Over the weekend in VK3, we had a local hamfest. On one of the tables, i found a cheap and cheerful Icom FL-223 narrow (1.9kHz) SSB filter for the early 2000’s generation icom radios. I have a IC-706Mk2G that was used in a car for a while but is now relegated to a contest/portable 100w…
Sunday 19th was the Ballarat Ham radio clubs annual Hamfest!. I had walked past an item at the event last year and regretted it, so packed up the car and grabbed my big child Nathan, and we went for a daddy/son day out – road trip – Hamfest – Sota Activation!. Nathan had a busy…
Having day release (thanks wifey) to attend the Ballarat hamfest saw me spend some time activating two more local mountains. Both Mt Warrenheip VK3/VC-019 and Mt Bunninyong VK3/VC-018 are ~10km form Ballarat and are the remains of old volcanoes. This was my second summit for the day, having worked Mt Bunninyong earlier in the afternoon. After my previous hill…
Having day release (thanks wifey) to attend the ballarat hamfest saw me spend some time activating two more local mountains. Both Mt Warrenheip VK3/VC-019 and Mt Bunninyong VK3/VC-018 are ~10km form Ballarat and are the remains of old volcanoes. I left the hamfest around 11am and made my way to the mountain top, Ive been up this…
What is a Hamfest, for many it’s an opportunity to spend some time out of the shack, interacting with ham acquaintances while perusing gear from retailers and someone’s back shed? In recent years the larger dealers appear to have ditched the hamfests, why? Maybe it’s a lot of hassle for little return, maybe they feel…