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A first-time hamfest is always interesting to attend, because you never know what to expect.   This one had a small turnout (not unexpected for the first time), and a really great venue (far better than we expected). The radio club sponsored by American Legion Post 69 in Columbus, MS had this first-ever hamfest at the American Legion building at 308 Chubby Drive in Columbus.   The building was open for setup at 5:30 AM, and the doors opened to the public at 7:00 AM.  Several club members helped us unload and carry our gear in, and the same thing happened when...

We recently picked up a lot of new (to us) radio gear.  If you look closely at the photo, there are almost 200 items in that 26" long truck box, stacked 2'-4' deep.   It will take us many months to sort, identify, and test the load of power supplies, 2M radios, transceivers, and related accessories in that pile.  But, I'm pretty excited to have the task to tackle. This gear will trickle onto this website as we test it, and maybe show up later at some local hamfests.   Stand by to see what's in the mystery pile.

The Birmingham, Alabama hamfest (Birminghamfest) was held March 3/4, 2023, in Trussville, AL, at the Trussville Civic Center.  Trussville is a few miles northeast of Birmingham proper.   Setup started at noon Friday, and the show floor opened Friday afternoon at 4:00.  There were a lot of vendors, and many boat anchors on display.  The shopping crowd was light on Friday afternoon, and the show wrapped at 7:00.  The show opened again at 8:30 Saturday morning.  By this time, most of the vendor tables were filled, and the crowd was fairly heavy until about 1:30.   Major door prizes (nice ones) were...

Daiwa makes a great SWR/Watt meter, and my version is the CN-901HP.  The CN-901HP is a legal limit HF meter. (They do make others with other designations for other uses.)   A few months ago the PEP function just stopped working.  Searching Google found no help.  I called the folks who take care of USA repairs, and learned they wouldn't repair my meter.  The only solution they offered was to send them my meter and $94, plus pay the shipping, and they would send me back a refurbished meter. Uh...... no. (At this point, let me say this. The description that...

Tubes.  I have no idea how many tubes I have in storage waiting to be tested.  Thousands certainly, maybe 5,000?  6,000?  More?  I really don't know.  However many there are, before I can list them online, each and every one has to be tested.  If you're not familiar with tube testers, the process is pretty straight forward.  Open the tube box, make sure the tube matches the label on the box, change nine or ten settings on the tester to match the tube requirements as shown on the roll chart (or book, or addendum, etc.).  Insert the tube (after making...