"THE ULTIMATE MOBILE SETUP"

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Here's Part One of a video I ran across on YouTube.

You'll find that this vehicle has all the gadgets

you'd ever need.

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Woody

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"BACK FROM BELTON..."

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"...you can see the difference, as the cool temp's

and crisp air puts a spring in the step,

and an erect wallet in the pockets of each potential buyer!"

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Yes indeed my friends, the first Belton Texas hamfest of 2007 has come and gone, and unlike the past few years, I'm happy to say I attended!
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Unlike the last one I made it to (some 3 years ago or so), which seemed to be on a slight decline, this one - despite the weather seemed to be a good success. My oldest son Josh came along with me and we left later than we usually would, pulling out of Sealy around 4:15 a.m. with only one headlight working and many miles to go.
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Also unlike other late departures, this one was not due to oversleeping, as neither of us slept! I was doing some stuff via the internet, and then got caught up watching a movie that started at 2 and ended at 4. Thus the late departure. I was traveling light for this trip for a variety of reasons:

1. I had the pleasure (not) of my lower back and upper back "going out" at the same time about 2 weeks ago, so I wasn't eager to load move a bunch of stuff around the shack, much less carry it to the car for loading.
   
2. Having been out-of-touch with recent Belton events, I wasn't sure what to bring, and, if I did load the car down with goodies, would that effort be wasted?
   
3. And last but not least, I wanted to spend less time selling and more time visiting some old friends, and of course, recording the event.

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One thing that didn't change, was the traditional cold front blowing in. I'm not sure of the how's or why's, but usually, a cold front comes in just before, or during the hamfest, dropping the temperature and humidity to the point where everyone is energized to stop by Belton. Once there, you can see the difference, as the cool temp's and crisp air puts a spring in the step, and an erect wallet in the pocket of each potential buyer!

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We arrived at the "Dome" after 6 a.m., and the air had been steadily getting colder the closer we came to Belton. A quick look at Josh told me he was thinking the same thing:

"We'd be stuck outside, freezing our butts off"

As we crossed the parking lot though, it became apparent that there was NO LINE of vehicles waiting to go inside. I drove slowly by one of the large doors to see half the area still vacant, so we pulled right in and got a spot. Happy to be inside, I was a bit worried about the lack of people coming to sell items, but within the next hour or so, those worries were gone, and the building was full.

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We setup what few items were brought, then I took off, camcorder in-hand (In one hand. The other hand was gripping mad money). It was good to see some of the long standing vendors, as well as seeing my good friend Val from Oklahoma. Val makes the Belton trip twice a year, and it's the only time we get together to compare notes, and talk about rigs, and of course...the old times. It was his email in fact that got me to this Belton event by writing "If I can drive six hours from Oklahoma to Belton, surely you can spare two" (or something close to that). He was on a buying mission this time so each stop by my space was short, then he'd dart off in another direction. If I recall correctly, this was the 17th hamfest he'd been to since the first of the year.

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Surprisingly, Friz wasn't there, and I did attempt to look for him, outside in the tailgate section, but I didn't last long - the wind was strong and the temperature dropping. And of course "Repeater Steve" was there!

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There were at least 4 Amateur Radio Stores with tables and booths, including George's shop in Spring, along with several other multi-faceted dealers. I saw quite a few CB's, the only collectible being a Browning Mark IVa, and the rest were solid-state, somewhat beat up, but still usable. Used Ham radios were quite abundant, just not the model I was looking for, and if I were to guess at ratio of HF vs HT's/Dualband I'd have to give the nod to used HF rigs with a whopping 75% or more presence. HT's were almost non-existent (used). I found a sweet deal on a HEIL PR-40, but chickened out at the last moment (yes, I'm regretting it already).

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I'm now fairly renewed from the trip and plan to start work on the video tonight. Yes...you read correctly: A NEW B-E-L-T-O-N VIDEO!!

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Woody

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REVIEW:

BVARC HAMFEST

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It is a little after 9pm, and having taken a nice long nap after returning from the BVARC (Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club) Hamfest, I thought I'd write a quick review! This was the first time I've attended their hamfest, however I usually lurk on .825 where many of them talk each day, and so I knew that this was their biggest one to date - held at the Fort Bend County Fairgrounds.

