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August 3 & 4, 2018      Crowne Plaza      Austin, Texas

           6121 North IH-35

              NE Corner of IH-35N & US 290E


samehotelOnce again it's time for fun in the sun in central Texas as we make the Capital City the place to be in the middle of the Texas summer.  Come and enjoy old friends, the swapfest, and all the events at Austin Summerfest 2018, and the ARRL South Texas Section Convention.  And as always, we also host the Summer Meeting of the Texas VHF-FM Society.

 $10 per-person admission fee at the door.

Registration opens at 5pm on Friday, and 7am on Saturday.

To expedite your registration upon arrival, you can download, print, and fill out a registration form to bring with you HERE .

Pre-Registration is closed

 

Swapfest Tables Are Sold Out

 

 

Additional Parking Next Door

Parking
All areas outlined in green are free to use on Saturday. The Tailgate area marked in red is for tailgaters only. Note the R in pink - That is the main registration area inside the hotel (where you want to go when you arrive).
 
PLEASE respect our hosts and do not leave any items or trash in these parking lots.
 
There are additional parking spots available for Saturday ONLY (click map to enlarge) just to the East of the Crowne Plaza Hotel but to get to it you have to drive around the block or come in from the east on US290  At the TMPA building, the first 5 spaces just before the flag pole are reserved for the folks that work in the building - note the area marked in red. The rest of the lot is free to use. 
 
If using the overflow parking, please print out and place THIS SIGN on your dash to avoid any possibility of being towed
 
This parking area is fenced off from the hotel so you will have to walk to the East and then walk behind the Sterling Event Center (former  Chinese  restaurant) to get to the Crowne Plaza Hotel.  Even with that it is still closer than the far corner of the hotel parking lot.

around block

We have permission to park in the parking lot of the Sterling Event Center (former Chinese restaraunt) next door on SATURDAY ONLY. To get to the extra areas from IH-35, you will need to go north past the hotel, take your next right East on La Posada, and then a right again to come South on La Calma.

 

We highly recommend that local residents carpool when possible, and use the overflow parking on Saturday morning only to allow our out-of-town visitors to be able to park in the hotel spots.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

ARRL Forum

w1rfi This year's guest speaker is  Ed Hare W1RFI, Lab Manager for the ARRL.

 You can read more here

 

Central Texas DX and Contest Club

They will be having a CW Pileup competition on Friday evening and Saturday, with a prize to 1st place.

See their Technical Session page for more information.

 

 

Weather

Troy Kimmel  KE5BCK, along with other leading Austin meteorologists, will conduct a program that should be particularly interesting due to all the recent weather events.

 

Dealers

There'll be our usual fine contingent of dealers, ready to help you with their knowledge of the latest products, and a great selection of them too. Think of those little odds and ends that you've been thinking of getting for the shack. Here's your chance to get them while they're on your mind.

Schedule

All the activity is concentrated on Friday night and Saturday, to allow you flexibility in your weekend travel plans.

A Chart of Events is HERE .

But do come early, as things fire up at 6 pm Friday evening and go 'till 9, and start up again Saturday at 8 am, with swapping 'till 3:30 and dealers & sessions 'till 4:30.

The Texas VHF-FM Society meeting will run from 1 to approximately 3 pm, so mark your schedule.  

Click map to enlarge.

hotelplan

Prizes

We have lined up some excellent prizes this year!

(Click the pictures for full specifications)

 

GRAND PRIZE: Yaesu FT-891 HF/50MHz 100W All-Mode Mobile

 FT891

 

 

FEATURED PRIZE: Yaesu FTM-7250DR 2M/70CM C4FM/FM 50 Watt Digital Mobile

FTM7250DR

 

 

 

BONUS PRIZE: Yaesu FT-70DR 2M/70CM C4FM/FM 5 Watt Digital HT

 FT70DR  

 If you register in advance, you have a chance at another FT-70DR!

 

With your registration you get one ticket good for Saturday's door prizes and the Major Prizes,
and you can buy more tickets at $1 each. Plus, if you rent a room at the Crowne Plaza, you'll
get five bonus tickets for each room-night, up to a total of ten tickets. (See the RULES page for prize rules.)

