HamCom 2005, Arlington TX : June 3,4,5

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n0xmz
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Got my Extra at Ham-Com!

Post by n0xmz »

Spoke with someone on the freq. a couple of times but never did meet anyone from the website. I eventually did catch a ride with someone and had a blast at Ham-com. I passed the Morse test and then the General. One of the VEs suggested I take the Extra - just for the hell of it since it wouldn't cost any extra and I got the license upgrade I wanted anyway. So, I took the Extra test - and passed! I couldn't believe I had actuallypassed when I didn't even study for it. I guess my electronics "expertise" from my tinkering hobby saved my ass on that one. I've already got the HF rig and antenna and I made a contact a couple of hours ago. What a rush.

An as promised, I got some hamsexy photos from Ham-Com to share. The pics came out pretty dark so I'll post a few after I brighten them up.
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n0xmz
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Post by n0xmz »

Ham-Com sexy!

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More to come...
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Post by kd5wyu »

I was listening on BW1 and didn't hear anything on it. Maybe I should have bought the longer antenna for the VX-2 sooner rather than later?

VX, were you the gentleman that had the stand of Spectras (vhf, uhf, and the two 800s)? The two MT(S?) portables went quick.

The classes kicked badondadonk again this year, but I was surprised at how small the flea market was this year (both inside and outside). The one good thing about it was that I got a parking space much closer to the Convention Center this year (last year was a hike)

There were a couple of crotchety OFs on their Hamabouts (TM) that were blocking aisles and just generally impreding my progress through the aisles. They of course get the big fuck you

I too was surprised at the number of youth and actually the number of YLs I saw sporting HTs.
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Post by tvsjr »

kd5wyu wrote:VX, were you the gentleman that had the stand of Spectras (vhf, uhf, and the two 800s)? The two MT(S?) portables went quick.
That was him. As always, he relieved me of some of my cash (indirectly, but whatever...)
I too was surprised at the number of youth and actually the number of YLs I saw sporting HTs.
Yeah, I even saw a few that were hittable. Amazing.
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Victor Xray
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Post by Victor Xray »

Yup, that was me --- selling the best looking radios in the entire flea market. And it was a pretty successful sales day for me. All the VHF/UHF gear got sold, and I found the perfect buyer for most all of my Smartnet gear - he was in the process of building his inventory list to submit for the rebanding project. Talk about win-win: I get all my older 800 radios sold now and he gets all new radios at the end of this year.

You guys should have stopped & introduced yourself, sorry I missed you if I wasn't at the table. Was glad to meet Microwave Mike in person and more of tvsjr's "associates".
tvsjr wrote:That was him. As always, he relieved me of some of my cash (indirectly, but whatever...)
Hah hah yah that was almost a Dayton-like transaction! Glad you eventually ended up with my Astro. Now if you had gotten out of bed earlier, you could have bought it first!

Thanks for the pics n0xmz, I didn't get a chance to snap any before closing but there was plenty of hamsexiness all around.
kd5ing

Post by kd5ing »

This was one of the best I saw. A guy rolling around in his poor little hamabout pulling a street legal trailer loaded down with a free standing collapsable tower he was trying to sell.

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This guy was trying to sell radar guns that were thrown all over the top of his crown vic

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Lots of lights and antennas

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Cable-routing Sexy, at least they are not stuck on the body of the car

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He was in a target rich environment

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Nothing says HamSexy like a crap load of batteries and a generator strapped to the front of your van for 'mergency power

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Reminds me of an old British military ambulance

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Now that is a VHF contest rig-

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It is hard to tell from this photo, but this guy had about a dozen antennas sticking out of his little Ranger

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Post by tvsjr »

kd5ing wrote:Now that is a VHF contest rig-

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Yep, I know the guy. Pretty cool - he's got a custom-built transverter control in there and can operate on any ham band from 0-10GHz, excepting 5GHz. Also, the whole system is removable, to reduce his Hamsexy quotient.
kd5ing

Post by kd5ing »

tvsjr wrote:
kd5ing wrote:Now that is a VHF contest rig-

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Yep, I know the guy. Pretty cool - he's got a custom-built transverter control in there and can operate on any ham band from 0-10GHz, excepting 5GHz. Also, the whole system is removable, to reduce his Hamsexy quotient.
Hey, where were you? I had a cooler full of Dr. Peppers.
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Post by tvsjr »

kd5ing wrote:Hey, where were you? I had a cooler full of Dr. Peppers.
Damnit! I was wondering around - only made it out on Saturday. Got there around 10a, cruised around, harassed VX and others, ran the Dillo/Dillo associates tables for a bit, etc.

