I had myself a great time at this years gathering. Went again with a friend and enjoyed all the flea market tents and the vendors as well. Finally got joined up with OMISS, and had a fun time at the dinner (won a HT and a line filter!) If you aren't familiar, OMISS is a worked all states group that has been around for quite sometime, and I'm the 14860th member. So, I read that people were calling the fleamarket out in the middle "the big island", I never heard that once. But I'm sure *someone* called it that. I found two nice items in the fleamarket, a dumb terminal (Link brand, don't know anything about it) and a working panasonic KX something or other dot-matrix printer. I can't wait to get this thing hooked up with a machine and do some fun stuff. (I'm messing around with the idea of using the dot-matrix printer to make aniline dye masters for a gelly print, think old 'zines.) But it would be fun to hook up to a BBS and get a functional, 'headless' output. Just gonna need to grab a big pile o' form feed. Back to the hamfest; I attended the ATV forum, but it was way back by the grandstand, and I was late. The information I did get was useful, however. Three key elements discussed were the HiDes receiver, transmitter, and an amplifier. This all digital TV, both in 70cm and 1.2 GHz. It was interesting, but ATV is hampered by needing more than one person interested in it! I need to get a group who want to do TV and really work at it. But hobbies within hobbies is a tough sell for some. Oh well, packet seems to be at least busy enough for experimentation with others. I snagged a new gen 4 raspberry Pi at the fest and now ..... what to do... I only have the one, I want it running everything, weather station, BBS, home automation... I'm sure I won't be doing half of it. If you have any suggestions, feel free to suggest. Sadly Gordy was not there this year. I didn't talk to him last year, and my friend was wanting his audio code learning set signed. But I hope all is well with him. And if you enjoyed Hamfest '23, "the Year of the Volunteers" I'm interested in hearing your experience. 73's, -KC3GJU
---
* QWK2WWIV * Back to the Future (bttfbbs.com)

Re: Xenia Hamfest!
By: Fakeshemp4real to ALL on Fri May 26 2023 12:20 pm

I had myself a great time at this years gathering. Went again with a friend and enjoyed all the flea market tents and the vendors as well.

I was there with WLARC. I bought a used 35mm Nikon camera kit at the swap meet for my nephew and a T-shirt that says "Talk Nerdy To Me" with an illustration of a D-104 microphone. Since I fly in from California, I don't buy a lot of big stuff there, but it's fun to shop and people watch and enjoy the company of the club (WLARC).
--
digital man (rob)

Breaking Bad quote #32:
Don't think so hard it's gonna hurt your brain! - Hank Schrader
Norco, CA WX: 60.0°F, 76.0% humidity, 8 mph SE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

Radio Man,

Congrats on the nice nikon find, and I'm sure your nephew will love the shirt. On people watching, there was the tower hair girl, and at least a few others with helmet antennas on. And I have this running joke with my wife that everyone looks exactly like my friend at the event: tan/beige multiple pocket vest, wide brim tan sun hat, shorts, white socks, sneakers, walking stick. Once you see it, you can't unsee it. I'd like to come out California way again, only been twice; once to March AFB, and once to San Fransisco for our honeymoon.

-KC3GJU Greg
---
* QWK2WWIV * Back to the Future (bttfbbs.com)

Re: Re: Xenia Hamfest!
By: Fakeshemp to ALL on Sun May 28 2023 09:14 pm

Congrats on the nice nikon find, and I'm sure your nephew will love the shirt.

The camera is for the nephew (he's enjoying very much), the shirt was for me (and my wife and daughters that always steal them).

On people watching, there was the tower hair girl, and at least a few

Oh yeah, I know the look.

Some woman on a hamabout tried to steal my swag bag (the only thing of value in it at the time was my hoodie/jacket) while I was using the porta-pottie. Luckily my buds were watching out for me and caught her in the act. Learned my lesson: they may look like harmless and trustworthy old HAMs, but some are not.
--
digital man (rob)

Rush quote #29:
Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone
Norco, CA WX: 61.8°F, 82.0% humidity, 7 mph SSE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs