A little after 5:30 am (uggggh) Sunday morning, I piled into Thom, W8TAM’s car for the trek to the Findlay (Ohio) Hamfest. We had a lot of fun on the way down, discussing the state of the hobby and our own projects. Despite a detour, which added about 15 minutes to our trip, we arrived shortly after opening time (and sunrise).
After scanning the fairgrounds, it seemed to us that attendance, including both buyers and sellers was somewhat down. For example, the only vendor in attendance was Tower Electronics, and only about half the space in the main building was occupied.
I suppose that was to be expected. We’re really not out of the woods as far as Covid goes. The good thing is that it wasn’t so crowded that people had to feel uncomfortable being there. And, it was outside and the the weather was really nice.
Even with fewer sellers, I managed to get a couple of good deals from a seller who is moving to Florida soon. I wasn’t really looking for a key, but it was priced right (only $50!) and included the carrying case.
I was looking for a radio with a data port, and the IC-2820 fit the bill nicely. I’m planning to play around with VARA FM a little.
Another surprise was running into Jeff, KE9V, a fellow ham radio blogger and generally good guy. I wish he’d told me in advance that he was going to be there. We could have arranged to have breakfast together. Of course, I suppose that he could say the same about me.
Thom and I got back into his Tahoe about 10:30 am. I was pretty happy with my haul, but Thom was a little disappointed that he hadn’t found more of what he was looking for. And, neither of us won any of the prizes <grin>.
This is the second hamfest I’ve been to this summer. Maybe, like the sunspot cycle, things are starting to look up for in-person gatherings like this. I’m certainly hoping that this will be the case. Personally, I’m looking forward to Dayton next year, and all of the other, smaller hamfests like Findlay.