The AM Forum

It won't be long now as May 4 and 5 are fast approaching. There was a very nice mention of the fest in the most recent QST. John Dilks, K2TQN wrote in his Vintage Radio column on a restoration of a Collins 30FX by Don, K1DC:


and

Can you arrange for good wx?

Im pleased to hear that Collins doesnt qualify as Boatanchors ;D Time for a serious price "adjustment" 8)

I've put in my order for good WX. It will be in the 30's here tonight (we have much warmer nights in the beginning of March), so by next week things should warm up.  :)

Will do MrMike. I plan to make a serious dent in my basement piles of shhtuff!

Rob W1AEX

The car is ready to go.  Martha and I will be heading out Thursday morning.  Looking forward to seeing the crew!  We missed attending last year.  2 year spans between NEAR-Fests are hard to endure!   

Joe, W3GMS

Rob,
Hope to have another eyeball. Watch for the burgundy Honda Pilot, CT. reg. "130 GTC"
 We are usually in the NW section near the back-end of the bleachers. INCORAGIBLE REBREBATES like N10A, W1UX, K1VYU usually share the spot with us

Sounds good Carl. I will be heading up with Joe W1AIU and looking for a sweet spot to park on Friday morning.

You can buy all my junk and I'll buy all your junk. Then we can sell it all to Al W1UX! See you there!

Rob

Carl,
I saw our buddy yesterday sitting on a lamp post

Do you refer to Al (Al) AL Al?   ;D

Looking forward to seeing everyone there. We might make it up in time to visit Mark's BBQ, if not we'll definitely be at the AM Dinner and selling in the AM Corral. Carl is usually just around the corner from us.

You forgot "Al." And then there is Yves.

Tell him I said "Hi". My division was sold in January and I lost my job in the process so I have not had to commute up there. First good comuting wx in years too.
The mantel of responsibility for watching him now rests on your capable shoulders Frank.

Hope to see you next week

This is my first Near fester. Someone told me talk-in will be on the 3885 repeater PL 60Hz. Is that right? ;)
Looking forward to meeting up with you gents.

Phil

Was good to work you on 40m earlier Phil, and will be good to meet you at the 'fest. If you get there Friday, be sure to join us for the AM Dinner in the evening.

For the gearheads out there, after the fester shuts down on Saturday, you might want to head up to the track at Loudon for the Loudon Annoying 24 Hours of Lemons endurance race.  They will be racing for something like 15 hours between Saturday and Sunday.  I think all weekend paddock passes that allow overnight camping at the track are something like 20-30 bucks.

I plan to arrive Friday morning. Sounds great Todd see you then.
Phil

Hi all:

Mr. Mike: THANK YOU and the gang for running this. Something I really look forward to.

'GMS and Carl: Hope to bump in to you.

Steve 'QIX: try to remember some transorbs and maybe even the N9NEO modulated power supply.

"We'll pass a good time" as they say in Louisiana.

See ya there....
Dan

Mr. UX is a man of many names and faces...

Or Woonsocket!

The schedule of events was posted last week:

http://near-fest.com/index.php?topic=977.0

AM Dinner announcement to follow soon.

Yep Dan hope to see you as well.  Its been quite some time since Martha and I visited you to get those radio goodies!   

Martha decided we needed a new car for the event so she just bought a new 2012 Camry SE last weekend.  A little more comfortable riding that as compared to her 73 Mach 1 not to mention the better gas mileage.   

Joe, GMS

Checking in from the fairgrounds via W1VE hotspot to report that everybody is having a good time, it has not rained for hours. Just cloudy and a better day expected for tomorrow. C'mon up.....Larry

Was discouraged from going today because of "unable to read computor updates" by our local weatherman..all 4 of them chimed in with doom and gloom but promise maybe a reprieve tommorow..I'm headin' down anyway..gotta check on Al..Jerry..Bob and the rest of the gang..will look for ya Todd but no comments on when or where concerning my procrastination on erecting a decent wire..If you insist I'll grill ya on why ur never hoid on 15 or 10mtrs..LOL          73 de DAVE

I was there this morning and saw a few of my friends.  I'll be back tomorrow.  Had to go into work this afternoon.  "Comeon June first!!!"

Some of the guys were (I think rightfully) reluctant to expose their wares to the elements - I merely asked to "peek under the hood" and they obliged.  Others didn't seem to care if the rain got to the stuff on their tables.  After observing to one guy that the transformers on his table was  soaking wet, he merely pointed to the source of the moisture (duhhh!) but didn't seem to care.  Another had a 32v that was being dripped on.  Wonder if they were just babysitting the tables or were displaying someone elses stuff - so what did they care???  I saw an EICO 720 / 722 combo that had a price tag of $200!! (I hadn't asked - overheard).  In my opinion, that's way too high.  The DX60 at least has a builtin modulator.

