Tag Archives: Findlay (OH) Hamfest

2014/09/07 (N) Findlay Hamfest

Leave a reply

I set alarms on my phone and iPad last night to make sure I got up at 5:00 AM.  My natural tendency is to stay up a little later each night, something I am now able to do as I do not usually have to get up by any certain time in the morning.  Usually.  Today, however, was the annual Hamfest put on by the Findlay, Ohio Amateur Radio Club and I needed to be at Mike’s (W8XH) QTH in time for a 6 AM departure.  We picked up Steve (N8AR) at the Park-n-Ride lot at Lee Road and US-23 around 6:15 AM and drove non-stop to Findlay, Ohio, arriving at the county fairground at 8:15 AM.  We had a good chat on the way down, which is as much of a reason for going as the bargain hunting once we got there.  I have included a couple of photos in this post.  For more photos, visit:

http://wp36test1.slaarc.com/gallery-2/hamfests/2014-09-findlay/

We each paid our $7 admission fee and got our ticket with a tear-off stub for the hourly and grand prize drawings.  We got parked and set our Kenwood TH-F6 handheld radios to 146.475 MHz (simplex).  We filled out our raffle ticket stubs, dropped them off, and started working our way up and down the rows of outside tables.  The outside sales area was essentially a flea market, sometimes referred to as “trunk sales” because people back their cars up to the road and sell stuff from their trunks.  The spots are cheaper to rent for the day, but you take a chance that the weather will be nice.

Outside vendors (trunk sales) at the Findaly ARC Hamfest in Findlay, OH.

Outside vendors (trunk sales) at the Findaly ARC Hamfest in Findlay, OH.

We worked the flea market first while the temperatures were cool and the sun wasn’t overhead but also because almost everything offered for sale was used equipment at negotiable prices.  These are often one-of-kind items and the bargains tend to disappear quickly.  By mid-morning I had purchased a good sized NEMA enclosure (steel box with weather tight gasketed door) and a Harris 22.2 telephone butt handset (tester).  I plan to use the NEMA box to create a cable entrance box with lightning protection for RF transmission lines, AC power lines, and control lines.  I got the telephone test set because it will allow me to hook up to the phone line the same way the AT&T technicians do, and because it is not the sort of thing most folks have in their home.

Bruce (W8RA) gave a short shopping list to Steve (N8AR) yesterday at breakfast.  Mike (W8XH) spotted a matched three-piece set of vintage Heathkit gear, one piece of which was on Bruce’s list.  Steve looked at it and they got Bruce on the phone.  Apparently it was close enough to what Bruce wanted that Steve bought the whole set for him as the seller was not willing to sell them separately.

We then moved to the inside vendors, most of whom were selling new merchandise at fixed prices.  There was some used equipment, however, and I bought an Icom CI-V interface set.  This device will allow me to interface our Icom IC-7000 and/or IC-706 to, and control them from, a computer using something like Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) software.

I also got to meet and talk to Norm, from Norm’s Fabrication in Adrian, and his wife, who is president of the Adrian Amateur Radio Club.  Norm is a welder, and his side business is fabricating tower parts out of steel and aluminum for fellow hams.  If I cannot get what I need from Heights Tower Systems, Norm may hold the key to getting our used tower erected.

A very classy portable ham radio station (go box).

A very classy portable ham radio station (go box).

A number of other hams from the South Lyon, Novi, Livingston, and SEMDXA radio clubs were there.  I brought my camera and tried to get photos of our club members for the club website.  None of us won anything from the hourly drawings (must be present to win) and we left shortly after noon to meet up at the local Steak-n-Shake for lunch.  I had not eaten breakfast so I enjoyed my garden salad and French fries.  I had a good chat with Dave (K8ESQ), the current president of SEMDXA, and Don (N8CAK) from SLAARC.

We had a good chat on the drive back, stopping briefly at the Michigan Welcome Center on US-23 northbound shortly after entering Michigan from Ohio.  We dropped Steve off at the Lee Road Park-n-Ride and helped him unload the Heathkit equipment.  When we got back to Mike’s I moved my purchases and personal gear to my car and then spent some time examining his Heights tower, especially the fold-over mount.  After studying the parts and the geometry of the design I had a much better understanding of how it works and what we need to get our tower erected and fully operational.

On the way back to my house I got a call from Darryll letting me know he would be out in the morning as long as someone would be home.  Back home I unloaded everything and moved Linda’s car to the side parking pad to make space for Darryll’s truck in the morning.  It was nice to have a day away from our house and property projects.

I spent a little time checking e-mail and websites and off-loading digital photos until Linda called me to dinner.  We had leftover kale salad, quinoa with pineapple and nuts, fresh steamed broccoli, and corn-on-the-cob.  After dinner I recorded the events of the last few days in rough drafts of separate blog posts.  By 10:15 PM the early start and long day finally caught up with me and I turned the lights out and drifted off to sleep.

 

2014/09/06 (S) Deliveries

Leave a reply

We were up early and off to our SLAARC ham radio club breakfast in South Lyon.  There was a good turnout and good conversation, some of which had to do with our future tower project.  Mike (W8XH) was driving to the Findlay (Ohio) Hamfest tomorrow morning and had room for one more in his car so I decided to go.

Back home we broke down cardboard, loaded it into my car with the rest of our recyclables, and headed over to Recycle Livingston.  Afterwards we stopped at the Howell Bank of America branch so I could get some cash for the Findlay OH Amateur Radio Club Hamfest tomorrow.  A little farther up the road we stopped at Lowe’s for grass seed and bought three plastic tubs to replace the cardboard boxes we have been using on the floor of the kitchen pantry for recyclables.  Lowe’s is at Latson Road and Grand River Road so we hopped on I-96 East over to US-23 and headed south towards Ann Arbor to drop off the window air-conditioner and visit with our son, daughter-in-law, and grand-daughter.

