35th Annual DurHamFest

Once again, it's time for DurHamFest, the annual amateur radio swap fest run by the Durham FM Association. This year, it's the 35th annual hamfest, which is pretty amazing.

It's this Saturday, May 23rd, from 8am to 2pm, at the Little River Community Center. It's a great event for ham radio operators to get together and socialize and for everyone to look at or purchase new and used radio and computer equipment. There will be food available, of course, or I wouldn't even think of attending. Well, I might bring my own, I suppose.

If you're a ham, I hope to see you there. If you're not, it's an opportunity to learn a little more about amateur radio and gawk at geekiness. That's another way of saying that I anticipate that fun will be had by all.

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.)

DurHamFest 2007

I would say that that the Durham FM Association hamfest was a success! We had two to three hundred attendees and I had a great time visiting with friends, one of whom I hadn't seen in a long time. I sold thirty brownies and coconut macaroons, at $1 each, all donated to the club. Best of all, I have 16 left. It was held at the Little River Community Complex, in Bahama. It seemed like a great site and the surrounding area was quite pretty. This is the club's infamous Mobile Communications Unit (also known as a bread truck with ham radios inside). Notice the nice trees and green stuff behind it. After working hard to get ready last night and all the festivities today, most of us are pretty tired now that it's over.

Hamfest and Free Cake

Well, if only one fifth of a person attends due to reading this in my blog, it will be worth it:
This Saturday is the Nth Annual Durham FM Association Hamfest, which will be held in the vicinity of Bahama this year. It's a great opportunity to wander around, talk to friends , look at all the random electronic parts, feel nostalgic while looking at old computers and stock up on reasonably priced LED flashlights. You will also be able to buy coconut macaroons and brownies. Yes, I'll be spending my Friday evening baking again this year. If you are interested in going and you can't figure out how to get there based on the information in the link, let me know and I will be happy to confuse you further.

I have been incredibly busy the last couple of days. GM went to a Math-Biology conference at Duke and stayed in the Purple Guest Room. We went out to dinner with friends numerous times, which required lots of spamming as the plans evolved. Tuesday night we played a crazy game that GM invented. Just to give you an idea, RN said that people who overheard us in the Barnes'N'Noble where we were playing probably thought we were from an insane asylum.

In other earthshaking news, Nantucket Cafe & Grill no longer has chicken pot pie on the menu. This is a horrific tragedy and I need to write to them. I wasn't angered as greatly as I could have been because they had a soft shell crab special and they have decided to offer free giant pieces of cake (any non-cheesecake cake on their cake menu) with each entree, Monday through Thursday. Their sauteed soft shell crabs are excellent, too.

Tonight I went to a small party at SY's new house and it was unbelievably pleasant having dinner on her porch while listening to all the birds sing and talking with my friends. The weather and the conversation couldn't have been better.

The other night Venus and the moon were positioned such that they were right night to each other. It was worth going all the way to the end my driveway to get a clear view. I thought that all my photos were blurry, but they are actually quite nice, so I'm very pleased. It still doesn't compare to actually seeing it, though.