Hurricane Season Still Here, Hamfest Season Coming

Well, we sorta missed a big one with Isaac, but don't let your guard down just yet. The season doesn't end for a while. In the meantime however, we are soon going to be in Florida's Hamfest Season.

Up North, hamfest season runs from April to October while here in "Paradise" it seems to follow an opposite course, beginning in October and running through April. Part of that is due to better weather but partly it is because the winter residents are here, resulting in more hams to attend the local and regional hamfests.

Let me explain the term "hamfest". Depending on the popularity of the event, this could mean anything from a half-day gathering in a convenient parking lot where an assortment of fellow "ham" operators gather to sell an array of "stuff" they no longer need (or want) and buy "stuff" that someone else no longer needs (or wants), to a full-on three day extravaganza at a major fair ground or civic center that draws thousands of hams from a wide area including factory reps with full displays of their latest offerings.

All of these events, large or small, are prime opportunities for the radio crowd to see what they might be missing from their their own radio room and to see people they have talked to on an almost daily basis. Hamfest also usually host forums or lectures on a wide range of subject matter about amateur radio. Various experts hold forth on digital operations or slow scan TV or software defined radio, etc. Many of the attendees go home with new (to them) gear or new ideas on how to utilize the gear they already own.

Another aspect to most hamfests is the availability of testing sessions where a ham operator can upgrade his or her license to a higher class of license with more privileges without having to make a separate trek to a standalone test session.

In our area there are several larger hamfests and many smaller ones. A few that come to mind are the Tampa Bay Hamfest at the in December and the Orlando Hamcation in February. These are two of the larger hamfests around but there are plenty of smaller events every month from November through May.

Whatever the size of the event it is important that all amateur radio operators support as many as they can attend, because without the support of the ham radio community these events will wither away. If that happens we will be forced to do almost all of our shopping for new gear, parts and accessories via the Internet and alone. I certainly do not want to see that happen, and you shouldn't either. Support your local hamfest, keep amateur radio as alive and well as it is right now, 780,000 operators and growing.