Shelby/Dallas Hamfest

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Coming up this week, looks like great albeit hot wx for the event. Any other folks on here planning to attend? The HUZman, WA2PJP and myself will be set up Thursday with the boatanchor gang (K4NYW, K4OZY, W8UT, WA7LYO and many others) which has a large area of spaces reserved beside the old building that sits between the fork in the walkways as you come in the front gate. Here's a shot from Nick's site:

http://www.virhistory.com/ham/photos/dallas-32.JPG

Main gate and commercial dealer building is just out of the picture at top. Look for the yellow Boatanchors banner and you'll know you're in the right spot. Plenty of good gear and questionable humor to be had.

[W8EJO]

I plan on being there Sat.

[KC4VWU]

 Todd,
          I'm going to try my best to make it. I'll have to see what the Doc tells me tomorrow; probably going to have an MRI, nothing serious though I hope. I'll give Greg, LYO, a call tomorrow nite if I need a spot or two to set up and camp. Hope to see you all there!

73, Phil

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Will look forward to seeing you both there, hope you can make it Phil. We might lose 'PJP due to the hurricane, he has a large commercial tower site on Long Island and will have to be there to keep his customers on the air should the storm cause problems. Wish they could predict the track a bit sooner. He's been waiting for this 'fest since we made the first trip last year.

[k4kyv]

I was entertaining the idea of going this year.  Have never attended before.  It's a  long drive but has always sounded like a worthwhile hamfest.  But the daughter is coming up for a visit and I haven't  seen her for a while, and I still have the  never ending  house maintenance and other uncompleted outdoor projects as winter approaches, so I decided against it once again.  Maybe one of these years I'll make it.  It's not a whole lot farther away from here than Dayton, especially the past couple of years when I spent the night an hour's drive north of town.

[K5UJ]

It's too late to plan it this year but I note that it is not too far from Asheville where my brother lives.   So maybe I can plan a trip next year and stay at the free brother QTH.  only prob. is labor day traffic. 

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Don, I wonder if you stayed up at Gary K4XK's place when you went to Dayton? He invited Joe and I to stay over in 2007, ended up wishing we'd taken him up on it when we saw the fleabag motel suggested by the Hamvention.

The Dallas 'fest is a long, rambling event. A lot to see and a lot of folks to chat with. The official days of Saturday and Sunday are actually the tail end of the event. Folks start arriving Wednesday to set up. We went on Friday last year and decided then and there to go on Thursday this year as we missed a lot. Many folks head home on Saturday.

Phil, have Greg check with Nick, Rich, or JP. They got a few extra selling spots this year I think, so you may be in luck. We only snagged one.

[KC4VWU]

Getting ready to do an oil change on the truck and give it the final once over before loading. Hope to bring back a lot of cool stuff and some neat pics to share with everyone who can't make it. See ya'll soon!!

73, Phil

[KC4VWU]

O.K., here's a few pics. Last minute scramble to find a memory card for my antique Kodak left me with very limited storage...

[KC4VWU]

My friend Mike, KF4QKR, talking to two suspicious characters and another of Greg's, WA7LYO, items for sale or trade. These were taken on Thursday.

[KC4VWU]

Here's one of KF4QKR, WA7LYO, and the XYL rapping Saturday afternoon and one of my "booty" hauls...

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Very suspicious!   

Looks like you guys got your money's worth at the fest!

I had a great time, sold some stuff, got a few parts and a pretty nice SX-62.

Great to see you guys.

[w3jn]

Man, wish I coulda been there.

Steve, that SX-62 will be the experience of a lifetime with the re-cap.   Don't power it on until you replace the caps associated with the tone control switch at the very least; doing so has meant many a death to the audio output xformer.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Very suspicious!   

Yes! Why, I wouldn't trust 'em as far as I could throw 'em.

Was a great fest, WX really cooperated with Sat being ideal at 85 and sunny, low humidity.

Got to see all of the usual suspects again as well as meeting a few like Phil & Mike for the first time, and Greg who I've exchanged email with for years when he was in 'sunny Feenix'. Also met fellow AMer K4 D-double-E, Jim.

Biggest surprise was having an old friend from VT wander by whom I hadn't seen in probably 20 years after he moved to Florida, Joel, K1CQ. He lives around the Atlanta area now and made it to the 'fest.

