why are hamfests so damn early on the weekend?

[n6hcm]

do these people not have lives? the local hamfest starts at 0700 on a saturday ...

[WZ7U]

They don't want to miss the early bird specials later on in the morning.

[PA5COR]

Here they start at a decent time of 09.00 :mrgreen:, civilization and all that....:lol:

[KG4CGC]

Puritanical work ethic and all that. It's really the toilet races.

[kb2vxa]

Like farmers in the fields at first light they reap the harvest. Or so they think, then they take their own junk back home a little light on cash after raffle tickets and that wonderful hamfester food. <ulp> <burp>

[suddenseer]

It has been that way since I can remember. I don't know where the tradition originated.

[n6hcm]

Here they start at a decent time of 09.00 :mrgreen:, civilization and all that....:lol:

why did i know you would be able to say this? :)

[kb2vxa]

Progress isn't made by early risers, progress is made by lazy people looking for better ways of doing things.

[PA5COR]

At least it was funny.... ;)

why did i know you would be able to say this? :)

[N8YX]

These days I'll rise early and hit eBay or the various ham radio classifieds if I want gear.

An ex-FCC Drake R7 in a rack mount chassis, custom-built for the location/application by the Miamisburg crowd? Good luck finding THAT at PodunkFest...

[suddenseer]

These days I'll rise early and hit eBay or the various ham radio classifieds if I want gear.

An ex-FCC Drake R7 in a rack mount chassis, custom-built for the location/application by the Miamisburg crowd? Good luck finding THAT at PodunkFest... The ex xyl, and I used to belong to the Miamisburg Wireless Society. There were some members that worked at RL Drake back in the wonder days. There are some very special "factory" UV models of now surplus equipment out there, somewhere. These folks had "prototype" rack style equipment that might blow your mind. Talking to the 'national ham radio rockstars' on local repeaters everyday, one forgets you are rubbing elbows with greatness. There is some 1970-1980 vintage Collins military/govt spec equipment I would not mind having. One almost needs a sledge hammer to screw up those boxes.

[N8YX]

The ex xyl, and I used to belong to the Miamisburg Wireless Society. There were some members that worked at RL Drake back in the wonder days.
Greg, W8XY - a friend and former coworker - was a Drake engineer during the TR-7/TR-5 and sat-receiver days. His buddy Roger, K8YX - whose airplane bears my amateur radio callsign - was also an engineer with the firm.


There are some very special "factory" UV models of now surplus equipment out there, somewhere. These folks had "prototype" rack style equipment that might blow your mind.
I have an MRT-55 in the basement with the serial number of "SAMPLE". I also have Greg's old TR-5 which has a serial number of "117" (17 of 25 prototypes built). It has a high-power PA brick, as opposed to the production 90w version.


There is some 1970-1980 vintage Collins military/govt spec equipment I would not mind having. One almost needs a sledge hammer to screw up those boxes.
If I could have just one set of Collins gear, it would be an HF-380/451-S1 pair. The latter is rare as hell. It's along the same lines as the Drake TR-4310/R-4245 setup.

[suddenseer]

Greg, W8XY - a friend and former coworker - was a Drake engineer during the TR-7/TR-5 and sat-receiver days. His buddy Roger, K8YX - whose airplane bears my amateur radio callsign - was also an engineer with the firm.


I have an MRT-55 in the basement with the serial number of "SAMPLE". I also have Greg's old TR-5 which has a serial number of "117" (17 of 25 prototypes built). It has a high-power PA brick, as opposed to the production 90w version.


If I could have just one set of Collins gear, it would be an HF-380/451-S1 pair. The latter is rare as hell. It's along the same lines as the Drake TR-4310/R-4245 setup.
Wow, I know those callsigns in written form. That aforementioned club was founded by Drake employees mostly, if memory serves me correctly. I always joined the club by paying dues so I would have full access to the repeater features. They had meetings at Marion's Piazza. Shame about that company. They did not diversify, or understand the global economy. The only quick, cash only business using my rf skills being a an old first phone engineer with a reputation, and license to protect, I decided against it. I had a perfect front, and family distribution system business plan. The ROI was dizzying! I totally let it lapse, as well as amateur radio licenses. i have allowed a few of those to lapse as well, as my mind has done since July 1991. I tend to live in the moment more than most, and whatever has my fancy usually gets 100% of it, to the detriment of the rest.

[N8YX]

Here's a rarity you won't find at hamfests...the Cubic Kilowatt.

From what I've been able to determine, these ensembles were custom-built by Cubic for N&G Distributing in Miami during the early 80s. Supposedly, only 20 were built. This one (along with an equally rare Astro-DR) resides in a rack in my basement. All pieces have been restored and it took me quite a long time to run them all down. I've seen only three other complete sets advertised for sale over the years.

15951

[suddenseer]

Wowsers! You need a space in the country to put up some decent aerials systems that equipment deserves. All I had was an A-3 up 40 ft, stacked with hustler uhf/vhf. I had a 40M flagpole vert, with buried copper everywhere. (it was still there when I left) I had a 6M ringo for band openings, and local repeaters. G5 RV style trapped wires everywhere in different configurations. My best was strung over the swimming pool, to a tree in the back yard. It tuned up well on all hf bands. Since the ground was saturated wth water ost of the time, the rf patterns were amazing.

[koØm]

The ex xyl, and I used to belong to the Miamisburg Wireless Society. There were some members that worked at RL Drake back in the wonder days. There are some very special "factory" UV models of now surplus equipment out there, somewhere. These folks had "prototype" rack style equipment that might blow your mind. Talking to the 'national ham radio rockstars' on local repeaters everyday, one forgets you are rubbing elbows with greatness. There is some 1970-1980 vintage Collins military/govt spec equipment I would not mind having. One almost needs a sledge hammer to screw up those boxes.

Thirty years ago, I was on a first name basis with the Miamisburg, Ohio crew at RL Drake.

I did not play around with shipping my unit to them after the first time, when I had problems with my 4-series "Twins" I would talk to the engineer (James-John Hughes-Holmes?) via land-line and, tell him, "I'll see you in 45 minutes."

After receiving a call that my unit was ready, I would drive back up there, socialize and get a detailed explanation of what was wrong and, what he did to fix it.

I miss that Point-to-Point wiring with components having wire leads.

.

[kb2vxa]

Those were the days when I made my own repairs and components were readily available, building from the Radio Amateur's Handbook was fun and productive too.

[koØm]

Those were the days when I made my own repairs and components were readily available, building from the Radio Amateur's Handbook was fun and productive too.

In spite of the fact that I knew Ohm's Law, understood Reactance, and could intelligently discuss J-K Flip Flops, Nand-And/Nor-Or gates and had a "Dee-Gree", I was just an "Appliance Operator" at that time.

I learned Radio theory, construction and component level repair at the elbow of my Elmer, W8ERG (SK) Henry Kuhn (http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2000-09-08) (KOØN) who saw promise in me.

I still have a collection of Radio Amateur Handbooks from 1976 to 2001.

.