I may have been a tad invisible as I was one of the few who were height/weight proportional, wearing clean clothes, and only carrying one radio. bunny
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Post by KC9ECI »

Any of you guys see OWO at Hamcom and give him Bryans regards? :baby:
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Post by tvsjr »

KC9ECI wrote:Any of you guys see OWO at Hamcom and give him Bryans regards? :baby:
I kept my eyes open... no contact.
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Post by n0xmz »

Now since a j-pole is actually an end-fed dipole, I question the need for one on a vehicle. One could do better with just a 5/8-wave whip. So for me, any vehicle-mounted j-pole is just Hamsexy :wacker:

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And here we have a vehicle that has the bug-catcher mounted CORRECTLY - high above the vehicle body. The bent top and orange strobe light give this truck a sexy appeal. According to the sign on the driver's door, this is a CAPS setup.

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Post by JohnWayne »

I was in attendance at HamCom saturday morning. I didn't think it was too impressive, but it was worth going I guess. I picked up one of the K band radars that they were selling inside, and my buddy picked up a real nice KA band radar from the "radar man" in the white Crown Vic outside. They were certainly entertaining on the way back to Lubbock. We also picked up some of those lockpick kits the guy was selling inside.

Pretty much everything looked like junk or overpriced junk. The guy with M/A Com gear over towards the bay doors had some nice digital stuff, but it was all UHF. His $95 UHF handhelds didn't look bad. Most of the Moto stuff seemed pretty high, or I just missed all the good deals. Did anyone pick up one of those Belchfire 5000 deals?

I got stopped by the Ham Police at the door because I had my badge in my pocket. He told me I better wear it or I'll be stopped again! I told him I'd take my chances. Of course the parking lot was full of ham sexyness. I liked the red firebird in the handicap parking and the Dallas ARC's hamsexymobile especially. Of course, we decked out my vehicle for the occasion. If you saw the silver 04 Durango with about a dozen antennas and a hitch hauler then that was me.

We tried making some contacts on 146.520 P25, but no one was listening or they didn't want to talk to us. The people with analog radios sure heard us though!

See yall next year.

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Post by kb9khf »

kd5ing wrote:]Nothing says HamSexy like a crap load of batteries and a generator strapped to the front of your van for 'mergency power

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WTF, not even deep-cycles????? Walmart Never Starts?????
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Post by kd5wyu »

If I had known there were going to be some of the Batlabs crowd around I would have been sure to do that. Maybe I could have gotten some assistance with my GTX. Was really hoping to have it up and running before Hamcom but I appear to be getting the big fuck you on getting RSS for it. Gonna call M again tomorrow and see what the deal is. If you're not a :wacker: they could care less about your business, it seems :fool:

I saw the tower trailer (minus the Hamabout, fortunately) Just glad I didn't end up on any of the pictures myself-- of course I was clean and the only hamsexy concession I made was the headset.

Gonna be interesting to see if Hamcom is even held next year--- rumor has it that the :ham: aren't welcome. Probably too many :halfnotworthy: or :vestman: or :angry bitch: around.
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Post by tvsjr »

Don't believe everything you hear. Hamcom will not be held at ACC next year - that part's correct. Your "why" is wrong.

The City of Arlington has preference (read: can bump events) on scheduling for the ACC. They came up with something that they wanted the convention center for, so Hamcom got bumped.

This may be a good thing for Hamcom. That center has been limiting their growth for quite awhile. Should be interesting.
kd5ing

Post by kd5ing »

tvsjr wrote:This may be a good thing for Hamcom. That center has been limiting their growth for quite awhile. Should be interesting.
I could see that. It was tough finding a parking place.

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Post by tvsjr »

kd5ing wrote:
tvsjr wrote:This may be a good thing for Hamcom. That center has been limiting their growth for quite awhile. Should be interesting.
I could see that. It was tough finding a parking place.

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And the floor's small (especially with *so many* forums), and on, and on...

