There are two upcoming hamfests in the East Tennessee/Western North Carolina area that I thought I'd list here if anyone were interested.
MCARC (McMinn County Amateur Radio Club) Hamfest
This is an Outdoor Ham Radio Trader's Fest
Location: Athens Regional Park - Athens, Tennessee
Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2009
Time: 7:00am - Noon
Talk in: 145.310 (-) 141.3 - monitored in normal and reverse, should be able to get a response you hit the I-75 Exit 49
Directions: Take Exit 49 off I-75, turn east towards Athens. Go approx 1 mile, park will be on your right. Follow the signs.
Limited under-roof spaces: $10 each - Tailgating $5 each (bring your own table) - 6:00am setup
Admission free to buyers!
Breakfast for sale from 6:30am to 10:00am - Go Here for Additional Information
Contact Info:
NA4IT - Scott Duckworth
(423) 263-1989 or email at kg4fzr (at) yahoo (dot) com
Western Carolina Hamfest (aka Waynesville Hamfest)
Location: Haywood County Fairgrounds - Waynesville, NC
Date: Saturday, July 25th, 2009
Time: 8:00am - 4:00pm
Talk in: 146.91 (91.5 PL) and 147.39 (94.8 PL)
Directions: I-40 to Exit 24, NC 209 Lake Junaluska. Go South approx 2.5 miles to Hamfest on Left. Follow signs.
OR
From 19-23/74 on NC 209, go North approx 1/2 mile to Hamfest on right. Follow signs.
Tickets: At the Gate $6.00/person - in advance $5.00/person
Vendor space in building - $10.00 per 8 foot table, Tailgating free with paid admission
Covered "Flea Market" spaces - $5.00 for 8 x 8 space
VE Exams given on walk-in basis at the Clyde Fire Department at 2:00pm
Contact Info:
KN4ST - Elwood Miles
(c) (828) 216-0690 or (h) (828) 253-4490 or elwood3 (at) charter (dot) net
http://www.wcars.org
Hope you all have a great time. If you go to either one, send me a comment telling me all about it!
Showing posts with label Hamfest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hamfest. Show all posts
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Friday, October 10, 2008
Ten-Tec Hamfest, Skywarn Class, SET, & Other Updates
Wow. I have been so busy that I haven't had a chance to sit down and actually write something worth reading. Now, I'm way behind and I'll have to do some major catching up.
Way back in September (Ha, time seems to be flying at the moment), on Saturday the 27th, the family and I piled into the car and drove an hour to the Ten-Tec Hamfest, in Sevierville, Tennessee. I was Tim's first big hamfest, and he was pretty excited to see all they had to offer. The boneyard is huge there; larger than he'd ever seen. We spent a considerbly large portion of the morning sifting through all of that junk. We went in empty handed, and came out with 500 feet of 800 lbs rope that we paid $40 for. Other than that, we didn't really see anything we were looking for. We took the tour of the Ten-Tec factory around 10am, and came out of there with 2 t-shirts, a coffee mug, and an Emcomm book. We needed log books, and were going to buy them, but Rick (N4JTQ) volunteered to give us some that he had laying around. I thought that was very nice, and I declared that as my "Ten-Tec Hamfest Winnings." I'm never lucky enough to actually win anything, but that's okay. Cathy (KI4YPO) actually did win something, but I honesting can't remember exactly what it was. Some sort of antenna mount, although should would have been better off with a Ten-Tec Sky Hook (ha ha).
Row of Omni VII's at the Ten-Tec Factory
Ashby, KJ4EGJ, with an Orion II
Dad, KU4ME, at Ten-Tec Factory
Closest that Tim, AJ4JD, will ever get to an Orion II
After browsing, we spent the rest of the morning talking and visiting with people. Later on, we attended the Skywarn class for weather spotter's. I really enjoyed that class. We had to watch a pretty long movie smack dab in the middle of it, and I'm not sure what I enjoyed more: everyone's snoring or the terrible acting. Ashby took the class with us, and it was so funny watching her pick out and giggle about all the sleeping class members. Everyone was so worn out after Ten-Tec, that it was difficult to stay awake once we all sat down. HAHA But we made it through, and I really enjoyed that class. I don't know how many others did, but I liked learning all the information that we did. Unfortunately, most of the things we learned, we'll never actually see in the hills we live in. Because the horizon is changed by the rolling hills, we don't see storms roll in like they do in the flat lands.
