Memo

All started in 20 April 2024, when we were specifically approached by the Tokyo Branch Manager of JARL. He has been consulting with us for some time about cooperating with the ham fair and wanted to make it better and follow up with a focus on the recent Internet also.

I have had more than a dozen different types of industry experience in the past, one of which is eventing. Of course, I am not as experienced as those who are currently working on the front lines, but I also have Internet and server businesses, and I thought I could be of help by combining my knowledge of these businesses.

The Ham Fair is the 46th edition of the event, which means that it has been held for more than 40 years. However, the event web page has never been linked in the past, even as a BigSite related event. Many PR pages with specifications to introduce the event as an “official site of the event” rather than JARL have not been listed.
For that, We decided to create an official event website and acquired the domain “hamfair.jp” to create it.

The direction of the site was to be created with a CMS, considering various redundancies, such as preventing the common problem of not being able to inherit the site because someone else created it.
This idea is also quick and easy to update working. So it's good idea. And it is simplified, but I wanted to follow up in English language.

After the special operation JA1RL, I had a session with the JARL side members, and I expressed my support that I would follow up in principle.
In short, I am not going to go off on my own, and I have no intention of antagonizing JARL. JARL is concerned about this new idea that has suddenly arisen. It is just that, and it is important for JARL to be able to see me.

At this point, they were reassured, and we had another formal meeting at a later date to make sure they understood the main purpose of the project.

There is no contract, but it would mean that you agree to hamfair.jp, and the chairman understands that, and that's official, but JARL would mean, “Well, just give it a try.” JARL is probably trying to give it a try new activity. At I got that good mean.

A new attempt, though…A plan to have a satellite stage at the ham fair, a smaller stage than the main one, is planned.
On 3rd June 2024, a dedicated Discord server started and I joined for this purpose.

Begin preparing a form system in the direction of recruiting speakers at the official start of Hamfair.jp.　
We are short on time, so we have to proceed with the assumption that we will be somewhat behind the curve. We have no choice but to ask for cooperation, although it will be a burden on the speakers in a situation where they have no choice but to take good care of the situation. I feel that we even need a miracle to bring all the participants into synch with each other's cooperation and alignment in everything.

After two or three mini-discussions, we posted the parts of the information we now have that can be released to the public. we were going to release the information in early July 2024, but we could not confirm the approval of the JARL side.　
The rough starting situation for Hamfair.jp was completed early in June 2024. Even with some shortcomings, I think it is important to get started it. Because what has been neglected for over 20 years is about to begin.

Then, we asked JARL side to confirm and they replied that they would check with the General Affairs Department. Once the check is done, we will be able to start.

One problem has arisen, outside of Hamfair.JP.I received an inquiry about memorial station 8J1HAM, “A third party has created an account on POTA and is acting like an official, is that ok?”The question is.
Information on 8J1HAM will also be posted on Hamfair.jp later, as well as some of the information that has been revealed due to prior media news coveraged in advance. But, it is strange that we received an inquiry about info even though it has not yet been officially released to the public, but perhaps they decided that JARL does not well know about POTA system.

Investigating the POTA system, we found that this was occurring in Kanagawa Prefecture and were able to contact the person in charge. When he operated POTA in Kanagawa, he was repeatedly asked for POTA's Act, which he accepted in a flowing manner and uploaded with a light heart. With, As far as the situation is concerned, I have determined that there is no malice by the charge of Kanagawa. I think this has happened because of the rapidly growing popularity of POTA.

As a general rule, memorial stations do not respond to such things, but if the fervent appeals in the PILE continue, they can get into trouble in the QSL category. So I think it was a force majeure thing. However, JARL's failure to anticipate the impact of POTA's excessive popularity would be no fault of its own also.

That is, It happened as it should have. But it was no one's fault.

However, if this does not support QSL, we have lied to hundreds of people, albeit verbally. I wanted to do something about it, so I consulted with the executive committee chair.