Steve snagged that really sweet, first model SX-62 for a nice price and I scored a replacement solder sucker along with 2 rolls of coax seal and a roll of electrical tape. Sold a few things myself and had a fantastic time overall. Managed to lose my camera in my bag full of clothes but did get a short video of Steve talking with John W4AWM when we first arrived. Hadn't seen John since Dayton 2007.

We ended the weekend back home with the Shelby Shut Down Special Event station down on 3725, working a number of stations including WA2PJP, W3GMS, and K2DK/8.

Johnny, your space is reserved when you return home. Your name came up more than a few times in discussions, usually about previous hamfest funnies or exotic gear. NEAR-Fest is just over a month away! 

[KC4VWU]

And I was doing so good until you guys came over and mentioned ART-13 across the way! I couldn't resist! I got it and the BC-342. When you and Steve came back after that, I thought I was really gonna get razzed; " So, when are you gonna get a REAL transmitter?" I guess I'm just a sucker for that kind of stuff, but the parts list for the big maul is getting near complete; just need to get the game plan rolling.

I had a blast! It was probably the best one to date just seeing & talking to everyone. Getting new toys is fun, but the fellowship with friends and meeting new ones is the priceless prize of the swapmeets.

I'm pretty sure Greg and Mike had a great time. Even my XYL is talking about going back next year and we're thinking about improving the setup so everyone can have a little more shade and room to sit down and talk without being so scrunched up. Maybe one of those portable garage tents? 

Now, we've just gotta convince a few more to make that trip!

73, Phil

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

I think your tent set up was just right, Phil. You wanna be careful about making it too big and inviting, you might end up with the whole crew in there drinking beer and smoking stogies! We set up with the BA crew over on the shady side of the big white building, there were plenty of spaces over there if you want to set up with us next year. A few of the local crew go over for the stupid 'land rush' space assignment a week beforehand to grab the spots.

That ART-13/'342 belonged to Warren K1BOX who is also a regular at NEAR-Fest. Didn't realize you had a predisposition to them or I'd have not said anything just to help with your 10 step program.    At least it found a good home.

Steve and I were discussing that little mixing console you scored and figured the size and simplicity was definitely to your advantage. If the current guts or remains thereof give you a hard time, it would be simple enough to install the custom circuits of your choice and have a kick-ass board. You've got the case, pots/attenuators, meter, and knobs. What's inside is up to you.

Definitely an event worth attending. Were it not for the ridiculous approach to getting spaces and the golf cart rental issue (most of those folks looked like they could use the exercise), it would be a truly great 'fest.

[W1DAN]

Folks:

I went down for this.

It was fun, and more tables and goodies than last year. The airplane flight limited what I could bring back.

Spent $20.00....JRC NIR-10 DSP filter for $11.00, come cables and a few old Popular Electronics magazines.

Some great prices and as usual, some rediculous (like a Yaesu FRG-7 for $350.00 and an Icom 746 for $1,100.00)

Dan

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

You should've looked us up, Dan. Would've been great to see another AMer there from the northeast.

Nick K4NYW posted a link to the photos he took at Shelby:

http://www.virhistory.com/shelby_2010.htm

I should point out that the picture labeled as my stuff is mostly Steve's stuff. I only had the TX-1 and some Lumiline bulbs for sale. Steve did very well selling.

[KM1H]

I think this shows that Shelby had a rather nice choice available irregardless of prices.

http://www.virhistory.com:80/shelby_2010.htm

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

I'm glad someone took some photos. I was irritated that I couldn't find my camera before I took off for the fest.

There was much more vintage gear there than shown in the photos. I estimate at least two dozen receivers, with Hammarlunds leading the way. I recall seeing, 2-3 Rangers, 2-3 Apaches, DX-40s, a Knight T-150, lots of amps (including one rare Wizard Made) and a few homebrew TXs.

Of course there were more golf carts than anything else, but that's another subject. 

[KM1H]

Well, at least you and Todd got captured for posterity

[Pete, WA2CWA]

What the pictures also show is that more and more are dumping their boatanchors maybe before the prices drop to "please take this away". Maybe the thrill and fun of fixing, owning and using boatanchors is waning for some hams. Maybe, they're yearning for new toys or maybe, it's just, "I can't lift this thing anymore".

[Ralph W3GL]

    You have a couple good points there Pete, especially the heavy part.

    Just keep your hat on and perhaps no one will notice