I don't think it is carved in stone anywhere. It would be up to the person or group sponsoring the fest. Regardless of what time it is held someone will be left out and not be able to attend. I would only ask you to consider why most retail stores have the hours they do. I would think they open at a time when the majority of their customers would be able to shop. I have set up at several hamfests and I can tell you it is labor intensive. I usually set up the evening before and work at least up till 10 or 11 at night. Then it is up at 5 or 6 to get ready and be behind the table by 7 or 8. Then after it is over you have to pack up and make the drive back which can be many miles.  The Dayton Fest is a killer for me and many others.

I sure hope to make it to Dayton this year as I did last but I can't help but wonder how the narrow banding law will affect what we see on the tables this year. I can't help but think we will see table after table of wide-band only commercial equipment that may or may not program down to Amateur radio frequencies. It should be a VHF lovers dream come true. Equipment that cost hundreds of dollars will now be offered for a few bucks. The trick will be to know your quarry and not buy up radios that cannot make the stretch to our frequencies. There will surly be a few sellers that will convince the unknowing that a certain radio only needs a little tweaking to work great on our bands. Remember that all the tweaking in the world will not help when the software will not accept the out-of-band frequency.  But then one can always find a use for that old boat anchor. Last year I saw a GE Ranger that cost someone well over one-thousand dollars being used as a scotch under a trailer tire.  Tell me what you expect to see this year.

Be sure to read the manual about increasing the load in order to keep the grid current down. If you don't do this, you will really piss off your tubes.

I like the Ameritron 811H as it has plenty of power for new or old alike. The tubes are cheap to replace. I was somewhat concerned about filtering as I am use to seeing large caps in most of the earlier amps. It has a great price will lay in there with amps costing an extra $1000.00 or more.

Just wondering why there is no forum for radios or tranceivers. You have to admit it would be kind'a hard to communicate without one.

I use the Alpha Delta CC and have had good results with it, but not before spending some time peaking and tuning. I never could get the 80 meter section to be broadbanded. Not even with an LDG 1000 tuner. I finally cut it for the upper end of 80 meters where Generals are allowed to operate. As for all the other frequencies, the tuner took care of the rest. I have a friend who curses the Alpha Delta and only uses a straight wire. If you are a beginner and like radio then have some fun. One of my best investments was the MFJ 259B. It is expensive but that one instrument has been the best money I ever spent. Tune your antenna with it where you want to talk and you will have no problem. I also believe an antenna tuner is a must have if you want to travel the bands. I enjoy experimenting and problem solving. That is whats so great about the hobby.

Ok, on 80 and 40 meters mostly, it sounds like some kid on a small motorcycle with one cylinder stuck in the mud and racing the motor trying to get unstuck, or maybe a guy with chainsaw with a dull chain trying to saw a log. Laugh if you like but while we continue to see leaps and bounds in electronics, we haven't expanded much in meaningful articulate RFI interference language. Does this sound like 60HZ high voltage interference? The long wire antenna is fairly close to a high voltage line. It is not the computer and I was wondering if anyone had a good starting place before I head out looking?
Thanks
P.S. I put chainsaw in the search block and nothing came back. I didn't try motorcycle.

I have been to R & L several times and ordered a bunch of stuff over the phone. I have never had a problem and found them most helpful. I find their prices beat most other places. Just my two cents, but I suppose everyone looks at things different. I have never used HRO because their prices have been higher. I probably should not post this as it may make R&L go up a bit.

I have always had good luck with EBay.
KI4BQN

The lowest change in a repeater offset I have been able to find on the radio is a change of 5000HZ. Is there a way to get a 1000HZ change in the offset?
TIA
KI4BQN

I have had loose or bad connections on my cable line to allow interference in to tv's. If you are running shielded 75 ohm tv coax, it usually does a good job of keeping out rf to the legal limit in my operation. Cheap cordless telephones will allow rf in. I use a low pass filter behind my amp which helps a lot and doesn't decrease the power output by very much.

In all my training in college electronics I have never heard of "lower than 1:1". One to One is a perfect ratio and anything more or anything less, I suppose, would be a mismatch. RF is an alternating and not DC. I was always told that 1:1 can only be obtained under laboratory conditions, so most people use 1.1:1 as saying, OK, I don't have a lab but I'm as close as I can get. I never heard 7/8's to 1 before!

Hey Guys, I have been trying to call R & L for the past three days and I can't get anyone. Their 800 line is always busy and when I called the local line I got somebody's house that sounded like they were on drugs or something. I have never had any problem with R & L before but has somebody nuked the place or what?

Need information on Motorola N1274A and N1275A amplifiers. A schematic diagram or at least the rf transistors used in these models.  The 1274A is VHF and the 1275A is UHF I think. Any information on these amps is greatly appreciated. I have searched Motorola data bases with no luck. These amps were built around 1997 or 98.
Randy
KI4BQN

You can have a very descent, as you call it, farm with about 2 acres. You can get by with a little less Depends a lot on the height of your towers. Coax runs are a factor if you start spreading things out to much. That is if you are running coax to a central location. I only have about 1 acre and I could use a little more room. I don't like to get things to close.
73,s and happy farming