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The Black Warrior Hamfest (commonly known as the Tuscaloosa Hamfest) was last held June 17, 2023.  The venue for this small hamfest is the high school gym in Northport, AL, and was a one-day event.  One of the great things about this hamfest, for us, is its only 90 miles from Fat Cat World Headquarters. As usual, the host club helped us unload early on Saturday, and we really enjoyed the well-lit and air conditioned facility.  There was plenty of room for a lot more vendors, who (unfortunately) just weren't there.  The host club, as usual, made sure the tables...

I don't know how long this hamfest has been going on.  Nobody seemed to know for sure, but someone pointed out that the father of the current hamfest chair ran the hamfest several decades ago.  The club itself has been around since the 1930s. Load in and setup was Friday at the Gulf Coast Fairgrounds in Mobile, and the actual hamfest was scheduled for 8-2 on Saturday.  It wrapped a bit early, more like 1:00. This was in a huge facility (see photos), I think the Huntsville hamfest could have been held in this space.  Lots of vendors, plenty of...

Bartlett, TN is the location for the Memphis Freefest (yes, I know Bartlett and Memphis are two different towns, but take it up with the folks in Tennessee).  This year it was held April 8 at the Bartlett Municipal Center. Tables inside were filed with gear, and tailgating was going on in the parking lot.  The Freefest is called that because everything about this hamfest is free. No fees for the tables, no fees for admission, etc.   Door prize tickets are sold, and any revenues exceeding expenses are donated to LeBonheur Children's Hospital. This is a really nice facility, and...

April 1, 2023 was the date for this year's April Fool Hamfest in Corinth, MS.  This is held at the Crossroads Arena, and the hosts are a truly nice bunch of folks.   We arrived Friday at noon, got everything set up, and returned Saturday morning for the hamfest.  Miss Dianne was there (she's married to McCoy, and I cannot remember his call to save my life) with her exquisite homemade pecan pies, made with pecans grown on their property. AD5HM shows up with some repeater gear, and N5MPC Andy and Miss Nancy showed up for the day. Unfortunately, this hamfest...

It's not often I'm genuinely impressed by an eBay seller, but  I found one this week.  Transplant Supply Surplus in Valrico, FL.  A Drake radio just stopped working the other night, and it turned out the fuse holder in the power supply just gave it up.  It must have had an old crack in the body, and spring pressure finally caused it to go poof.  No fixing it, and in all the bags of fuse holders I have, I didn't have the correct Bussman fuse holder.  Bummer. A quick check on eBay found some Chinese fuse holders that were probably...