Between the local election and other matters, we just couldn't squeeze in a relaxing day-trip to Greenwood today. It takes at least 1.5 hours one-way (more like two to be honest), and today's schedule just didn't make it feasible without being too rushed.
I feel deprived.
2008-09-06
2008-08-24
HARC Ham Radio Flea Market 2008
This year's Halifax ARC Ham Radio Flea Market was held in conjunction with HARC's 75th anniversary Ham Fest held at the Mount Saint Vincent University campus overlooking Bedford Basin (Halifax, Nova Scotia).
The venue was very (amazingly) nice. An excellent tree-lined campus atmosphere. Lovely parking lots with a few of those extra-wide corner parking spots wide enough to eliminate risk of door-dings (yes, this is a consideration for some). Classy on-site cafe (they make great hamburgers). The venue was great!!
It was excellent to see all the old friends and folks again. I think that's the best part. I was not able to dedicate the entire weekend to ham radio (I have a young family), so I just attended the flea-market from about 10AM to about 2PM (not the whole Ham Fest). The concept of combining the ham fest with the flea market is perfect. Well worth waiting the extra few months. Perhaps the same thing could happen every year, combining a one-day mini ham fest with the Flea Market for the normal (non-Anniversary) years.
August is a nice time of year for such activities. The weather has been nice lately - perfectly warm, light breeze, sunny day with puffy clouds.
The flea market itself was nice.
I grabbed an old Realistic DX-200 SW radio for $35. It looks like one dial light bulbs is burned out, but that's not a big deal.
Also, I got a medium duty rotor system for $25, but so far it doesn't work. I'll open it up to see what's what when I have time. No big deal if it's garbage. It's worth at least $100 if I can make it work, so it is worth the risk.
And I bought (finally!) a 20m ham stick for my mobile 3/8-24 magnet mount. Although I have no plans to operate HF ham radio while driving, I do look forward to some 20m SSB contacts into Europe while parked at picnics and similar.
I also grabbed a cheap dual-band DB-1-MAG mag mount antenna for 2m and 70cm. VHF while mobile is something I will do on occasion.
One strange gadget I bought was a Radio Shack DSM-8040 Audio Mixer for just $3. Yes, $3. The nice gentleman at that table really didn't want to bring anything home again. This mixer has some RIAA Phono inputs to Line outputs, so it's a nice find even just for that function. But I think it might get some Karaoke use in this household too...
Of course I bought a copy of the new Maritime Callbook. And some magazines. And a roll of old coaxial cable with connectors.
I picked up 17 QSL cards from the Buro.
All in all, a very nice day.
Thanks to the hard-working folks at HARC for making it all happen.
The venue was very (amazingly) nice. An excellent tree-lined campus atmosphere. Lovely parking lots with a few of those extra-wide corner parking spots wide enough to eliminate risk of door-dings (yes, this is a consideration for some). Classy on-site cafe (they make great hamburgers). The venue was great!!
It was excellent to see all the old friends and folks again. I think that's the best part. I was not able to dedicate the entire weekend to ham radio (I have a young family), so I just attended the flea-market from about 10AM to about 2PM (not the whole Ham Fest). The concept of combining the ham fest with the flea market is perfect. Well worth waiting the extra few months. Perhaps the same thing could happen every year, combining a one-day mini ham fest with the Flea Market for the normal (non-Anniversary) years.
August is a nice time of year for such activities. The weather has been nice lately - perfectly warm, light breeze, sunny day with puffy clouds.
The flea market itself was nice.
I grabbed an old Realistic DX-200 SW radio for $35. It looks like one dial light bulbs is burned out, but that's not a big deal.
Also, I got a medium duty rotor system for $25, but so far it doesn't work. I'll open it up to see what's what when I have time. No big deal if it's garbage. It's worth at least $100 if I can make it work, so it is worth the risk.
And I bought (finally!) a 20m ham stick for my mobile 3/8-24 magnet mount. Although I have no plans to operate HF ham radio while driving, I do look forward to some 20m SSB contacts into Europe while parked at picnics and similar.
I also grabbed a cheap dual-band DB-1-MAG mag mount antenna for 2m and 70cm. VHF while mobile is something I will do on occasion.
One strange gadget I bought was a Radio Shack DSM-8040 Audio Mixer for just $3. Yes, $3. The nice gentleman at that table really didn't want to bring anything home again. This mixer has some RIAA Phono inputs to Line outputs, so it's a nice find even just for that function. But I think it might get some Karaoke use in this household too...
Of course I bought a copy of the new Maritime Callbook. And some magazines. And a roll of old coaxial cable with connectors.
I picked up 17 QSL cards from the Buro.
All in all, a very nice day.
Thanks to the hard-working folks at HARC for making it all happen.
2008-01-24
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