Good Day!
Steve and I are Organizers for Quartzfest* ,
www.quartzfest.org which is a Ham
Radio gathering in Quartzsite during the RV show in January (Jan 15 - 25th).
Quartzfest is a 11 day event full of seminars and workshops on Ham Radio and
operational techniques, Alternative Energy (mainly solar), RV'ing and now adding
Prepping and Survivalist information. To my knowledge is the only event of its
kind in the world.
Quartzfest is held on BLM Land about 6 miles south of Quartzsite AZ right off of
US 95. There are no utilities (power, water or sewer) and as such, folks
attending for the 11 days have to already be pretty well self sufficient. We
have attendees who show up in trailers, motorhomes, tents, vans and one a couple
years ago, in a tractor/trailer rig. The BLM will not allow any commercial
activity on their land but welcomes our presentation of as much knowledge as
possible. Likewise, BLM rules don't allow us to make one penny more than actual
expenses incurred in planning and organizing and is free of charge for all to
attend.
This said, we are not a Club or Organization and have no officers, members or
dues. Quartzfest is put on solely by its volunteer Organizer(s). Knowing
Quartzfest generates no money, our speakers and presenters for seminars and
workshops all donate their time as well. Our attendance at Quartzfest has grown
from 138 in 2010 to 663 in 2012 and we're expecting well over 1000 to show this
coming January.
As presenters, Vendors and regular folks with useful skills are welcome at
Quartzfest, but only to share knowledge and technology of existing products, not
to promote or sell their products (Example: Rick Cullen is the President of Blue
Sky Energy who manufactures MPPT Solar Controllers. Rick will be at Quartzfest
again in January to talk about controllers in general but does not promote Blue
Sky in his talk. When I introduce Rick, I happily tell all he's Pres of Blue
Sky.
We also allow him and other manufacturers and vendors to bring some "giveaways"
to hand out or to donate items for our free daily raffle drawings)
My goal for Quartzfest this year is to teach as much as is possible in a short
amount of time, techniques to sustain individuals existence in the event of
emergencies or disasters. To do this, during Quartzfest, we hold a number of
Seminars and multiple session Workshops. So far this January I have planned a
2.5 day workshop on Solar that will take us from the basics of what is a solar
panel, what will it do for me and will hail destroy it..to a calculation of
energy needs and battery technology, to full RV solar installation. I also have
a workshop planned on Incident Command System (ICS) certification to qualify
attendees for response and assistance to organizations like Red Cross, Salvation
Army and Local and National Government Agencies.
As you know, recently, more and more emphasis has being place on being
"prepared" for whatever comes our way..and it seems the public is finally
catching on. This year, in addition to what we already have planned, we'd love
to be able to schedule more prep type seminars. Any assistance you are able to
give us in the way of contact info for survivalists and preppers who may be
interested in dropping by to give a talk to our group, would sure be
appreciated. You don't have to be a professional to have useful skills that can
help others.
Hope to see you there
Steve KO4QT and Angel
(619)733-2320
organizer@quartzfest.org
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