Atlanticon 2000 QRP Forum
March 24-25, 2000
The NJ-QRP Club is very pleased to announce details
concerning the Atlanticon 2000 QRP Forum, being held on March 24-25, 2000
in the attractive suburbs of historic Philadelphia, PA. (See map below.)
This will be the second year that this major east coast QRP weekend will be conducted ...
last time over 125 avid QRPers witnessed 7 brilliant technical presentation from leading
experts in our QRP community. We're keeping the same format and building on the
excitement from the 1999 forum to make Atlanticon 2000 even better for
everyone involved.
The Atlanticon 2000 QRP Forum will be held at the Ramada Inn at the
corner of Rt. 1 and Rt. 202 in Glen Mills, PA. This is a small affluent suburb about
20 minutes from the historic sites of downtown Philadelphia, easily accessible from the
airport (15 minute ride by shuttle), and by automobile via major expressways (Rt 95 on the
east, and the Penna Tpk from the west).
THE SPEAKERS
Our speakers for Atlanticon 2000 are: Chuck Adams (K7QO),
Dave Benson (NN1G), Joe Everhart (N2CX),
Ed Hare (W1RFI), Jim Kortge (K8IQY),
Mike Gipe (K1MG) and Gary Diana (N2JGU).
These experts in our QRP field have prepared very exciting presentations that will
be of great interest to all.
THE AGENDA
Now as far as the our "agenda" for the weekend ... FUN! It will be QRP
heaven, as you'll see below:
1) FRIDAY EVENING ... the QRP hospitality room opens up on Friday
evening at 7:30pm providing time to socialize with our friends, drool over the QRP vendor
tables that will be present, and just plain catch up in person with guys displaying their
homebrew projects and kits.
2) SATURDAY ... the doors open at 8am for sign-in for the all-day
presentations. Seven presentations in total will be delivered throughout the day in a very
comfortable classroom-like room. The "mini-auditorium" well be using is just
fabulous for our purpose. Think of the seating arrangement for a small movie theater
(padded and reclining seats, arranged on a sloping floor focused on the front screen), and
add the little fold-up table for taking notes ... it'll reminds you of a typical college
seminar classroom theater, seating over 200. This will be *very* nice for sitting in
all day long. There's also a dedicated mini-lobby just outside the presentation theater,
providing for ample mingling area, the bottomless coffee urn and sodas. Perfect!
3) SATURDAY EVENING ... the culmination of our perfect weekend is
another evening in the large hospitality room, which by the way is right next to the
presentation theater! It's here where we'll be hosting the famous Building Contest.
QRPers will be bringing their projects for display and judging in two different
categories: Manhattan-Style construction, and kit building of any other type. There
is a strong theme of Manhattan-style construction, right in theme with the Winter issue of
QRP Homebrew magazine in which Chuck Adams has the featured spotlight with an extensive
Manhattan construction tutorial, and in theme with Chuck's and Joe's presentations that
day the Forum. And there's no one better than K7QO and N2CX to judge the contest
entries. Everyone who registers for Atlanticon will receive beforehand in the mail a
small transmitter kit, to be built Manhattan-style and brought to the Building Contest for
a unique contest judging for: beauty, power output and stability. Manhattan-style gurus
K7QO and K8IQY will determine the winner, who will be presented with a brand new RH40
transceiver kit from Red Hot Radio! This evening will be very memorable! (Click here to read more about the Atlanticon Kit called the Snap!)
GLEN MILLS, PA
This site in Glen Mills, PA was chosen to offer QRPers and their families attending the
QRP forum a chance to also see some beautiful parks and attractions relating to the Civil
War and Revolutionary War time periods. Famous museums, battlefield parks, fabulous
professional gardens (even during March!), the Liberty Bell, and other Phili attractions
are likely to grab the interest of many, and are only minutes driving time away. A
Sunday unwinding time, or an early arrival warm-up adventure, makes a perfect topping to
the fun QRP weekend.
THE RAMADA INN
The Ramada Inn is beautiful and the rooms are newly-renovated and spotless. There's a nice
bar, a good restaurant, a small workout room, and plenty of parking. In fact, if you
are fortunate to get a southern-facing room on the third floor, there's a good chance of
being able to pitch a long wire out to the fields behind the hotel. As soon as the film
gets developed we'll get the photos posted here for you to see for yourselves. The local
area in Glen Mills is relatively upscale, slightly congested, but full of great eateries,
shops, shops and more shops. (The biggest mall along the eastern seaboard,
King of Prussia Mall, is only 20 minutes away ;-)
RESERVATIONS
We've arranged special rates for the weekend: $79 + tax per night! This beats most
other hotels in the area, and is consistent with our efforts to minimize the hits to our
pocketbooks. The first 100 people to reserve their Atlanticon rooms will be getting
a deluxe suite (includes a sitting room with extra TV, refrigerator and mini-bar) for the
same price. And by the way, having a second person stay in any of our Atlanticon
rooms only adds $5 to the room rate ... so double up with a friend and save!
To reserve your room for Friday and Saturday nights, call the hotel directly and
ask for one of the rooms in the specially-priced block of rooms set aside for the
Atlanticon QRP Forum.
Ramada Inn
1110 Baltimore Turnpike
Glenn Mills, PA 19342-1099
telephone: (610) 358-1700
AIR TRAVEL
The Atlanticon Staff has been working closely with a travel agency to find the best
location, prices and accommodations ... and thus we now have the Ramada Inn reserved for
us). But there's yet another way they are able to help us QRPers ...
discounted air fare!
If you will be flying to our Philadelphia venue for Atlanticon for this March 24-26
weekend, you should give a call to: Grace Lee
at her Baltimore-based travel agency called "Travel
For You" (410-931-7255).
Grace tells us that she'll be able to get Atlanticon-goers 5% off whatever best
prices you'd be able to make on your own, regardless of air carrier or source city.
REGISTRATION
Admittance to Atlanticon will be $10, collected either at the hotel that weekend, or in
advance by mail.
And don't forget, for those able to commit to attending early on, we will be sending the
Atlanticon Kit (the Snap, described earlier)
along with some additional information concerning your QRP weekend with us.
We also ask those planning on attending Atlanticon 2000 to send us an
email with your name and address in order to allow us to create your custom badge, and to
reserve a printed compendium of all the presentations being given that day. These
compendiums of the various QRP forums throughout the year have grown to be collectors
items, and this one is already in the planning and editing stage.
So much to describe, so much to tell ... We'll have much more detail in the coming weeks
for everyone thinking of coming. But go ahead and reserve your room at the Ramada
Inn for March 24th & 25th for an absolute fun-filled QRP weekend that is destined to
be memorable. Ask anyone who attended the last Atlanticon ... it was great!
MAPS
We'll soon add further detail to the location of the Ramada Inn, at the junction of Routes
1 and 202, just to the southwest of the little red star shown on the map below. But
as you see, the City of Philadelphia is roughly 20 minutes' drive, and the airpoirt is
only about 15 minutes away.
