[Boatanchors] New Ham vs Old Ham

[Clarke, Tom AIR4.0P NATOPS]

Not only to church!

I returned last night from a miniDXped to J6 and am continually amazed
at how people dress to travel. Shorts, tee shirt and shower shoes, sweat
suits and Nikes, anything you can imagine will be represented. I was in
formal attire wearing Dockers and a chambray shirt!  I wore socks also,
which put me in the minority!

The good news was that I was relatively comfortable when I stepped off
the plane in Baltimore into 19 degree temps!

73 de Tom
J6/W4OKW

--------------------------------------------------------------
It's a basic fact that people don't wear ties too many places.  I'm told
they don't even wear them in church.  I can say I've never seen one at a
hamfest in the brief 5+ years I've been attending.

I have seen lots of dark-haired people.  For some reason, blondes are
scarce (as are women).  My wife likes to go with me.  She's usually the
hit of the parade :)

The demographics are obviously changing.

There are a few hygiene-impaired, but I wonder if this is any different
from the population at large.

Regardless, I really enjoy my time at hamfests and wish I could have
attended them when they were really hot.  The closest I get is hanging
around here and picking up what I can from people who have been there
before.  This kind of experience is invaluable.