Yesterday I went to Midwinter Madness in Buffalo, Minnesota. It is dubbed as a hobby and electronics show. It was well attended. Radio City and an antenna supplier out of Chicago were there. There were a couple of others selling some new or almost new radios. The rest of the show could almost be summarized as a used computer show. I was happy to see representation by some of the area clubs such as TwinsLan and MNQRP.
Last month I went to the St. Cloud hamfest. Radio City and an antenna distributor were there as well. While there were plenty of used computers I was amazed at the number of unique amateur radio transceivers and associated equipment that I saw. I have not seen this kind of hamfest in a number of years. For it’s size St. Cloud has a very good gathering and well worth the trip.
The St. Cloud event is now in my top hamfest list. I think concerning size the Huntsville, Alabama hamfest is probably the best and for the smallest hamfest that would have to go to Cave City, Kentucky. I am not including Dayton as it is in a class all it’s own. It is held during the television ratings period and so many of us who work in television just can not go. My trip there last year was me taking advantage of my move to Minnesota.
I will be going to more hamfest as they occur this year so I may have more to say about this later. I will say that I actually spent a good amount of time at Midwinter Madness chatting with people at the show. One ham recognized me from about 14 years ago when he bought some packet equipment from me at a hamfest on the north side of the Twin Cities. I and another local ham I met at a club meeting and Radio City chatted for a while as well. That is after all a good part of why we attend hamfest. I had the same fun at Cave City chatting with others that I know.
Tim
