Charleston Hamfest 2019

The 2019 edition of the Charleston Hamfest is over, and this one was an especially busy one for me. In addition to helping with set up and cleaning up, I ended up taking over the announcer/door prize giver-outer/question answerer role for the hamfest. I didn’t have quite as much time to browse the hamfest and shop, and I wasn’t able to help out in the license test session like I have in previous years. However, one of the perks of participating in the setup is that you get to see a lot of what’s being offered for sale, so that was when I ended up doing most of my shopping.

In 2018, the club received a substantial donation of equipment from a club member (W4RAK) who was downsizing due to health reasons. It took several months and many truckloads to move the equipment he donated. Sadly, W4RAK became a Silent Key around October 2018.

I don’t think I got to meet W4RAK, but I’m told he was a long time club member and that he was part of the Air Force MARS program. Based on the equipment he donated to the club I can guess that he had been a ham for a long time, was a big collector of radio gear, and liked to build things. Among the equipment donated to the club was a huge collection of Heathkit, Hallicrafters, Kenwood, Yaesu, Flex, and Elecraft radios, an abundance of power supplies, kit items (built and unbuilt), and other vintage equipment.

A fair bit of the donated equipment is going to be set up in the CARS club room for operating and display. A much larger chunk of the equipment was put up for sale at the hamfest and priced to sell (both to get the gear back into the hands of hams who would/could use it, and so that club didn’t have to store it).

A "small" selection of the W4RAK collection sold at the 2019 Charleston Hamfest
A “small” selection of the W4RAK collection sold at the 2019 Charleston Hamfest

For anyone into vintage rigs, it was like being in a candy store. I was able to acquire a few pieces that I’m looking forward to playing with.

KM4HXA showing off his home brew antenna collection
KM4HXA showing off his home brew antenna collection

New at this year’s hamfest was a Go Box exhibit/competition, a suggestion by KN4EXJ. People were invited to bring their Go boxes to the hamfest to show off to others. For an inaugural event, there were a few Go Boxes on display. KN4EXJ had a few of his that were pretty impressive.

Looking forward to having the Go Box exhibition again next year. Maybe I’ll have one of my own to enter into the exhibition.