You going to the Austin Summerfest, ING?
kd5ing

Post by kd5ing »

tvsjr wrote:You going to the Austin Summerfest, ING?
I haven't really thought about it. I might if the schedule works out. I am not home one weekend in June and the chores are starting to pile up!
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Post by motorola_otaku »

Victor Xray wrote:Yup, that was me --- selling the best looking radios in the entire flea market.
$20 for a VSELP Astro, eh? You can't even get an analog radio for that. :baby:

Just got back into town last night, so pics will be forthcoming this evening. I see no one caught Parrot Man or the trailer with the red & blues.

BTW N0MXZ, that was me you talked to on BW1. I got there around 10:00 and was there 'till about 1:00, and he was the only person I heard on there. ING wasn't even packing VHF. Guess I missed the IMBE on 52 too.
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Post by N5DUX »

kd5ing wrote:It was tough finding a parking place.
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Post by Victor Xray »

motorola_otaku wrote:$20 for a VSELP Astro, eh? You can't even get an analog radio for that. :baby:
:anus: Huh?

Was that you who was looking for a trade on your VHF Astro with VSELP? If so, sorry I wasn't interested.
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Post by tvsjr »

Victor Xray wrote:
motorola_otaku wrote:$20 for a VSELP Astro, eh? You can't even get an analog radio for that. :baby:
:anus: Huh?

Was that you who was looking for a trade on your VHF Astro with VSELP? If so, sorry I wasn't interested.
<shudder>VSELP...
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Down with Arlington!!!!

Post by n0xmz »

I'll be more than happy to see Ham-Com moved to just about anywhere BUT Arlington. Being the largest city in the US without any form of public transportation, Arlington really burns me. I missed out on a free day at 6 Flags because of that last year. Comp. tickets from work (for 4 people) were worthless to me. I wonder what it would be like to live there for people who can't drive. F*ck Arlington. fuck you

[Contrary to popular opinion, just because someone rides the DART busses and trains does not mean they don't have money to spend. We're not all on welfare. If it weren't for a couple of nice :ham: 's offering me a ride, I wouldn't have made it to Ham-Com at all. If they have Ham-Com within the DART/Ft. Worth T service area, then I could attend all 3 days instead of just 1. I suppose I'd probably spend more money, too.]

Speaking of money, I wonder how much 6 Flags loses on an annual basis because of this. Sometimes I like to go to a Cowboys game but since they're moving to Arlington, they'll be losing my money also. I guess my money isn't any good in Arlington. I can't be the only one who feels this way. At least I'll have my license back in a year, but I won't be patronizing Arlington. I'm one of those guys who will travel across town to avoid doing business with a company that has burned me in the past. I will go out of my way to avoid shopping in Arlington, too.

The Dallas Convention Center will probably be ruled out because of the hefty fees they get, but there are PLENTY of possible choices like perhaps Irving, Garland, Carrollton, Mesquite, Ft. Worth, Addison, etc. etc. etc.
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Post by motorola_otaku »

This guy won for using LED lights AND Antennex transit antennas. I never understood why people would want to use the VHF beercans though.

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If someone can think of a valid use for three RS 800 antennas arranged like this other than to look cool, I'd like to hear it.

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Okay, one I can understand, but three? vomit

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GE Sexy!

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More pics of the ghettotastic van & trailer. The hitch, I think, has been featured here before.

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Parrot guy from Orange was there, and he brought friends!

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This guy didn't even pretend to be ARES/REACT/whatever. He was just there selling stuff

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And, of course, what would any hamfest be without the vests?

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Post by motorola_otaku »

tvsjr wrote:
Victor Xray wrote:
motorola_otaku wrote:$20 for a VSELP Astro, eh? You can't even get an analog radio for that. :baby:
:anus: Huh?

Was that you who was looking for a trade on your VHF Astro with VSELP? If so, sorry I wasn't interested.
<shudder>VSELP...
Yeah yeah, I know.. I've got two, and it looks like I'm stuck with them. One I bought from a guy there last year, under the pretense that it was supposed to be IMBE. It wasn't. Oh well, live & learn.

BTW, that guy asking if the 800 Astro was Smartzone cracked me up. I almost wanted to ask him if he even had a valid ID to be on anyone's system.
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Post by tvsjr »

motorola_otaku wrote: Okay, one I can understand, but three? vomit

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He uses the cans because he needs to fit in a parking garage. The other antennas are FME mounts for 1.2GHz.
motorola_otaku wrote: GE Sexy!

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Well, you got close to me, apparently... those radios (hamflashed MPAs, cool!) were right across the way from our tables. Even went over and fondled one.
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