Jimmy,

JA>Agreed! Whew. :-) Was well worth it though! I got a good look at
JA>a couple of J antennas that people were selling. I didn't go
JA>with the intention of stealing their design (I mean the plans
JA>are available on the Internet after all) but I wanted to see
JA>them up close and potentially purchase one. After seeing them
JA>and touching one, I think I could build one... They were $30 there
JA>and $40 at a little freefest we popped into yesterday outside of
JA>Nashville (were in town to celebrate 30th wedding anniversary).

  Congratulations on the anniversary.

JA>I'm wanting to get another mobile unit and a power supply to
JA>have a duel band radio 'base station' for the winter time. I
JA>like the idea of a J antenna in the attic. Any thoughts on
JA>that?

  I have to plead ignorance on that. Plus, several rigs are being
discontinued in favor of newer models, so if you can still find some of
these discontinued ones around, you might be able to get them at a good
price.

JA> DS>   I bought one of those neon signs from "Gifts 4
Hams", and it's
JA> DS> supposed to arrive on Monday. The week before at the Shreveport
JA> DS> hamfest, I bought several items with the "Arklatex D-Star"
JA> DS> logo...including a cap, a key chain deal, and a badge.

JA>Nice!

  I tried to do a video of the neon sign with my cellphone camera, but
the color kept washing out.

JA> DS>   Sorry we didn't get a chance to hook up in Huntsville.

JA>Same here. Turns out there were a few people from West Tennessee
JA>that I've talked to on the local repeaters that were there
JA>but I didn't see a single one of them either. :-)

  I ran into Damon, WA4HFN, and Michael, KK4IOH, from the Memphis area.

JA>We drove in Saturday morning to get to the Skywarn forum, which was
JA>cancelled last minute. :-( We didn't hit any of the others but had
JA>I known you were at D-Star (I should have surmised, from our previous
JA>conversations) I would have at least met you at the door. :-)

  I had considered the Skywarn Forum, but decided against it, since
being a weather geek, anyway...I know what to look for.

  A few things I didn't like about Huntsville...

1) Flying into/out of there was hellaciously expensive. The bus ride
was much cheaper, but combined with limited leg room, and hard metal
seats in the stations, it made for a rough trip.

2) While the Embassy Suites was connected to the Von Braun Center (which
was good when it was storming outside), I didn't like the idea of them
hitting ones debit card for an additional $50 a day for "incidentals".

3) You can only do so much in a one hour forum...as one was finishing up
and participants were trying to exit, a large group of the next forum
was trying to get into the narrow door.

4) While I did like the made to order breakfast (omlette or breakfast
buffet) at the Embassy Suites, their restaurant was hellaciously
expensive (Ruth Chris' Steak, I think). When I went to the bar to oder a
sandwich and a drink, the hostess seemed intent on giving me an
alcoholic beverage, instead of just plain Coca-Cola. The second night I
was there, I bought a couple of sandwiches and a drink from the gift
shop instead, and that was my dinner.

  While I can say I've been to the Huntsville Hamfest, I likely won't go
back.

JA>Yeah - not sure when the next one I go to will be. Will try to hit the
JA>Freefest in Bartlett next year, assuming they do another. Also plan
JA>to hit a little one in Union City next year. It was a couple of weeks
JA>before Bartlett this year, but we were just DAYS late in getting the

(Continued to next message)
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