Well the hamfest is over. I don't think the crowd was as large as last year. There was a threat of rain which may have kept some people away. Certainly was fewer vendors. HRO salesman, Mark Holmes said they had a good day and he wasn't disappointed. The boneyard was near normal although there were several vendors that usually display in trailers that were not there. Only had 22 people to test this year. Previous years it was over 30. Of the 22 we had 18 pass the exam and 4 fail.
Amazingly every licensed ham, except two, failed to bring a copy of their current license. That creates a problem for the VE's to be able to verify qualifications to upgrade. Fortunately the age of smart phones lets us verity from the FCC web site. Same goes for photo ID, we had one person that had no photo ID. He did have a copy of his license though but without ID we don't know if someone is taking the exam for someone else. Do you think anyone would cheat to get a license, YES it has happened before and attempts will happen again.
By the way, this was held Jim Miller County park in Marietta and there are 44 full hook-up sites for RVs right next to the hamfest, no pull thru's, only back-ins some angled, some are 90 degree, next to a small lake that is home to a flock of Canadian honkers that may provide for a little bombing practice. The latest cost was $15 daily. So next year if anyone is in the area the first weekend in June you may want to stop by.
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