As a result, we decided to create an account at hamfair.jp to support POTA-QSL, although it is a provisional response, because personal accounts are problematic. It was decided that if there is a next one, a similar action will be taken on a tentative basis. This was well received on social networking sites and the Internet, with some praising JARL for taking an unusually flexible approach.

We have to hurry as the event is less than two months away for Event. However, it appeared to me that JARL was having trouble making a decision, perhaps out of fear of this new endeavor.

The JARL side's request at this point is to erase anything related to JARL from “About” and only set the Ham Fair Executive Committee alone. The sentiment is understandable. It has been so long no changed that they are afraid of something new. I had talked to the JARL side beforehand and they understood. Still, they are nervous.

But, at this point 14 Jul, HamLife-JP would release information on hamfair.jp in a simplified manner.
This is a certain way by the media, so it can't be helped. Since there is no visibility into the inner workings, one cannot complain if the information is released on July 14, as long as they are told in advance that it will be around early July.
That is, The free will of the media is respected.

I have been aligned with the JARL side and continue to think that way. I'm sure they were open to communication. However, I don't know what happened, but a ham fair page was published on the JARL website with information I was unaware of.

I don't have a problem with it being published on the JARL site, and I think it's good that more information is being made public, but I was never contacted about it, and it's a bit of a sleeper that there is information I didn't know about. Too many things I wondered about, so I contacted them anyway.

As it turned out, they were unfamiliar with the new things and had not been able to contact and report back. I don't know the internal situation, but the JARL side may be more burdened than I thought. Then, New information be add to hamfair.jp.

Officially opens hamfair.jp. On 19 July 2024.

The JARL side rhino was thrown. I know there will be some problems, but they are natural, and being able to initiate them is what is important.

The call for speakers for the satellite stage has also been successfully opened. It has been irresistibly decided that the speakers will be given the same pre-admission tickets as the exhibitors. This is not a good thing. Although, we must do so, because it will be too much for the speakers. Only at this stage we had no choice. Everyone may have their own thoughts on the matter, but we had no choice but to go ahead with it. This time, it is important to make this new trial a success, and correctness will be the next time with later renovations.

Also, as for the feedback from the hams, including those on SNS, there was a certain amount of appreciation for the use of the CMS to hamfair.jp.
In my opinion, people who have been using the Internet for a long time and have experience managing the web themselves are more likely to express such opinions. The original, gorgeously designed site is attractive, but it struggles to transmit information at every step of the way at a speed that is not fast enough. That kind of thing should be done on the Web, where the emphasis is on visuals and fewer changes, and the more people who have circled the Internet, the more likely they are to agree that a CMS is the way to go.
In other words, I honestly believe that the opinion that it is lame has not yet come full circle for Internet world.

“I would prefer someone with more experience!”, The same would be true for the opinion that I have been involved with the Internet since its early days, and I have been creating personal web pages since 1994. Also, there are probably almost no Japanese who enjoy the Internet who have not seen the sites I have been involved with.
So even it, as a result, I decided that a CMS was the way to go for information dissemination.　The biggest reason is that, as is the case with software as well issue, there are fewer inheritance problems.

A free gallery is being created in an attempt to disseminate information about the ham fair in real time. This will allow us to upload photos of the ham fair every step of the way for everyone to enjoy. With the approval of this flyer, we will proceed to production.
In addition, a meeting was held so that the back of the flyer will be about online distribution.

Proposal to JARL to produce banner stands and wide banners to promote hamfair.jp. Then, In the end, only banner stands were produced.

JARL was initially reluctant to produce the product, but agreed as soon as they heard the quotation.
The reason for this, it seems, is that in the past we have been hit with a quote of around 20,000 JPY per unit for this type of banner stand. So, since the proposal was to make several pieces this time, JARL thought it would cost several tens of thousands JPY, or even 100,000 JPY in some cases.

In the black of my eyes, having experienced the novelty business and merchandise trading companies, I will not tolerate that arrogance a quote.

I offered around 3,800 JPY per unit.

JARL continues to be deceived; some say it's JARL's fault, but it's not, of course it's the deceiver's fault. Always the deceiver is the bad.