The Hamradio, the SOTA meeting and the Maker Faire.
Hamradio 2018
Saturday was the day of the big SOTA meeting, but first I went to see some more of the new stuff on the Hamradio. I didn't buy much, just some accessories and components to tinker with once back home.
Of course I had to stop at the Elecraft booth to say hello to Eric,WA6HHQ, who was very busy as always.
A bit further I saw the one and only Mr. Pietro Begali ... with a collection of beautiful CW keys and paddles ... alas, just a bit over my budget, hi.
On the main stage would be a demo of how to learn CW. Since I only got back into CW since 2016 (main reason being the use for SOTA), I wanted to see what they were going to show.
To my my surprise ... the girl in the picture was Laura, DL2JJ, daughter of famous "crazy" SOTA activator Emil, DL8JJ. She was not learning CW, but took a proficiency test.
And the man giving the CW test to Laura was a fellow SKCC member Marcus DF1DV.
Oh, and this had to be the best day of my life ... I got to meet Hans G0UPL, of world fame ... maker of the QCX kit (of which I have built two : a 20m and a 40m model).
I had brought my 20m model, complete with resonant endfed antenna, 9g lightweight paddle and some other stuff, all packed in a small bag (that used to contain 10 cassette tapes, remember those ?).
Hans took a bunch of pictures of my rig , and even put them on his website !
You can read that story here : https://qrp-labs.com/newsjul2018.html#c4
If you want to read again how I built this kit, that story is here :
https://on7dq.blogspot.com/2018/03/my-build-of-qcx-5w-cw-transceiver.html
Now, is Hans really that tall, or am I such a "shorty" ? Haha !
Next to the QRP-Labs booth was Palm Radio, known for their Mini and Pico paddles and keys.
Dieter of Palm Radio was showing another QCX, built into a U3S case from QRP-Labs, with built in battery and Pico Paddle, now that is a complete station, nice work !
The SOTA Meeting
At noon, it was time again for the meeting at the QSL wall, and who did I spot ? Of course it was Geert, PA7ZEE, the best known Gran Canaria activator. He helped me prepare my trip to EA8/GC with many useful tips and warnings .. except for one, as we will see in a moment ...
In the afternoon I went to the big SOTA Meeting, as always organized and perfectly timed (hmm) by Juerg, HB9BIN.
Again a nice compilation of subjects came along.
All presentations can be downloaded from the HB9SOTA websdite :
https://hb9sota.ch/hb9sota-hamradio/
Many familiar faces in the room, and on the screen ...
Andy, MM0FMF was surely telling a joke ...
Emil DL8JJ presented a nice video called "4000 Days" ... about the ham & climbing career of his daughter Laura DL2JJ.
If you missed it, you can still watch the video here.
With the same ticket as for the Hamradio, you get also access to the Maker Faire, so I quickly went to have a look before I left ... because I would not return on Sunday.
The Maker Faire
This fair has a bunch of strange people with strange contraptions ... here just some pictures .. without comment , hi.
I have long wanted to build one of these ... a Theremin !
But there is always something more interesting to do ... so haven't got to it yet.
That was a long day at the Hamradio ... so that beer tasted very good ! Cheers !
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