Toledo Hamfest March 18th 2007

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KC8RYW
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Toledo Hamfest March 18th 2007

Post by KC8RYW »

OK, who else will be there. I'm trying to nudge a local hamsexual to come along, but we'll see.

I've already requested the day off at work, so I'm going.

It looks like a big hamfest, from the pictures on their website.
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Post by KC8RYW »

15 lookers, but no talkers.

A HamSexy meetup at a place of food and/or drink could happen, too, if demand is present.
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Post by KC8RYW »

Less than two days left to prepare!

http://www.tmrahamradio.org/hamfest.htm
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Post by Myself »

Whooo, that was a good time! I woke up late, got there an hour before close, then realized I had five dollars in my wallet and headed out to find an ATM. Argh!

Despite half the vendors packing up way, WAY before closing time, I found plenty of stuff worth spending money on. Got a pile of fans for ye olde server, an imperial assload of 0.100" pin headers which come in incredibly handy for all manner of hardware hacking, some gorgeous little FETs, a neat little grabber/cutter tool, tons of heatshrink in the sizes I'm not already flush with...

In the north building was a fellow selling a 20-pack set of diamond-grit Dremel-style bits. I couldn't tell where they were made, but he wanted $15 for the box. At five bucks, I'd pick 'em up just to have 'em around. But not fifteen. In the south building, I found the same box of essentially the same bits (looked like the same manufacturer, I didn't go back to verify) for three bucks. Yoink.

The most radio-related stuff I bought was a handful of SMA and N components for antenna-building. I'm such a bum. But really, I think I'd rather mail-order a rig from an outfit with a stable address than buy from Joe Flybynight at a show.

A bit of serendipity: While reassembling my bag-o-bones laptop prior to departing for the show, I did something stupid and propelled a screwdriver across the surface of the motherboard with some serious force. I couldn't see any damage so I continued reassembling it, and sure enough, it powered up without issue. Used it with Street Atlas to navigate down to the swap. When I got there, the screen went black and the machine refused to respond. I'd planned to carry it in as a handy eBay price-reference machine. (Hooray for EVDO!) Well, the only way I could get the angry orange power light to shut off was to pull the battery. Shit.

At the show I happened across a very fine soldering tip for $1. I'd been meaning to augment the useful but somewhat broad 3/32" tip that came in my soldering station. I bought the tip and forgot about it until I returned home, dismantled the laptop, and discovered the SOT23 diode that I'd knocked loose with the screwdriver. Needle-point soldering iron to the rescue! Except it turns out the tip I bought (a Weller?) doesn't fit my Edsyn station. The ridge is too thick which prevents the coupling nut from engaging. Well now! Chucking the tip into a drillpress and attacking the ridge with a Dremel grinding stone made short work of that little problem! The tip fits, the diode is repaired, and my machine works again. Now I know I can use the cheap Weller tips they carry at MicroCenter with just minor modification. Useful info, I'd say.

Anyway... (Sorry for rambling. I'm still buzzed from rescuing what might've been a destroyed motherboard.)

Why do ham swaps always start so damn early in the morning? Half the time I think I'd be better off staying up late the previous night, than trying to get to sleep at 9pm which is what's required to rise with the roosters. Argh!
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Post by webdoc »

I was hoping to make it, it's practically in my back yard, but I was feeling under the weather since last night. My BP is acting up again, and I have to get used to new dosage of meds.
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Post by KC8RYW »

Special Report: HamSexy Observers find Hamsexual activity at the Toledo Hamfest!

The parking lot patrol found these two Hamsexual rides:
Image

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And what Hamfest would be complete without two OM in matching reflective jackets?

Missing from the photos are: a guy with a lowband military surplus radio along with a huge whip on his back (6 meters?), a creepy guy with signs on his body shilling used radios to passerbys in the connector between the two buildings, and last, but certainly not least, an OM in the food court sporting a Motorola STX 800 MHz trunking portable (which much surely be for the 800 MHz (?) ham band.)

Photos come courtesy of Hamsexy Observer Josh KC8UTI.
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Post by motorola_otaku »

KC8RYW wrote:a creepy guy with signs on his body shilling used radios to passerbys in the connector between the two buildings..
A friend of mine did that at the Dallas hamfest in 2005 trying to sell another guy's Yaesu FT-101. It didn't work. :baby:
And the sign says you got to have a membership card to get inside.
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Post by webdoc »

KC8RYW wrote:Special Report: HamSexy Observers find Hamsexual activity at the Toledo Hamfest!


Missing from the photos are: a guy with a lowband military surplus radio along with a huge whip on his back (6 meters?), a creepy guy with signs on his body shilling used radios to passerbys in the connector between the two buildings, and last, but certainly not least, an OM in the food court sporting a Motorola STX 800 MHz trunking portable (which much surely be for the 800 MHz (?) ham band.)

Photos come courtesy of Hamsexy Observer Josh KC8UTI.
You want to see the military surplus guy, and the porcupine car. try the Findlay Ohio Hamfest.. I kid you not, there is a guy there (at least the last 4 years) that has antennas mounted every 4 square inches of his trunk lid and roof. Only thing about Findlay, if you are allergic to bees make sure you bring your sting kit with you, they have a bazillion of the damn things there
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Ric Burney wrote:Considering July 4th food, July 5th should be celebrated as National Ass Honk Day.
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Post by KC8RYW »

I forgot to mention another bit of amusement.

KC8UTI and I were using a simplex freq with IMBE. It turns out, we were sharing the frequency with some hammies using CSQ analog, from what I heard with mixed mode. You would think we could share a freqency and get along, right? Nope. They kept complaining that my radio was "not modulating a carrier" and that it was "all noise." They even went so far as to tell me my radio was "broken." :ham: Funny that, KC8UTI heard me just fine... :ve4uo:
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Post by K8TEK »

Last year, K4ZDH spoke there. I actually met him in hamvention 2005, pretty down to earth guy with a sense of humor. We were making fun of the HIHI OMs together.
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