Saturday, March 25, 2017, Tucson Hamfest

Bill, John and I hit the road early (5:30am) to get to the Tucson, AZ Hamfest. Bill drove his big truck in case he found anything he couldn't live without. John had decided to take the Extra Class exam. He only spent a few days studying, but he was confident about passing. I felt like I was ready for my General Class exam - I passed the ARRL practice test online six times last night. When we arrived, the place was buzzing - clearly, there were a lot of early birds ready for the 7:00 start.

We milled around for a while since testing did not start until 9:00. A lot of classics were available for sale. I saw a Hammarlund receiver that must have weighed at least 75 pounds. There were a few Heathkit SSB transceivers and the venerable Drake R-4B. Someone was letting their Kenwood 830S with matching power supply and speaker go. It was a bit over my budget. There were a lot of Yaesu FT-101 transceivers still on the air, but I have no nostalgic reason to own a vacuum tube radio. This one looked new!

John and I had both completed (and passed!) our tests, but computer issues required some extra time to print out our certifications.

I wasn't ready to buy a radio, but I suspect that, given the space limitations of our home on wheels, I will end up with something similar to the Icom-718 on the left below.  There are so many choices I will have to research and fret over the decision for a while yet.

It was a good thing Bill brought the truck since he found a great buy on a vertical antenna (that he later sold to me).  John got a nice looking antenna tuner.  It was still pretty early, so we found a nearby diner where we enjoyed some breakfast before heading home.