Al

Well I went to Nearfester and had a great time selling stuff and saw many friends. I would say attendance was down due to the weather scare but the weather was actually not too bad on Friday and darn nice on Saturday.

I bought a few postage stamp capacitors.

Mike WU2D

K1VYU and I arrived Sat AM for opening. Cloudy and then a bit of rain. Stayed until about 4 on Fri then down to Portsmouth for an FB dinner at the Portsmouth Brew Pub. Returned first thing to cloudy but FB wx. Sold almost everything and found almost everything on my list. Still looking for some 117L& tooobes... Where were the vendors?  Saw  Todd KAQ, Joe K1LBG, George K1ANX, Joe W3GMS, Gary WA1EWQ, Steve HUZ- I have not officially recognized the new call, Chris AJ1G and many others.
Great time. Thanks Mr Mike and all who worked on it. I really enjoy the affair.
Carl
/KPD

That was a beautiful little garden they planted with the running water as you drove in....Too bad they don't invest a little money in fixing the filthy bathrooms.
WX was nice today and had a great time.

Sorry we didn't hook up OM

I somehow managed to miss running into you Carl.

I did manage to cross paths with quite a few AM folks from AMFone and (from memory) can confirm contact with the following suspects: KA1KAQ-Todd, K2AEP-Pete, WA1LGQ-Larry, WA1GFZ-Frank, WA1QIX-Steve, W1VTP-Al, KW1I-Dale, K1ETP-Rich, K4HX-Steve, WA2PJP-Joe, KA2QFX-Mark, WA2CYT-Dirk, W1VD-Jay, WA1HLR-Tim, K1KBW-Bob, W1IA-Brent, W1MPY-Bill, KC2UDZ-Ken, KC2UFU-Kerry, W1PG-Gary, and W3GMS-Joe and Martha.

Friday looked kind of grim with wet weather and a light turnout but Saturday morning the weather was quite nice and the place really came alive. I made more money than I spent, bought only good junk, ate and drank lots of stuff I shouldn't have, and enjoyed swapping lies with everyone. The bathrooms kind of reminded me of Fort Huachuca when I was in the service Frank. Made me feel right at home... Yeah, it was great!

Rob W1AEX

Had a great time Friday, enjoyed seeing the gang.  Bought a nice homebrew regen RX from WA1KPD, and an SX-71 that seems to be working well, needs some cosmetic restoration.  Plan to set it up with a near mint DX-40/VF1 at the cottage in RI.  Could not stay over for Saturday.  I guess I did not win the KX-3...did you have to on the grounds to win the grand prize?

Had great time in spite of the fact that I HAD TO GO TO WORK FRIDAY PM  ARGHHH! Now that the papers have been sent in, I can't wait to bust loose. Never tho't I'd say that.  Saw lots of friends.  Somehow, I missed Todd KAQ and others.  I've figured out how to stick a QSL card in the headband of my hat so hopefully more will recognize me this fall

Thanks to all who made NearFEST a reality.  We need to realize that wx forecasters are using dartboards in the back room and that they have to go with either REALLY GREAT wx forecasts or GOOM AND DOOM.  No inbetweens - that doesn't gain much viewership

See you on the air or at the fall fester

Al

I picked up an interesting piece of radio equipment from our friends in China. It's one of those cute mini-handy-talkies from the BaoFeng Corporation. It's a "comes with everything included for less than 100 bucks" package. The little thing actually works very well, but the warning label on the bottom of the drop-in fast charger is rather alarming. I can't help laughing when I read it so I guess the message is lost on me. I guess I'll just continue to "carry on the charge".

Rob W1AEX

Managed to get over to Near-Fest Saturday morning..
Ran into:
Steve, QIX
Wayne, SSJ
Dirk, CYT
Bob, KBW
Bob, REC
Tim, HLR
Frank, GFZ
Mark, QFX
Brent, IA
Dan, DAN


SAW, but didn't get to talk to a bunch of folks.
Steve, K4HX
Rich, ETP
Think I saw Todd, KAQ at a distance..

I'm sure a few others that I am forgetting, or just haven't met yet! :-)

One of these times I'll get to go on Friday and Saturday....
Maybe make the list a bit longer!

Rob,

What a great name for a spy flick -- "The Chareto Mistake". Something like "The Eiger Sanction".

Some of my local ham friends have gotten the little Chinese radios. They really like 'em. Neat little HTs. But a bit disconcerting when they talk to you in Chinese.

ldb

Wish I coulda gone.  Fall NEARFest for sure!

