Hi All, The Tucson area hams have made a concerted effort to upgrade our annual hamfest. Today was the day. This year they somehow encouraged several vendors, including Elecraft, to make an appearance, and I think it all went extremely well. Maybe a bit light yet, but if they keep working at it, I think this could become a really great event. Congrats to the local area hams who made it possible.
The venue this year was the Marana Regional Airport, which is adjacent to Tucson. This was perfect for Eric Swartz, who many of you know has his own airplane. Eric simply flew in, jumped in a rental car with his goodies, and came across the runways from the FBO where he parked his plane. Probably there was a detour in there somewhere, but it was very handy nonetheless. Texas Towers was there as well, as were several other, smaller vendors. This is just a start at upgrading our event, but with continued, and hopefully increased, support, we may have something really good going here. The Elecraft display included remote operation from Eric's home station using the K3/0. Very slick! Eric even has software that allows him to control his KPA-500 at home, in addition to the K3, and it was just really fun to see. Of course the KX3 was prominently displayed, as was the new KAT-500--Eric says that will start shipping very shortly! Sure hope so, since I have one on order to complete my K-line. I'm really excited about it. I'm also pretty stoked about remote operation, since I have a perfect situation for taking advantage of it when we go to Oregon in the summer months. Eric was pretty busy, but we did have a chance to chat a bit more than we are able to at places like Dayton, which is a constant madhouse. I've always been extremely impressed with Eric's management of Elecraft, along with Wayne of course, and our brief chat only reinforced my high opinion of how well things are going. It's pretty obvious that these two guys are having a lot of fun, running a great company, and full of ideas. When I casually mentioned that it might be hard to keep coming up with new "toys", Eric's eyes just lit up, and I knew there were lots of things to come. These guys really have their "act" together, and we should all feel pretty good about it. I also got to visit with an old friend, Gary Surrency, who I haven't seen much of (even though he lives in Phoenix) since he went to work for Elecraft. As you may know, Gary is a very big part of Elecraft's tech support team, and a crackerjack technician at that. I think he mentioned that he had been with Elecraft for 13 years now! That's amazing to think the company goes back that far, but my K2 serial number confirms that!!! Gary and I first met when we were forming the Arizona ScQRPion group. He's an original "charter member", as am I, but he's also been super busy ever since. Anyway, I think a lot of Gary, and if he happens to be on the other end of a problem you are having, you are in great hands. Anyway, it was a very enjoyable day, and hopefully one we will be able to repeat many times in the future here in Tucson. 57 years of this ham radio stuff and I'm still having a blast! Dave W7AQK ts of things ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