Skywarn Class, Sept. 27, 2008
Moving on -- Last Saturday, October 4th, I had my first encounter with the Simulated Emergency Test (SET). Tim, Ashby, and I are members of the Claiborne County/Union County ARES, and our EC, Rick Blasco (NX6R), had to go out of town. He appointed me and Tim (and one other fellow) Assistant Emergency Coordinators while he was away. I don't know how I ended up volunteered to run the SET, but I did. I was totally thrown to the wolves, with no idea as to how to run things. However!! I was invited to attend another ARES groups Pre-SET meeting (Sevier County's), where I learned exactly what I needed to do, and how to go about it. I came home that evening very confident that I could tackle this task.
So, Saturday morning came, and I was shaking like a leaf. My stomach had migrated to my throat, my heart had migrated to my feet, and my brain couldn't be located anywhere in my body... Needless to say, I was nervous, and that is putting it lightly. I was Net Control for our Simulated Emergency training net (my first time at the helm of any net), and I was also expected to pass and receive formal traffic (which I crash-coursed myself on the night before) to an Army MARS station.
In the end, everything went wonderfully! We had a great time, we discovered where our weaknesses were, I successfully passed and received the message to Army MARS, and I did the net control thing without too many flaws. HAHA It was a lot of fun, and we ended up with 10 members participating, 53 messages passed, 1 formal message passed, 1 formal message received, and quite a few silent giggles to add to the collection.
Way back in September (Ha, time seems to be flying at the moment), on Saturday the 27th, the family and I piled into the car and drove an hour to the Ten-Tec Hamfest, in Sevierville, Tennessee. I was Tim's first big hamfest, and he was pretty excited to see all they had to offer. The boneyard is huge there; larger than he'd ever seen. We spent a considerbly large portion of the morning sifting through all of that junk. We went in empty handed, and came out with 500 feet of 800 lbs rope that we paid $40 for. Other than that, we didn't really see anything we were looking for. We took the tour of the Ten-Tec factory around 10am, and came out of there with 2 t-shirts, a coffee mug, and an Emcomm book. We needed log books, and were going to buy them, but Rick (N4JTQ) volunteered to give us some that he had laying around. I thought that was very nice, and I declared that as my "Ten-Tec Hamfest Winnings." I'm never lucky enough to actually win anything, but that's okay. Cathy (KI4YPO) actually did win something, but I honesting can't remember exactly what it was. Some sort of antenna mount, although should would have been better off with a Ten-Tec Sky Hook (ha ha).
Row of Omni VII's at the Ten-Tec Factory
Ashby, KJ4EGJ, with an Orion II
Dad, KU4ME, at Ten-Tec Factory
Closest that Tim, AJ4JD, will ever get to an Orion II
Skywarn Class, Sept. 27, 2008Moving on -- Last Saturday, October 4th, I had my first encounter with the Simulated Emergency Test (SET). Tim, Ashby, and I are members of the Claiborne County/Union County ARES, and our EC, Rick Blasco (NX6R), had to go out of town. He appointed me and Tim (and one other fellow) Assistant Emergency Coordinators while he was away. I don't know how I ended up volunteered to run the SET, but I did. I was totally thrown to the wolves, with no idea as to how to run things. However!! I was invited to attend another ARES groups Pre-SET meeting (Sevier County's), where I learned exactly what I needed to do, and how to go about it. I came home that evening very confident that I could tackle this task.
So, Saturday morning came, and I was shaking like a leaf. My stomach had migrated to my throat, my heart had migrated to my feet, and my brain couldn't be located anywhere in my body... Needless to say, I was nervous, and that is putting it lightly. I was Net Control for our Simulated Emergency training net (my first time at the helm of any net), and I was also expected to pass and receive formal traffic (which I crash-coursed myself on the night before) to an Army MARS station.
