Huntsville Hamfest
Despite its being a long and relatively undernourished day at the Von Braun Center on Saturday, the hamfest was enjoyable. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a lot of time or money to invest in radio interests, making some aspects of the event frustrating – I would love to go ahead and buy a nice rig and some accessories! – Still, I got a couple of little things and had a nice time in general.
Steve presented an excellent forum on the local high school club and the school district’s affiliation with the ARRL’s Education & Technology Program. He also helped David Freese, W1HKJ (developer of fldigi and a host of great amateur radio software), give a presentation and demonstration of digital modes and their usefulness in emergency communications.
I didn’t buy much, but did finally (it’s been a couple years!) get a replacement battery pack for my Icom IC-W2A. It’s a great little radio – my first HT – but I dropped it during the New York Marathon a couple years ago, cracking the battery clip, which is somewhat delicate and essential to reliable operation. Much as I like the -W32A that I got soon thereafter, it is nice to get the old radio back on the air. And having a backup HT can’t hurt, too.
Finally, I was inspired to finally drag out and start cleaning up my first and sole “boat anchor,” a Hewlett Packard 608C VHF signal generator.
I haven’t even gotten this bad boy apart yet, but I took a battalion of Q-tips to the front panel and played around with the mechanical action of the control knobs a bit on Sunday. I really look forward to getting it opened up and seing what makes it go.
