[Boatanchors] New Ham vs Old Ham

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 10:46 PM, Warren Elly <w1gud4 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Let me echo Todd's thoughts... NEARfest is the one, especially in October.
> Florida AM Group makes it an annual pilgrimage!

You make a good point that I overlooked, Warren: it must be a decent
event with folks traveling not just miles, but days to attend. Along
with the Florida gang traveling up from Tampa and surrounding areas,
we had attendees in October from as far away as California, Ohio, NC,
VA, Alaska, and Athens, Greece to name a few. Quite a few from north
of the border too, with all being regular attendees!

None of this is meant to brag, merely to state that the stinky,
trashy, dying hamfest isn't an accurate representation overall, and
doesn't have to be our future. Near-Fest was only started in May of
2007 as a result of the original Hosstraders gang retiring after 30+
years. It's held twice a year and is hugely successful simply because
the people putting it on make it so, along with those who attend. It
could be like this anywhere there's a hamfest if those same parties
chose to make it so.

No free showers yet, but we manage to get by and survive. Then again,
more and more of us stay in motels too rather than sleeping in (or
under) our vehicles. (o:

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ/4