[Boatanchors] Huntsville Hamfest report

[third Eric]

de N4TGC Eric

	This is an entirely indoor affair, which makes it inconvenient for
flea-market vendors such as myself, and even a little inconvenient for
attendees, as parking is awkward, and costs $4 each day.  Tho the
downpour Sat, attended by lightning, made being inside a good thing ...
and the soggy heat is genuinely miserable this time of year ... Saturday
AM traffic was good, but it dwindled off by PM, and never rebounded,
even for Sun AM.  Flea-tables are $30 each, good both days, but your
entrance fee is NOT included!  Apparently the Von Braun Civic Center is
expensive to rent ... prize tickets are $1 each, with one included with
each fee in, and additional at 20 for $25, or 250 for $100 (!)  I never
bother to buy extra, as the competition is fierce.  Prizes are good,
tho, with the usual raft of rice-boxes, software, books, etc.  While the
'fest is 'spose to run both days, if you can't get there Sat AM, don't
spend extra effort: a goodly number of flea-market vendors pack it in,
and by Sunday, several of the tables are empty.  Tho the bargains are
better ...
	One vendor had a couple tables full of nice BA's, but he'd succumbed to
an e-bay infection, so prices were $100 high (you read that right). 
Notably, there was not many BA's in evidence, and those that were seemed
vastly over-priced.  Kondratieff wave?!  I saw a couple R-390A's, but at
$400, you might not care ... the usual "old reliables", William Perry,
Allen Bond, etc., were there, and some of the usual un-reliables ... I
set up my RT-70/AM-65 again, and talked into my PRC-6 and
helmet-liner-mounted PRR-9.  Some vets commented that the helmet liner
was part of a specific uniform at one time ... is it still?  
	I did buy a Krohn-Hite function genny, and the cabinet for a GRR-5, so
I didn't waste the trip - as usual, I pretty well broke even, including
food, fuel, and fees, but I got rid of some junque too ...
	e