By WBØRUR
This past weekend, the Noise Blankers Radio Group traveled to the "Hanging Judge Hamfest" in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Club members present at the event were Gary WBØRUR, Andy K5PO, Kevin K5KVN, Nathan K5KAC and Fred WD5DKA. Both Kevin and Fred brought a harmonic on the trip.
After several miles of travel, it was determined that Steve K5OY was not present in the vehicle. It was only then we realized no one invited him. This is an unfortunate oversight and in no way is to be considered an indicator of his merits. (Note: Fred traveled in his own vehicle and his attendance was unknown until we arrived on location.)
There was lively conversation on the trip to the event, most of which cannot be published and is best forgotten by those who heard it.
Once arriving at the Knights of Columbus Hall (a junior version of the Knights Templar – but doesn’t have the responsibility of protecting the Holy Grail), we paid our admission fees and entered the hamfest. Unfortunately, not very many sellers did the same thing. We were met by quite a few open and vacant tables.
Some new equipment vendors did a brisk business, perhaps because of the lack of "swap meet" sellers. A special Noise Blankesr "thumbs up" to The Main Trading Company and Associated Radio for displaying a wide array of products ranging from cables and accessories to top-end HF transceivers.
On the positive side, we recognized several hams at the event. On the negative side, we recognized several hams at the event.
There were a few purchases made by our group, but only those of a minor nature. The largest order of business was picking up an amplifier previously purchased by WBØRUR – who was too cheap to pay for the shipping and opted to pick it up from the dealer at the hamfest.
The highlight of the hamfest was when the public address system malfunctioned. Several times, it blasted 65 decibels of static-laden white noise over the in-house speaker system. After this cacophony repeated continuously, several older gentlemen began yelling “TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF!” It made your ears ring for several minutes afterward.
There was an ARRL forum, but we’re not exactly sure who attended, if anyone. Surely someone did.
Lunch was at George’s Restaurant – an iconic Fort Smith lunch place with great service and food served with a side order of cholesterol meds. It should be noted that Fred ate at Dead Lobster, although that cannot be independently verified at this time.
Summary:
- The Hanging Judge Hamfest was having an off-year.
- The number of vendors was down. It appears that the number of attendees was lower, too.
- Noticeably absent was the fellow with the comb-over hair who sells components at every hamfest. (He must have been at a different event with actual attendance.)
HAMFEST SCORE: 5 out of 10
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The data is real, and we believe it to be the true pulse of amateur radio today. And now, we give you a random list of actual search terms used to get to noiseblankers.com in the past week, with some speculation thrown in for good measure:
