I attended a hamfest in Richmond, Ky. this morning, and it was a pretty fair event. This marks the fest's second year, so its a new and growing event. They moved it to the county fairgrounds, which offered a very large air conditioned indoor space plus acres of outdoor tailgate area.
Attendance was fair, though I think worries about gas prices probably prompted some to stay home. I was the only person from this area to attend, which wasn't the case last year. I was told attendance was about the same as last year.
One of my friends in the club and I discussed trends in hamfests, which have generally — over the long haul — down from say, 10 or 15 years ago. He thought that perhaps clubs should consolidate their efforts and make them regional, which make sense. But who wants to give up their hamfest?
But clubs are fiercely independent as a rule. The number of hamfests in the state is likely going to continue to decline slowly, though some brave souls — like those in Richmond — successfully beat the odds and seem to be bucking the trend.
ALINCO HF LINEUP. My son, who just earned his ham ticket a month ago, received his obligatory AES catalog in the mail today. I love their catalogs, and enjoy browsing through them as a hobby unto its own.
I noted that the catalog omits the Alinco DX-77T HF rig, the “base station” HF rig sold by Alinco. They do have the DX-70TH, the HF+6 mobile transceiver, which isn't a bad deal. They resell fairly cheap, and can be picked up for a good price. I had one and had to send it off for repairs, which didn't take long. I thought the rig worked fine, but paled in comparison to the Icom IC-706 I also have in the shack. The Alinco has a rather Rube Goldberg way of dealing with the mic connection. The mic attaches to the body of the radio, and the cable protrudes through the removeable front panel. While I was very pleased with the rigs operation, the face plate design looked like something the sophomore engineering students devised after a night of too much partying. Not a very slick effort.
I don't know if the omission of the rig is an omen that the DX-77 will be discontinued or not. AES has the full line of Alinco gear, but doesn't list the DX-77. Hmmm …
SPEAKING OF ALINCO. My wife won an Alinco 2-meter HT at the Lexington hamfest last year, and while I wouldn't have considered buying an Alinco HT before, owning this one has changed my mind. It's a reliable HT with good features. Not exceptional, but not below par either.
It's late, and I'm tired. More to come in the next installment … GN es 73 … dit dit