The AM Forum

Its Monday and I am in a black mood. At this time of year all the big events of the year are past. Dayton is long gone being months ago, all the little Ham Fest of the Summer and Fall are thru, the military swap meets and vehicle shows are done for the year and special event operations are all over. At one time there was one bright spot, after the Holidays were out of the way – and I don’t know about you but the older I get the more things like Christmas and the like just turn into spending buckets of money on the kids and now grand kids so looking forward to that is almost as much  fun as looking forward to April 15, but there was always one bright spot about the new year. Frostfest in Richmond VA it was the one thing to look forward to at the beginning of the year. But somehow RATS (Richmond Amateur telecommunications Society) decided to cancel out during Covid for two years and now just looking online see that they have also canceled for next year. My speculation is that this fest is now dead. There is something called HamCation down in Florida in February but only have the resources for doing one big Hamfest road trip per year and for now that’s going to be Dayton. Also, have been told that Boat anchors and old military stuff are not that plentiful at the Florida show and have no interest in the new stuff so that’s not providing a desire to travel 885 miles with the cost of gas and hotel rooms.
So, that’s what’s going on in my world. Anyone have any idea what happened with RATS and why they have dropped the ball?

Serious bummer! Frostfest was the first real large hamfest I attended! I purchased some interesting equipment there and always looked forward to going. That's a real shame! :'(

I too miss the days of big shows like the Rochester NY Hamfest. A good friend of mine went to the HamCation years ago and said it was a complete waste of money, and he would never go back.

The eastern half of the Country really only has 3 big festers... The grand daddy Dayton, Shelby, and the Spring and Fall Nearfest..which I guess makes 4.

I second what your friend said about the Orlando Hamcation. I went there a few years back and was  disappointed, my take on the fleamarket there was that it was the place where CB linears came to be sold off.

Nearfest is always good especially if the WX is good and the Marlboro convention flea market, although much smaller than Nearfest, is another good one.