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The Huntsville Hamfest is usually the weekend closest to august 16, but this year, in order to accomodate the ARRL Annual Convention, it was held August 22/23.  As usual, it was at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville.  Setup started 10:00 AM on Friday, and by 3:00 we were setup and had visited with a lot of friends who came by our booth.  Vendor setup in Huntsville is a pretty slick operation.  Vehicles pull in through a giant door on one side, a local crew helps unload and carries the booth product and supplies to the booth, and then the...

The Cullman Hamfest got a serious room upgrade this year.  Recent years saw the hamfest held in a building at the agricultural center in Cullman.  This was an un-air conditioned, concrete block building, which was not as hot as it sounds like it would be, but it was still pretty darn warm for a July hamfest in Alabama. This year it was held in the really nice Vinemont, AL school gym, complete with air conditioning, great lighting, and a good PA system.   As usual, the Cullman group let us set up on Friday afternoon, and they helped us unload and...

This is a good, smaller hamfest, and it's not actually in Birmingham.  It's held in the Trussville Civic Center in Trussville, AL.   I asked one fo the local club members a couple of years ago why the Birmingham hamfest was held in Trussville, and the answer was pretty simple: "It's a lot safer here."  That's good enough for me. This is a friendly hamfest, folks are accommodating, and it's Friday evening and Saturday until around 3:00 or 4:00 PM.   I didn't get a lot of photos, but here are the ones I got.   

It's November, and before we know it, 2026 will be knocking on the door wanting to know what's next.   With that in mind, here is the 2026 ham radio calendar for the North Mississippi area.  Disclaimer:  Dates can change, and some dates may not have been announced yet.  If you know of something left off of this list, or a date that's changed, please email Sales@FatCat.Parts so I an update this article. January 30/31: Jackson MS Hamfest March 6/7: Birmingham Hamfest March 14: Statewide SET (Simulated Emergency Training) March 21: Columbus, MS Hamfest  (date corrected 2-10-2026) April 4: Corinth Hamfest...

The 2026 Capitol City Hamfest (AKA Jackson Hamfest) went off without a hitch, which is amazing considering the hamfest was just outside a major ice/winter storm, and thousands and thousands of Mississippi residents were without power.  The worst of the storm was in the most northern counties of Mississippi, basically anything north of Highway 82,   The storm hit Friday, January 23, and as I write this on February 10, thousands of north Mississippians are still without power.  Power lines and power poles are still on the ground in a lot of areas, and power crews from as far away as...