In the end, everything went wonderfully! We had a great time, we discovered where our weaknesses were, I successfully passed and received the message to Army MARS, and I did the net control thing without too many flaws. HAHA It was a lot of fun, and we ended up with 10 members participating, 53 messages passed, 1 formal message passed, 1 formal message received, and quite a few silent giggles to add to the collection.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
All Ham's Day Picnic & WAS Update
On Saturday, September 20, 2008, Teresa (KI4ZQO) and Jack (KD4TNY) held a wonderful "All Ham's" picnic. We had tons of food, and lots of friends, and I just wanted to say thank you to them for such a wonderful time. I met just about everyone I talk to on 2 meters on a regular basis, and then some. There was a wonderful turnout, with more than 65 people. And the weather was absolutely beautiful. It's officially fall in East Tennessee -- My favorite time of the year. For the ones that weren't there, maybe I'll get to meet them at the Ten-Tec Hamfest this coming Saturday.
We all had a lot of fun... Here's a couple pictures:
Cathy (KI4YPO) & Ashby (KJ4EGJ)
The Picnic Area & A Few Hams
Rick Sr. (N4JTQ), Cathy (KI4YPO), & Ashby (KJ4EGJ)
with Larry (KB4ITS) & Ricky (KG4WYW) in the background
We all had a lot of fun... Here's a couple pictures:
Cathy (KI4YPO) & Ashby (KJ4EGJ)
The Picnic Area & A Few Hams
Rick Sr. (N4JTQ), Cathy (KI4YPO), & Ashby (KJ4EGJ)with Larry (KB4ITS) & Ricky (KG4WYW) in the background
Tailgating in the parking lot - from left to right
??, Lucy (KE4RLK), Rick Jr.'s wife, Rick Jr. (KG4QPG), Bob (KB4ABF)
??, Lucy (KE4RLK), Rick Jr.'s wife, Rick Jr. (KG4QPG), Bob (KB4ABF)
_________________________________________________________________
WAS Update! Thought I'd add my new updated WAS map. I'm going to have to get to work on this!
Click for Larger Version
WAS Update! Thought I'd add my new updated WAS map. I'm going to have to get to work on this!
Click for Larger VersionSunday, July 27, 2008
The Waynesville Hamfest
It was Tim's (AJ4JD) big idea to get up at 4:30am on Saturday morning and make the two hour drive to Waynesville, NC. It was a long one, we were tired, and the folks were supposed to go, but chickened out on us HAHA.
We found the place easily, which was a good thing. I always hate having to get lost before I can get somewhere. It was $12 for the both of us at the gate, not an unreasonable entry fee, and we found a close parking place on the grassy bank and proceeded inside. I took my camera with every intention of taking pictures, but there wasn't really anything to take pictures of.... at least not that met my scrupulous eye.
It wasn't a bad Hamfest, whatsoever, but it wasn't the best either. They did have quite a bit of ham equipment, but unless you were going for circuit board parts or coax connectors, you were SOL. There were a few choices for radios, but I didn't see any that I wanted or could afford. The boneyard was the best, but I only seen one thing I wanted... a tower tied in the back of a truck. I didn't inquire about price because I knew that I either A) couldn't afford it or B) couldn't get it in the trunk of my 2001 Chevy Malibu...
In any case... that's about all I have to say about the Hamfest. We stayed for a little while and didn't see hardly anyone we knew. I seen a couple of familiar calls, but didn't talk to them. We spent the rest of the day galavanting around and seeing some sights.
We found the place easily, which was a good thing. I always hate having to get lost before I can get somewhere. It was $12 for the both of us at the gate, not an unreasonable entry fee, and we found a close parking place on the grassy bank and proceeded inside. I took my camera with every intention of taking pictures, but there wasn't really anything to take pictures of.... at least not that met my scrupulous eye.
It wasn't a bad Hamfest, whatsoever, but it wasn't the best either. They did have quite a bit of ham equipment, but unless you were going for circuit board parts or coax connectors, you were SOL. There were a few choices for radios, but I didn't see any that I wanted or could afford. The boneyard was the best, but I only seen one thing I wanted... a tower tied in the back of a truck. I didn't inquire about price because I knew that I either A) couldn't afford it or B) couldn't get it in the trunk of my 2001 Chevy Malibu...
In any case... that's about all I have to say about the Hamfest. We stayed for a little while and didn't see hardly anyone we knew. I seen a couple of familiar calls, but didn't talk to them. We spent the rest of the day galavanting around and seeing some sights.
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