When we exited US-23 at Washtenaw Avenue the traffic was worse than usual, and it is usually pretty bad.  Ann Arbor got hit a lot harder by the storms last night than we did and two of the three traffic signals between the highway and Stadium Boulevard were not working.  Drivers were being courteous, and everyone was taking turns, but the traffic volume through this stretch of road exceeds its capacity even when the signals are working.

We got the window air-conditioner unloaded and moved to the second floor of the garage.  We had a nice visit that included reading stories to Madeline.

Madeline and Grandma Linda read a favorite story.

Madeline and Grandma Linda read a favorite story.

We were going to stop at the Whole Foods Market on our way home but decided to avoid the traffic jam and worked our way through a subdivision up to Geddes Road and back to US-23.  Back home we had a light/late lunch of leftover rice seitan and mashed cauliflower and then worked for a couple of hours getting things out of the storage pod and organized in the garage.  We moved the shelves away from the northeast wall so Darryll could work on the gas pipe when he returns.  We knew when we put the shelves there that we were taking a small gamble that we might have to move them.  Fortunately they slid easily without being unloaded.  We must have the storage container empty by the time we go to bed on Thursday evening as it is scheduled for pickup on Friday.

For dinner we had a nice salad, roasted Brussels sprouts, and sautéed potatoes with onions, garlic, and bell peppers. We finished the no-bake (frozen) double-chocolate torte for dessert. After dinner Linda played Scrabble and Words With Friends while I researched Acme screws, nuts, and related components that we need to get the ham radio tower fold-over mount operational.

I turned in earlier than usual as I needed to be up at 5 AM in order to be at Mike’s (W8XH) QTH by 6 AM to leave for the Findlay Hamfest.

2013_09_08 (Sun) All Ham, All Day

Leave a reply

No, we have not given up our WFBP way of eating in favor of “pigging out.”  Today was almost entirely about ham (amateur) radio for me, and partly so or Linda.

One of the things that some hams like to do is attend “hamfests”, also known as swaps or swap meets, although mostly stuff is bought and sold rather than traded.  Like any hobby, amateur radio has many aspects, and hamfests are one of them.  Today was the Findlay, Ohio hamfest, which has been held each September for many years.  Six of us from the South Lyon Area Amateur Radio Club (SLAARC) car-pooled, and another member followed with his family (dad and both kids are hams).  Steve (N8AR) drove and picked me (K8BRF) up at an agreed rendezvous point at 5:50 AM.  We met the other four passengers (Russ, N8EEA; Chris, K8VJ; Jim, N8HAM; and Marty, KB8JIU) at a ‘park-n-ride’ on US-23 at 6:10 AM and headed on to Findlay, arriving around 8:00 AM.

Public service and emergency communications are two of the reasons amateur radio exists at all.  Goodwill is another; ham radio is a worldwide activity and many hams simply enjoy making friendly “contacts” with other hams using nothing but the radio waves they are able to generate and receive.  Some hams make contacts in pursuit of specific awards offered by various organizations.  The American Radio Relay League (ARRL), for instance, offers the DXCC award for making verified contact with hams in 100 different countries (technically “entities”) as internationally recognized.  (DX is ham shorthand for “distant” and CC stands for “Century Club”.).  Some hams are into “contesting” where they compete with other hams to try and make the most contacts during a specific date/time window using particular methods on specified frequency bands.

Other hams are into making “QRP” contacts (low power of not more than 5 watts and often quite a bit less).  They typically use CW (Morse code) or other “digital modes”.  QRPers often design/build their own equipment, and this ability to experiment is another reason ham radio continues to exist.  Amateur radio has been around for over 100 years, and has made significant contributions to the art and science of wireless communications.  Rebuilding ham radio equipment and related gear, like shortwave receivers, is another aspect of the hobby and rebuilding/using vintage equipment is a specialized aspect of that branch of the hobby.

This brings me back to hamfests and swap meets.  Much of what is available at these events is used equipment, parts, and materials, and they tend to draw hams involved in repairing, rebuilding, and experimenting in addition to those looking for deals on used radios or components for their ham shack.  The older radios were all tube based, for instance, and there are always folks with large assortments of tubes for sale.  There is usually a fair amount of computer and network technology as well, albeit prior generation stuff.  Today I picked up 100 foot lengths of both category 6 and category 7 network cable, with connectors, for very little cost ($10 each), and a 35 foot length of 50 ohm “superflex” co-axial cable with “N” connectors on each end for less than $1/ft, a “super” good deal compared to retail.

We left the Findlay hamfest around 12:30 PM and were back at the Park-n-Ride by 2:30 PM.  Linda had gone to the Tanger outlet mall at the west end of Howell, but didn’t find the things she was looking for.  She had taken some additional photos of the front of the house in better light than the ones we had and we settled on one to use in the invitation for an open house/warming we planned to have.

To complete our ham radio day, we attended the SLAARC monthly meeting after dinner.  For the program portion of the evening Russ (N8EEA) showed photos from the summer the trip he and Emily (his XYL) made to the  Yukon and Alaska.  The main purpose of their trip was to attend the 50th wedding anniversary of a close friend and fellow ham, but they also took an HF transceiver and antenna and made contacts with members of the club along the way at scheduled times.  Following the slide presentation there was a discussion of the technical aspects of these “scheds” and how this concept might be improved should any club members make similar trips in the future.  For some reason a number of members thought this might be particularly applicable to members who had bus conversions RVs.