I’m waiting for my airline to announce they wont be flying in June so I can claim a voucher for the flight value to spend later. Failing that I’ll need to reschedule. Damn expensive flights this year but it’s only money if I lose the lot. Lose the money or catch it and die? Not a difficult choice TBH.
I have written to the DARC asking about the status quo and am actually waiting for an official reply from the DARC who is the organizer of the HamRadio saying that the fair will be cancelled.
Here in Austria, all larger events are cancelled until the end of June and I suppose travelling and crossing the border will be difficult for quite some time…
73, Sylvia
OE5YYN
I had already written to the HR2020 Press office earlier in the week as the website said they would review mid April. Earlier this evening as soon as I heard, I sent off a follow-up note. They will not be allowed by the government to run the event at the end of June based on this evenings announcement. Whether the event could be postponed until after August, we’ll see - but honestly, I doubt it as, apart from the inconvenience, the Messe Friedrichshafen calendar gets very full towards the end of the year.
Personally I don’t think we’ll see the Ham Radio event in 2020.
73 Ed.
Depending upon the airline, most are issuing 12 month coupons. The difference being that if the airline cancels and you don’t use the coupon in the 12 months, you can get your money back with some airlines (e.g. KLM). If however you cancel because of COVID and it’s not the airline who cancelled, then the coupon is non-refundable, so you MUST use it in the following 12 months or lose your money.
73 Ed.
Fortunately, I booked a hotel room with the option for a free cancellation, and it’s free of charge not taking the car or the motorcycle out of the garage… Cross border traffic might be tricky for a while anyway…
73 Jens HB9EKO
The official Press release - No Ham Radio Messe this year - get ready for HR 2021 - June 25-27 2021
See https://www.hamradio-friedrichshafen.de/news/2020/virtuelle-messe-praesentiert-produktneuheiten/ for details of a planned “Virtual Messe”.
73 Ed DD5LP
Hallo Ed,
danke für die Info. Sehr schade. Dann hoffentlich nächstes Jahr 
73 de Marcel DM3FAM
Octoberfest is also cancelled … 
The corona issue is foreseen not for short time
73, Jarek
Yes Oktoberfest was officially cancelled today - To build all the “tent” buildings and get everything ready for it’s mid September opening, the work would have had to start this month!
The largest “Volksfest” (peoples festival) in the world is built on people mingling in close proximity to each other - exactly what you don’t want when a highly contageous bug with currently no antidote available for it is still around.
Even if Germany is free of COVID-19 by September, other parts of the world possibly wont be and as the Oktoberfest is a commercial business which gets much of it’s money from tourists, apart from health concerns, it simply does not make sense to take the business risk of not having the normal number of people there, but still have all the overhead costs.
It’s been clear for a couple of weeks in Bavaria that Oktoberfest 2020 would not happen. It was just a matter of waiting for the official announcement from Markus Söder.
73 Ed.
I much prefer the Cannstatter Volksfest, Stuttgart Ed. If you’ve never been, give it a try when possible. I vowed I would never go to the Oktoberfest again.
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I agree Steve - the Oktoberfest is too big - after you’ve been every year for about three years the only time you go again is if you are taking someone who hasn’t been before, or if it’s a company outing where you are “expected” to attend.
The Munich “Sumerfest” on the same “Wiesn” ground is much more pleasant as it mostly the locals.
73 Ed.
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Same situation with July’s 6th to 14th festivities of San Fermin in Pamplona. CANCELLED.
The devasting economical impact of this crisis is going to be huge… 
73,
Guru
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…not suprising, but still it makes me sad. The ham radio is the one “big” event that i usually attend every other year. Many great memories.
This year would have been the first time where i could have attended with a call sign and i could have bought funny things with my callsign printed on 
Sad news, looking forward to 2021.
73 Sabrina HB3XTZ
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In September I still have SOTA week planned in DM/BM and before that some local activitations in SP/TA in August. Who knows will it happen or not? Nobody 
73, Jarek
Sorry for little off topic but today I received e-mail from Gasthof-Pension in DM/BM are that they will be closed from June 1st until further notice - so, they need to cancel my booking for September.
Now everything is clear.
My activations will take place in SP only (or border summits with access from SP) - until further notice.
EOT
73, Jarek
Discounts on Radio equipment.
In this month’s “FunkAmateur” German Amateur Radio Magazine, many of the dealers who would have been at Friedrichshafen have announced they are either offering discounts for orders placed in June or in some cases free shipping on orders over a certain value.
So if you intended buying that “small something” while at Friedrichshafen this year, taking advantage of the “show prices”, you might want to check out the traders website to see if they have some “would have been at Friedrichshafen - so need to clear this stock” prices.
There’s also the virtual trade fair on the Ham Radio Friedrichshafen website - here -
73 Ed.