One of the favorite things during the weekend virtual festival is the FT8OFF. This is a one hour sprint using FT8 to see how many contacts each participant can make in one hour’s time. It is a lot of fun and allows you to interact with the Youtubers on a contest (not a contest) format. The FT8OFF is hosted by “Temporarily Offline’s” Youtube channel who is also a member of the Coffee Ham Ham Radio show that is every Saturday and Sunday Morning around 9:30AM CST on Youtube. If you are interested, the FT8OFF runs every Thursday evening as well, not just during the Youtubers HamFest. Information and links to that are below:
Rules: https://github.com/TemporarilyOffline/FT8Off
Setup: https://youtu.be/LICe34DjZuo
Scoreboard: https://ft8off.kd2fmw.com/
In Conclusion
Whether you are a new ham or a seasoned ham operator, the Youtubers Hamfest has something for everyone. It is a fun time for all and a way to learn about new things in ham radio whether it is gear, operations and so on.
Each of the playlists have about 40+ videos in each playlist and hundreds of hours of content for your viewing pleasure.
If you have time, I encourage you to try it out and see what you think. This is not stuffy overly serious ham radio topics. It is meant to be fun, informative and enjoyable.