[KCDXC] Georgia Section News

[dr]

Found this write up from the Georgia Section:

http://www.arrl-ga.org/gsomm/gaomm0605.html

MAY HIGHLIGHTS

May 20-22--- DAYTON HAMVENTION--- WOW!! My better half MIKE SWIDERSKI,
K4HBI, and I have been hearing for years that this is THE Hamfest that every
ham should experience at least once. Now we understand. This was OUR year,
and a topnotch way to celebrate our anniversary, to boot. Without a doubt,
this Hamfest has it all. And then some. I mean, this place is a real mecca,
where you can spend three days amid a sea of over 28,000 other hams from all
over the world, and there are so many different ways to experience it, if
you were to ask 50 different people how they spent their time, you'd likely
end up with 50 entirely different responses. Besides the acres of
tail-gating and hundreds of indoor vendors, there were countless forums,
meetings, and banquets covering just about every aspect of amateur radio
that you can imagine. And we were pleasantly surprised at how many familiar
faces we saw from good ol' Georgia in that huge crowd. Nine members of the
North Georgia QRP Club were there for the "Four Days in May" QRP
extravaganza, as leaders and participants in the multitude of QRP forums,
the Build-a-Thon and other related activities. The QRO crowd was
well-represented, as well, with numerous members of the SE DX Club in
attendance. SE DX Club president WES LAMBOLEY, W3WL, who was one of the
presenters of a program on the FT5XO DX-Pedition to Kerguelen Islands, was
thrilled when that DX-Pedition was proclaimed as the DX-Pedition of the
Year. (He was "sure" that designation would be awarded to VU4RBI, Andaman
and Nicobar...) Also in evidence were a number of members of the SE VHF
Society, as well as representatives of clubs from every part of the state,
from the mountains of north Georgia to the shores of Savannah. ANDREA
HARTLAGE, KG4IUM, and her dad SCOTT HARTLAGE, KF4PWI, put in many hours of
work at the ARRL EXPO, manning a booth for Education and Technology. (aka
the Big Project) Andrea also gave a couple of mini-talks at the EXPO stage,
as well as a longer presentation during the Youth Forum. You should've
seen.... and heard.... those young hams! They're bright, articulate, and a
huge asset to this hobby. One of them is REBECCA RICH, KBØVVT, of Kansas
City, MO, who, at the age of 17, has already been licensed for almost a
decade. She earned her Extra class ticket (20 WPM) at the ripe old age of
eight, and now operates at 50+ WPM and is an avid contester. The Kansas City
DX Club sponsored a CW Pile-Up contest, in which a tape of 100 callsigns,
complete with QRM and QRN, is played, and the object is to correctly record
as many of them as possible. Not an easy task, believe me! The callsigns are
all jumbled together like puppies in a pile, and sent at varying speeds. (I
listened and would have felt lucky to have made it to double digits!) But
this amazing young lady got 37 of them. Our own JOHN LANEY, K4BAI, racked up
a remarkable score of 51, which was only bested by a few other operators
with the top score of 52. We managed to make it to several forums, meetings,
and dinners, and even ventured to the DX-ers "Party Central" hotel to take
part in a Wouff Hong ceremony. (None other than RILEY HOLLINGSWORTH himself
played the part of the "Novice".) It was great to meet and chat with so many
of the ARRL staffers who were there for the EXPO and to meet so many of the
other SMs from around the country. (23 of them were there!) We enjoyed
countless conversations with many GA hams and with hams from points beyond.
Like I mentioned earlier, one GA ham told me that he figured that the
newsletter would be extra long this month if I was gonna write about Dayton.
Boy, it really could be....!!! But I did have to at least write a "word or
two" about the experience. And now, I can tell you what so many others have
told me: Dayton is THE Hamfest that every ham should experience at least
once. WOW!

Dayton is to hams as Daytona is to hogs. (sez me)