Ham Nation Host Speaking To FDL Amateur Radio Club

For all of you that enjoy Ham Radio’s #1 show “Ham Nation”, you will get to meet the First Lady of ham radio Valerie Hotzfeld in Fond du Lac on October 12th! The Fond du Lac Amateur Radio Club will meet at Moraine Park Technical College on Monday night, October 12th, at 7:00 PM, located in room 112. The topic for discussion will be something the Fond du Lac Amateur Radio club does very well,  Ham Radio Contesting!

Valerie Hotzfeld NV9L is the DXing and contesting correspondent on the TV show Ham Nation. Which is perfect, since those are her 2 favorite aspects of this hobby. She has only been DXing and contesting a few years, but has already worked over 300 countries and she has broken 1 contesting World record, 1 USA record and a few 9-land records.

And it all started back in 2006, when Valerie and her daughter thought it would be interesting to get their ham radio license. They found an amateur radio club hosting a weekend tech class an hour and a half away. They attended the class, drove home, came back the next day, and passed their exams. That club was….. the Fond du Lac Amateur Radio Club. Since then, Valerie has become one of the country’s top contesters and a host of the #1 Ham Radio TV show!

At the meeting, Valerie will be representing the Society of Midwest Contesters, a group formed early in 1985 with the goal of uniting Midwest contesters into a competitive group and to further the idea of radiosporting in the Midwest. From 51 charter members in the summer of 1985, we’ve steadily grown to a membership of over 200 contesters, mainly in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin. They launched their first major club effort in the 1985 November Sweepstakes, winning the Unlimited class. They repeated in the 1986 SS, and were on their way. They have claimed one or more club victories in ARRL contests every year since 1999, including a 3-peat as SS Unlimited champs in 2000, 2001, and 2002.

The meeting is free and open to the public. For more information contact Joe Scheibinger at 920-237-1450.

To see Valerie’s incredible ham shack and antenna farm, go to https://youtu.be/ZLY67nnyTWM.