JARSfest: The Benson Hamfest 2007

On Sunday, I went to the Benson Hamfest, also known as JARSfest, the Johnston Amateur Radio Society fest.

The weather was just perfect and the fall color was incredible. It's a nice little hamfest, too. They had a good turnout and it was a great time for socializing will fellow hams. To me, that's the main point of any hamfest. Back when I first became an amateur radio operator, ten years ago, it seemed as if I came back with a nice new hand held "HT" radio every time I went to a hamfest. For various reasons, vendors selling new radios have been rare at hamfests since then. Now the majority of them sell used equipment and parts, which is more fun to look at, but less tempting for me. Thank goodness.

The last year or so, I've had a different purchasing goal. I've been buying electronic parts, like resistors, for making jewelry. I haven't actually made any jewelry out of them yet, but I've certainly thought about it. It's a bit of a departure from my usual sterling silver and semi-precious bead work. This year, I bought a bunch of LEDs from Lloyd Davis, from Wake Forest. He's 85 years old, extraordinarily nice and he gave me a super deal. It will be particularly cool if hooking up watch batteries to the LEDs will be feasible for making earrings.


Of course, I make it a point to eat a country ham biscuit at every hamfest, even though it may be considered cannibalism. I was going to photograph mine, but I was too hungry.

(Thanks to my Second Most Faithful Reader for the first and third photos and the creative arrangement in the last photo.)