Larry,

I have been told that the Baofeng Voice Guide Girl does speak Chinese when the UV-5R is purchased from some of the e-bay vendors. The vendor at NearFest had the English speaking version so my Chinese Voice Guide Girl speaks with an accent but she's quite understandable and at times very flirty.

Rob W1AEX 

 Fri AM
L-R
?, Todd KA1KAQ. Larry, NE1S, ?, ?, Mr Mike W1RC

It only got better after that. The wx not the company

Yeah, yeah. We saw you two over there selling everything that wasn't tied down, Carl.  ;D

To the left of me in the pic is Ken/N2GHX. I think that's Martha and Joe/W3GMS talking to MrMike. I never remember Martha's callsign. She needs to wrestle the mic away from Joe and get on the air more often so we'll remember.

The rain pretty much ended before noon Friday, with a couple sprinkles later in the day. Overall it was another one of those events where some folks let the wx scare them away. That's okay, better deals for the ones who come for the 'fest and folks, not the wx.

We had a good turnout for the AM Dinner, somewhere around twenty AMers enjoyed an excellent meal with plenty of opportunity to discuss the day's events and finds. Kerri & Ken made it up from NJ for the 'fest along with one of their sons, Martha and Joe from PA, the Dirk-a-tron was even there trying to keep the original Tron awake. Mark, Steve, Joe/PJP, Steve/QIX, the NY Xs (KC2FXE and ex-'JXX) and myself were there among others. Someone took a couple shots, hopefully they'll post them so we can see who else was there.

Sorry I missed some folks at the grounds, but this was perhaps my busiest event since the first one. I was working on the forums/workshops stuff along with helping Paulie with Security funnzies, and heavy metal transporting. Didn't sell much stuff, which might have something to do with not being at the table enough. I didn't buy anything this time, despite seeing several things like a beautiful CR-88 on Bill/W1MPY's table. He did fix me up with a couple nice mic floor stands, TNX Bill.  

Did have a visit from mom & dad, they came over to see what NEAR-Fest is and what we do. They were suitably impressed with the number of people there and all the stuff for sale.

Mike

We all appreciate the great job you and your folks are doing.  I remember the sinking feeling when it was announced that Hosstraders was going away but the great relief when you stepped up the the plate

Thanks, Al

Would love to see more photos, if anyone has them.

I'll echo Al's comments MrMike. It was a great time and I'm looking forward to the October show!

Rob W1AEX

Here are some.

Phil

A few more.

On the way to the fest, Todd and I stopped to visit Joe, WA2PJP on Long Island. We were joined by Eric, WB2CAU and Jerry, WA2FNQ. As you can see, Joe fed us well!!

Joe has a beautiful station with fully restored Heathkits including an Apache Mohawk combo and a rare Chippewa amp.

At the fest we find K1ETP and KC2UDZ, a FB National HRO-60 and a big table of "good stuff."

There are always groups of AMers milling about at Nearfest.

Some of the FB junk at the table of WA2PJP, KA1KAQ and K4HX.

Two of the nicest receivers at the fest.

Another National receiver.

Most of the group at the AM Dinner on Friday night.

A family of ham ops at the dinner, Garrett, KD2CCF, Kerrie, KC2UFU and Ken, KC2UDZ.

TNX for sharing your photos.  I was hoping to see some good pics.  Who bought the HRO receivers? 

I missed the event...but plan to be at the fall fester.

Peter

PHL

In your photo  5D_2012_05_05_0020   

My wife and daughter on the right.

:-)

Bruce
kf1z

Well it was my pleasure to inadvertently snap that pic of your family! lol
I had a terrific time at NEARfest. I'm looking forward to the next one.

Phil

One more....raffle at the grove.

Yup,
My son and I were JUST to the right, out of the picture, chatting with Dirk, WA2CYT.

Good stuff..

I forgot to even grab my camera for the trip!

Bruce
kf1z

Martha and I dovetailed a Maine vacation right after leaving Nearfest.  Starting a 10 day vacation with a Nearfest is definitely recommended!   To add to the Nearfest picture gallery, here are some shots we took during the fester.  

A special thanks to MrMike and the entire Nearfest crew for putting on such a fantastic event.  

This first picture is unique, since it clearly shows how close Steve, K4HX can park to our Motel Room :)

Some more photo's....

Joe, W3GMS

Some more photo's...
Joe, W3GMS

Mr. WA2PJP with some phone time.

Joe, W3GMS

Maggie and I missed it! (We're taking care of a relative with medical issues and that kind of cranks us down.) Hoping to get up there in the Fall. Post more pix!