I will be getting up early tomorrow to head up to Roxbury Township, NJ for the Splitrock Amateur Radio Association Hamfest. Roxbury is about 45 minutes or so north/ northwest of here by car. I've never been to this Hamfest before; but have heard positive comments about it on local repeaters. This is one of the few times that it has been held on a Sunday, so I will be able to make it.
I am not looking to by anything big, just the typical odds and ends and maybe a good book or something that strikes my eye. I get a kick out of rummaging through the various tools that are for sale. I can always use things like battery holders, clip leads - project parts and pieces.
My next project will be the AA0ZZ keyer that I got for Christmas. I found a nice sturdy enclosure in the junk box in the basement, so I am looking to buy some push button momentary switches. The kit comes with three; but they are not the chassis mountable type. This is a small metal box that I can drill nice holes into; so good push buttons that I can secure with mounting hardware will do the job nicely. I'm not as keen on Altoids tins as everyone else seems to be. I like enclosures that have a bit more "oomph" to them.
After that will come the NEQRP scaf filter; and then after that will be the Fuchs tuner that I received for my birthday last year. Now that the PFR3A is done, I seem to be juiced up to do more building. And I guess I'm just the opposite of most QRPers who build in the winter and operate in the summer. I operate in the summer too; but since my basement is a cool haven from the summer heat, it's nice to spend time down there when the weather gets warm. In the winter it gets uncomfortably cool at times. For instance, for FYBO, it was 57F down there. That was cooler than some of the Florida ops experienced outside!
I spent some time this evening on the 80 and 40 Meters handing out contacts in the various contests. The Georgia QSO Party was going strong with a lot of activity. I was tuning around looking for John K4BAI, but I didn't run into him. I also handed out some contacts in the SKCC Weekend Sprint. I was asked for confirmation of my membership number by several ops. I have a low one, #49 and I guess a lot of the participants aren't used to hearing low membership numbers.
It's going to be an early morning tomorrow (6:00 AM); so I better hit the rack.
72 de Larry W2LJ
I went last year and it was ok. Outside it was very cold and windy so I kept inside. Looks much nicer out this morning but I was too tired to wake up and head out there. I'm sure a bunch from the local club met up early to caravan to the hamfest. I'm not sure they like more - the hamfest or meeting up at the nearby Cracker Barrel for lunch after its over.
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