[OKDXA] HamCom Report

[Jerry Chouinard]

Per the request of at least one OKDXA member here is a report from an 
attendee to HamCom 2009 in Plano, Texas.

Another enjoyable gathering!

I left on Thursday afternoon from Claremore and checked in to the Holiday 
Inn Express at around 8PM. As I motored around to the side of the building 
to go to my room I noticed a couple of clusters of Old Timers visiting with 
each other in the parking lot.  I figured they had just returned from 
dinner or were deciding where to go have a bite.

The DX dinner on Friday evening put on by the Lone Star DX Association was 
another well planned and executed gathering.  The meal and program were 
both enjoyed by 200+ DXers.  The program by K4UEE about the Desecheo 
expedition ran over an hour and had many great photos of the island and the 
radio setup plus a number showing the movement of equipment and operators 
to the site.

Oklahoma and the OKDXA were well represented at the dinner.
N5OK - Coy
K2BA  - Bert
K5ADI - Carmen
AB5I - Lloyd
NE5S - Dave
K3LR - Tim
and myself K5YAA are the ones I was aware of.  There may have been 
others.  I understand the wives of N5OK, AB5I and NE5S made a shopping trip 
on Friday - a non-hamfest type I am pretty sure.
I did see and visit with N5OHL on Saturday afternoon but don't recall 
seeing him at the dinner.  Jim was donating time to check QSL cards.  I 
think others must have helped as the speaker at the dinner thanked those 
from Oklahoma that assisted in the card checking process.
John WB5SYT was at the ARRL booth in his role as West Gulf Division Vice 
Director.

The Hamfest was loaded again with vendors and the crowds I saw both days 
tell me the event must have been successful again this year.

Since Dave Summers K1ZZ, the President of ARRL, was to be in attendance I 
wanted to meet him in person since I have had many QSOs with him over the 
years but none of them an eyeball.  With Coy's fine introduction I got to 
shake Dave's hand.

One last thing of note - especially for K5RH.  Ross, I remain undefeated 
and still the undisputed champion of the CW Pile-Up Copying Contest at 
HamCom - mainly due to the fact they did not hold the contest again this 
year!  I get to carry the title forward by default!

K5YAA