Apparently the 'fest has been growing so much each year that they had to find a larger site this year. I decided to go for a couple of reasons: 1).If I didn't make it to Belton (again), at least I could say I went to one this year, and 2). From Sealy, it was a straight shot down hwy 36, and only took about 30min to get there. Well then...enough background, let's get on with the review.
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As I pulled into the parking lot I saw plenty of car with metal antlers ontop - not quite Belton, but bigger than many other local events (600-700 people attended). There were only a few tailgaters, which seemed a bit strange considering we just had a front blow through and the skies were blue with a very nice temperature and humidity. I paid my $5 and went inside...
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There were alot of people inside the building, probably more buyer/lookers than sellers (who were seated at tables), yet, more sellars than you would usually see together in one place, in Houston. Note: Hopefully I'll be able to have some video for you to see later. It seemed well organized (I'll write about this in a minute), but after a quick scan of the room, I could see a lack of many of the retail vendors you'd normally see at Belton, so I set my drool gauge one notch lower. The Grand Prize for the drawing was an Icom IC-718 (beats some places that only have a free hat for giveaways), and everyone seemed pretty happy as they walked around. It felt like a big social event.
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Back to organized. A lot of local hamfests only offer a couple things; a chance to buy or sell something, and an opportunity to meet the guy on the other end of microphone. Belton, which is a very large hamfest, relies on the swap meet to bring in folks (which it does very nicely), with occasional license testing. It was very clear to me that BVARC had a several different attractions, designed to draw in folks for different (or many) reasons:

• They had a swapmeet, in a nice large building.
• They offered license exams not once, but TWICE during the event.
• And they offered 30minutes of information in the form of seminars. Not just one, or two subjects but more than I can remember!

The seminars they offered were:

• Lightning and Grounding
• African DX Safari
• Satellites on a Budget
• Satellite Demonstration
• Antenna Basics and - Stealth
• End fed wire Antennas
• Spider Quads
• WinLink2000
• "Vampire" Electronics
• Deed Restrictions
• Emergency Management
• IRLP
• HF Contesting
• Working DXCC
• Printed Circuit Boards
• DXpedition - Malta
• Last, but certainly not least: An ARRL featured speaker/West Gulf Division Vice Director who had 30 minutes of talking and 30 minutes of Q & A

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There were several that I wanted to attend, and would have liked to taped, but I was on a preset time sked (but the main reason was I left my tripod and wireless microphone at home).

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As I walked through each aisle, I could see that as far as transceivers went, most folks brought HF gear to sell. Some were higher than or equal to EBAY, while others were more realistically priced. In other words, an even balance of pricing. I saw several FT-1000's going for a little over $1,000! What I didn't see were buyers with their arms full, or pulling wagons filled with great finds (like a Belton-sized 'fest would have).

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Naturally, I ran into several old cronies of mine and I think I talked so much my lips were so dry that they were starting to crack. My Plan was to leave around 10a.m., but I didn't get out of there until 11:30 and really had to "put the peddle to the metal" to try and make it back to the Sealy P.O. before they closed (I didn't).

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SUMMARY

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I liked this event, and regret not sitting in on some of the seminars. There were topics to appeal to just about everyone, some retail vendors, lot's of tables with stuff to buy, a nice door prize, and it was well organized. And like I said, clearly planned for future growth in coming years. I think that a lot of retailers blew this off, thinking it wasn't a big deal and they'll regret that decision because there were quite a few new "Generals" coming from the exams looking for HF gear and accessories. Perhaps one reason there weren't more folks buying items, was that they didn't think there would be much to see and came to socialize. The BVARC Hamfest has a strong foothold in the future for the Houston amateur community which has always suffered for lack of a BIG yearly event (the last "BIG" event in Houston, was one held in Humble many years ago). I'll be back next year, and I think so will many others. With word-of-mouth, there is no place but UP for this event to go....Oh, ONE last comment. Most hamfests tend to die off between 10 and 11 a.m. but the BVARC 'fest still had many people there at 11:30, with more arriving, as I left. You don't see that too often.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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