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 Canada have been here helping get folks back online.
The hamfest setup and Day One was Friday, January 30, just one week after Storm Fern (yes, they named a storm "Fern") hit, and hit hard. Ham radio operators are not strangers to adverse operating conditions, so lots of north Mississippians still showed up for the hamfest to participate, and lots of them set up vendor tables. One lady from the northern-most part of Mississippi had been without power for a week, so she brought as much of her family as would come with her, and they luxuriated in hot showers at the hotel. When you've been without power for a week, hot showers and electric lights really are a luxury!
Big kudos to the Jackson club for pulling off another really good hamfest.
Setup started at noon Friday, and the doors opened to the public at 4:00, and stayed open until 7:00. The next morning (Saturday) the doors opened to the public at 8:00, and the hamfest stayed in full swing until 1:00. As is the case with most hamfests, attendance began to drop gradually after 1:00 Saturday. Tables were (I'm guessing) 80-85% occupied, and there were bargains to be had. I saw one ham walking out the door with a Drake 2B receiver, and I asked him about it. He said it powers up, and he gave forty bucks for it. $40. Holy cow.
One of the good surprises at the hamfest was seeing Hank Harris (former tech guru at MFJ) had a table there, and he is tooling up to make window pass-through panels. With MFJ out of business, Hank is stepping up to fill a void. His panels are made using a white PVC board instead of a wood board, so the inherent wood problem of cracking, warping, and splitting over time has been eliminated. He's just getting this project off the ground, but if he gets traction, it will be a good addition to the ham resources in our area. Hank can be reached at MagnoliaStateAmateur@Yahoo.Com.
Door prizes were announced each hour, and those not claimed were returned to the prize pool. Several forums were held during the hamfest. Being kind of locked in at our booth, I couldn't break free to attend any of the forums.
The only real downer was something nobody could do anything about, and that was the COLD weather. The actual temperature wasn't that bad, but the arctic wind howling through the parking lot like a polar banshee made rapid unloading a popular sport for the weekend.
Another new vendor at Jackson was Stick It To 'Em, an vinyl graphics outfit from Corinth. Savannah runs the operation, and she had a fascinating array of products. (This was not someone with a Crikut machine, this was serious, commercial-grade vinyl work). Decals, t-shirts (yes, vinyl overlays on t-shirts is a thing), signs, almost anything one could imagine, she was there to produce it. The "I THINK THEREFORE I HAM" t-shirt is one of her productions. She can be reached at stickit1@proton.me.
Grand prize was one of the new production Icom 7300 MK2 transceivers.
All in all, the Jackson hamfest is still the premier hamfest in the Magnolia State. Mark your calendar to attend in 2027!
N4OGW routinely scores the highest CW scores in the Mississippi QSO party and ARRL contests.
Big tuners have big open air capacitors.
A clean SX-42 and matching speaker for $100? That's a bargain whether it works or not!
A working Heathkit amp for $375? That's around 50 cents per watt of output.
KJ7TBK, Savannah, who made the shirt she's wearing.
She can even print your call sign on the sleeve. That's pro-feshunul.
KJ5V, the ham formerly known at AD5HM.
N4MPC, a perpetually cheerful ham.
W5OYK Ikey, and WJ5K, Rob.
Drakes. Drakes. Drakes. Love the beautiful artistry of Drake gear.
This is pretty representative of the crowd all day Saturday. The event was well attended.
My favorite sign at the hamfest, just go ahead and make it known right up front. This probably cuts down on the number of conversations that start with "WHAT?".
These blue tablecloths are part of the Fat Cat booth. That really large aluminum tube is a 4 meter vertical. That's not a typo. 4 meters for amateur use is a thing in Europe, but in the US it's used for the audio portion of TV channels 2-6.
These ladies kept the registration table running like clockwork.
Hank Harris, of MSA.
And the "Best Hat Award" goes to WA5GYM.
K5EJY, Mr. Lee.
Keith, KG5PBJ