 

Driving Directions

The Crowne Plaza is at 6121 IH-35 North at US 290, Austin, TX, 78752. Phone (512)323-5466. Talk-in is on 146.34/94. Tone: 107.2Hz

Northbound on IH-35: Take Exit 238-A (RM 2222). Continue on the frontage road over US 290. Turn right into the west entrance of the Crowne Plaza parking lot.

Southbound on IH-35: Take Exit 238 B-A, marked East 290 Houston West 2222. As you go up the ramp , it splits. Bear right at the fork, taking the West 2222 ramp. As you get back down to ground level, stay in the left lane and take the U-turn under IH-35 to the northbound frontage road of IH-35. Get to the right side of the northbound frontage road as soon as possible and take the first right turn into the west entrance of the Crowne Plaza parking lot. If you miss the first turn into the lot, take the second one into the northmost end of the hotel parking lot and work your way back to the front of the hotel.

Westbound on US 290: Take the IH-35 North (Waco) exit. Shortly after the exit ramp, bear to the right; turn right into the south entrance of the Crowne Plaza parking lot. This turn comes up quick; if you overshoot, just follow the turn lane to the right onto the northbound frontage road and turn right into the west entrance of the Crowne Plaza parking lot.

Summerfest will be held in the hotel’s convention center in the southeast side.

The tailgate swapfest area will be made available Saturday morning in the parking lot section in the southeast corner of the hotel property.

 (click to enlarge)

Parking

Swapfest

For lots of folks, our main event--wall-to-wall goodies of every description, brought to you in carpeted, air-conditioned comfort on Friday evening and Saturday.

Rules:

  • Full-sized tables: 6 feet by 30 inches. $10 each, limit of 3 to a customer. First come, first served.
  • AC power is available at an additional $5 per customer, through advance registration only.
  • We'll attempt to honor requests from groups of sellers for adjacent tables, if we receive your registrations in the same envelope.
  • If you advance register for swap tables, we'll attempt to notify you in advance if they are unavailable due to being sold out (a rare occurrence). Be sure to give us your email address so we can notify you that way.
  • Your table(s) will be held for you until 10 AM Saturday.
  • Swapfest hours are 6 to 9 pm Friday and 8 AM to 3:30 PM Saturday. Opening times are for both sellers (for setup) and shoppers.
  • Buyers and sellers must be registered at the convention.
  • NO food or beverage sales permitted

We'll be holding a Tailgate swapfest on the east side of the Crowne Plaza Hotel. You need not be registered at the Convention to sell at the tailgate, but of course you'll want to attend the indoor swapfest and sessions, so it would be a good idea to register. We allow one vehicle (car, truck, trailer, etc) per parking space inside the coned-off area.  Stradling more than one space will not be allowed. This is for the benefit of all tailgaters.

Talk-In on 146.94

microphone-clipart-2Austin Summerfest will use the Austin Amateur Radio Club's 146.94Mhz (PL=107.2 Hz) repeater for Talk-in.  Please follow the directions of the Talk-in Net Control operator.

Crowne-Plaza-AustinCrowne Plaza Hotel Reservations & Directions

This year we are again at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, the same site where Austin Summerfest began 34 years ago back in 1983. Back then it was the Austin Marriott Hotel.

The address is; 6121 North IH 35 Austin, Texas 78752.  Here is a Google map and if you use the "Get directions" button it will map your drive to the Crowne Plaza.

Please support Summerfest by staying at the Crowne Plaza and make sure you request the special Convention rate.. Showing support for our hotel helps to ensure that we can continue to stage our Convention in high-quality surroundings.  This year we have a stiff penalty if we don't meet our room-night commitment. 

The hotel cutoff date for guaranteed room availability has been extended to August 3rd.

The hotel needs your reservation by August 3rd to guarantee room availability at the convention rate of $109 per room night.
Phone the toll-free Crowne Plaza reservation center at 1 (800) 227-6963 and use the code "ASF" to request rooms. Mention that you are requesting rooms in the Austin Summerfest block to get the Convention rate.

You can now also make reservations online by clicking here: Austin Summerfest 2018 Reservations

If you have trouble making reservations through the reservation center at the Austin Summerfest convention rate, call Joe Fisher K5EJL (the Summerfest liaison to the hotel) at (512) 350-6936 or by email at k5ejl@arrl.net and he will straighten things out.

 

For written directions try this link: Driving Directions.